Sabah & Safari Museums Partnership

Project Brief & 2004 Expedition Photos

The Safari Museum in Chanute (USA) and the Sabah Museum in Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) won an International Partnership Among Museums exchange grant from the American Association for Museums in January 2004.  The IPAM program is administered by the American Association of Museums (AAM) and funded by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  For more information on IPAM, as well as other programs and resources offered by the American Association of Museums, please click here.

Safari Museum Curator Jacquelyn Borgeson was sent to Sabah in May of 2004. Her assignment was to provide the Sabah Museum with copies of the surviving 2217 expedition photos Martin and Osa Johnson produced when they explored this region, then called British North Borneo, in both 1920 and 1935.  Borgeson worked with Sabah exchange partner Stella Moo to survey, identify and plan projects to make these vital images available to the peoples of Malaysia.

The Safari and Sabah museums are currently seeking funding for a permanent exhibition dedicated to Martin and Osa at the proposed Sandakan Heritage Center. To learn more about the Heritage center and see how you can support the project, please click here.

The Safari Museum also provided photos to the World Wildlife Fund for use in a proposed Martin and Osa Johnson Memorial Trail and Information Center along the Kinabatangan River. During the final weeks of the exchange, Borgeson and Terry Todoroff of Buffalo, NY retraced the Johnsons' expedition route from Sandakan to "Johnsonville," Martin and Osa's jungle basecamp on the river. The Johnsons' black and white expedition photos are teamed below with modern examples by Borgeson.

To read Jacquelyn's museum newsletter article about this trip, click here.

Johnson Collection-Expedition 2004
Photo Matches

Johnsonville, Martin and Osa's jungle basecamp.  Today the round topped Menggaris tree that Martin and Osa used as a landmark for their Sikorsky amphibian airplane has grown up and filled out.  It will be used as the marker for the proposed Martin and Osa Johnson Memorial Trail.



Martin took this sunset photo from the porch of their house at Johnsonville; due to natural erosion by the Kinabatangan, Safari Museum curator Jacquelyn Borgeson took hers from the waters edge. 



Here is the Nipa Palm cloaked entrance to Balet Dami.  On one of her many out hikes from Johnsonville, Osa discovered this secluded stream.  A footpath was cut to it and gobang canoes were carried in so they could find the route in from the Kinabatangan. 

Thanks to host and Kinabatangan River expert Zainal Abidin Ja'afar, Borgeson and Todoroff were able to find the river access to Balet Dami. 

Martin and Osa's gobang canoes entering Balet Dami.  This stream has dead calm water that produces amazing optical illusions.

  

Martin called Balet Dami a "magical land" and claimed it was his favorite place in the world to film.



Martin and Osa aboard their Kinabatangan houseboat; Borgeson and Todoroff in river host Zainal Abidin Ja'afar's boat returning from their Balat Dami expedition. Safarimate and soundman Joe Tilton took this shot of Martin and Osa; 
Zainal snapped the 2004 photo.

 

The Johnson Expedition crew and hosts in 1920.  Borgeson was privileged to meet Wahab Abdul Rahman and Masri Angau;  both men were in the Johnsons' 1920 camp as young boys and as teens in 1935.  Their fathers worked with Martin and Osa and supplied housing for them in 1920 and camp support in 1935. Masri is holding a photo of his late father he found in a cash of unidentified copy photos Borgeson brought to a talk she conducted at a reunion event hosted at Mr. Haji Montoi's home in Sandakan.  

 

The Sompitan is a traditional wind instrument of the Murut peoples.  It was featured prominently in the orchestra scene of the film BORNEO.  Borgeson attended Sabah's annual cultural fair and saw how the instrument was crafted and played. 



Osa loved the artistry of the local weavers and purchased many traditional sarongs and tapestries during her two visits to the island.  The Sabah Museum houses an amazing artisan village and during the Harvest festival local weavers, carvers, sculptors, etc. come to the village to demonstrate their crafts.  




Jalan Tiga (Third Street) in 1920 was almost unrecognizable, save for the small landscaping and street sign.  

 

Gomantang cave entrance from outside.  This film location was the one that most frustrated Martin as the cameras of his day did not do it justice.  Borgeson concurs and adds that technology has yet to produce a camera that could truly capture the dichotomy of this cathedral-esque, but squalor-filled site.

 

Young Proboscis monkeys.  Modern night photo courtesy of Hans Grover, a German biologist who was conducting research at The Danum Valley Field Station during Borgeson's visit there.

Adult proboscis males have a very distinctive and highly bulbous nose that has earned them the nickname of "The Jimmy Durante of Monkeys."

Three elephant bathing in a 1920 Sandakan estuary put Martin and Osa on the map as serious wildlife filmmakers.  Swimming elephant in the Kinabatangan were the grand finale of Borgeson's three days on the river and the highlight of her trip.



 

After their water play, both the 1920 and 2004 elephants were happy to pose for portraits on shore.  

Gibbon! Martin and Osa had one of each of the four apes as pets and they hotly contested the Gibbon's "lesser" status.  They always claimed this charming little ape was the smartest of the lot!  Photographers usually have to hike days into and camp out in the deep jungle to get even a glimpse of this reclusive ape.  Borgeson took her photo from a couch on the porch of a interior Field Center while recovering from a climbing accident.

 

Martin and Osa with their pet Bessie, Terry Todoroff filming the little orangutan who found Todoroff and Borgeson while they were hiking at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. She was riddled with ringworm and her bright red fur was missing in large patches so we nicknamed her Mangy.

 

Bessie and Mangy 

 

To read Jacquelyn's museum newsletter articles about this trip, click here.