After all, who can resist the antics of these wrinkly red-heads swinging through the trees at the world-famous Sepilok Orang-Utan Centre?

I’m referring to the orang-utans, of course, and not the tourists (though judging from recent experience, who knows what the older, bolder generation might get up to in their spare time) at the sanctuary in Sandakan where volunteers (some from Scotland) work tirelessly to rehabilitate injured or orphaned orang-utans back into the wild.

Yet what is perhaps a little more surprising is that those Brits in the over-50 age bracket are choosing to take the gruelling long-haul flight to Borneo in the first place especially to go scuba-diving in the depths of the South China Sea – come hell, sharks or high water. Forget the bus pass, our over-50s won’t be satisfied until they get a PADI Open Water Diver certificate.

In response to increasing demand by the mature traveller for ever-more adventurous holidays, SAGA has responded by offering their customers a range of adrenalin-pumping trips to exciting out-of-the-way destinations such as the jungles of Malaysian Borneo. One of their most recent options while enjoying the luxurious surroundings of upmarket hotels near Kota Kinabalu (or KK if you’re trendy) in the tropical haven of Sabah is the chance to take a four-day intensive PADI course in scuba diving.

Talk about diving in at the deep end, I found myself signing up for one of the most active press trips ever endured to see if I could keep up with these energetic GOTY (Getting Older, Thinking Younger) holidaymakers. The trip was scheduled to include a jungle walk (as soon as we arrived at the hotel after a 20+ hour journey from London via Brunei); white-water rafting; scuba diving; horse riding; a cruise through snake-infested mangroves; a trip on a quaint, though bone-shaking train to the village of Papar; monkeying around for a

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