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Published: April 20th 2008
Having met up with Mam, Dad, Susan and Martin we had a few hours in SIngapore before heading to Kuala Lumpur. One thing about having them come over and meet us is that we start to notice things again that we had started to take for granted or have just ignored. One thing is people staring or watching us. We don't really notice it anymore unless someone points it out to us.
Once in Kuala Lumpur we headed to Masjid Jamek, a mosque where Mam had to dress in a robe and headscarf before we were allowed in. The mosque was all very open and there were lots of people laid in silence who seemed to be in some kind of contemplation or prayer (or asleep). It was all very peaceful.....apart from the sound of Martin trying to line up his photos. Having seen a glimpse of Islam the next stop was at a Hindu Temple. We were really lucky as there was some kind of ceremony going on there, similar to a christening, so there was music, lots of drumming and people in traditional dress. We felt much more welcome here than we had at the mosque as
Monitor Lizard
Wandering through our camp at Uncle Tan'sa couple of people came over to talk to us and they didn't seem to mind us watching from the sidelines.
From KL we flew to Sandakan, Sabah, part of Malaysian Borneo for the real reason that they had come to meet us. We stayed at Sunset Harbour Botik Hostel with it's lovely, crazy owner Faridah who would arrange anything we wanted, including getting food delivered in extra quick time. It's like a home away from home. She even told the cable company we must have the football. The first afternoon here we went to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary. Here they take orangutans which have been captured as pets or whose mothers have been killed by poachers and rehabilitate them before returning them to the wild. Each day at a feeding platform orangutans can come to pick up some fruit to suplement what they find for themselves so the monkeys we saw were semi-wild. It's hard to see it that way though as there are so many people at the feeding sessions that it really feels more like being at the zoo. That day we saw three orangutans, each appearing out of the jungle before swinging onto the platform
Male Orangutan
Uncle Tan's, Sabah, Borneo for some food. It was nice to see them but the experience wasn't really what we had expected. Luckily this would be made up for later in the week.
Having seen some orangutans we decided that the next day we should try to see some proboscis monkeys. These long-nosed, pot-bellied monkeys can only be found in Borneo and so we went to a reserve hoping to see some. We had a really good guide to take us there and on the way he would stop to point out different animals. Before we got anywhere near the monkeys we had already seen a white-collared kingfisher, mus-skippers, tropical birds and the rare horseshoe crab. Even the guide got excited at spotting the crab, showing how rare it is to see them here. Before we got to the feeding platforms at the main centre we were able to visit a research area thanks to the guide's contacts. Here we saw two groups of proboscis monkeys, each with their big-nosed male leader, sitting in the trees and occassionally launching themselves into the next tree along. To do this they stand at the end of a branch and rock frantically before they have enough
Silverleaf Monkey with Baby
The babies are ginger until they're a couple of months old when they start to change colour. leverage to jump. We sat quietly, the only tourists there with the two researchers, watching the wild proboscis monkeys and long-tailed macaques and seeing how much it must be possible to learn about them just from observing them every day. On the way towards the main centre we also saw a group of wild silverleaf monkeys (silver langurs). These are smaller monkeys and again the guide was very excited about seeing them in this area. We also came across a couple of monitor lizards in the mangroves here as well as more birds.
The main proboscis monkey centre was very different to Sepilok. There was only us and another four people there. Three groups of proboscis monkeys came to pick up some foor from the feeding platforms, this time one was a group of young males who seemed to be testing the dominance of one of the other group's heads. This time the head male won over, chasing the younger ones away. Some more silverleafs also came to the centre and would actually come over and take green beans from our hands. As they gently took the vegetables from us they would look up with very human eyes as
Masjid Jamek
Jamek Mosque, Kuala Lumpur if to say thank you. Unlike the macaques we have fed in other places they were not greedy and would not take another bean from us until they had finished the one they were eating. While this was going on the was a dollar bird flying overhead and one of the silverleaf monkeys was sat on top of a net over fruit trees, reaching through to steal the fruit. Eventually it got tired of this and instead dug a hole under the mesh and climbed inside to the tree where it ate lots of fruit.
From the proboscis reserve we headed for some nearby caves, stopping on the way to look at water buffalo, birds and more monitor lizards. The caves here are used to harvest birds nests for birdsnest soup. It's a lucrative trade, with small sacks of nests being worth thousands of pounds. On the way to the caves we were driving through a storm when a bolt of lighting hit the ground with a thud not far from us. It was so close that we could feel it and the windscreen wipers of the jeep packed in for a while. It was Allee and my second
Mam at the Mosque
At Masjid Jamek Mam came over all Islamic and decided to don a headscarf and forsake her wicked ways. close escape from lightning this week as we saw the wind of our plane from Indonesia struck by lightning as we flew through storm clouds. Before entering the caves we came across a giant centipede and were all very shocked when Mam held it and let it crawl over her hand. This could not prepare her for what was in the first cave though. As we walked through ankle-deep bat dirt we shone our torches down to see that the floor was alive with thousands of cockroaches and dung beetles, as well as the odd rat. Whenever we stopped we would paddle on the spot, like a child who needs the toilet. There were also more centipedes in this cave, poisonous though so nobody held them this time. To get from the first cave to the second cave we had to get up a steep hill, made more difficult by the rain. First we had to get across a stream. The bridge was a metal ladder laid across which was very wet and slippery. We were in stitches as Susan got down on all fours, bum sticking up in the air, and crawled across. It wasn't only us who found
it amusing though. All the locals came out onto their veranda to laugh along and cheer when she reached the other side. After a hard trek up the mountain we arrived at the white cave where nests are currently being harvested. As it was now dusk the swifts were returning to the caves for the night where they would find their nests gone and they would start building them again. The views from up here were great, showing the mist covered jungle. We had plenty of time to look at them as it takes a long time for the millions of birds to return home. What happened next was what we had come to see. When the birds arrive back at the caves the bats leave, all 2 million of them fly out in a constant stream, swirling in formation through the sky as they tried to avoid the bat hawks which circled overhead. They weren't all lucky though as the hawks would swoop, flying straight through a crowd of bats with their tallons out, hoping to get a grip on one of them. Our day was complete as we walked back down from the caves and saw an orangutan
Rock on Dave
This is one excited proboscis in a tree just above, starting to build a nest to sleep in. This was probably one of the orangutans released by Sepilok as they have put more than fifty into this area but it was now a fully wild orangutan and it was a great feeling to stand quietly and watch it go about its business.
We hoped to see more wildlife opver the next few days as we went to stay in the middle of the jungle at Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp. We were not disappointed. The boat trip to the camp was a safari in itself as we saw eagle, kites, hornbills, kingfishers, proboscis monkeys, silverleaf monkeys, macaques and egrets. The boat driver was expert at spotting things hidden in the trees and would cut the engine and float silently over to them, letting us know what we were looking at and whether it was rare or common in the area. The camp itself is basic but clean and good fun. We shared a hut with mattresses and mosquito nets and Martin spent a lot of time worrying about the squat toilets but everywhere was clean and the staff very friendly. That night we went back
out onto the river again in the dark to try and spot nocturnal animals. Again the driver was great at spotting things with his torch and we saw four crocodiles, a stork billed kingfisher, an owl, and a python curled among the long grass on the riverbank. Early the next morning we headed out on the river again on an early morning safari where we saw even more animals and birds. These included hawk eagles, oriental hornbills, more kingfishers and monkeys, kites, crocodiles and a white-bellied sea eagle, the largest eagle in Borneo. As we went down the river back to camp the driver braked sharply and sailed towards the bank where a big river-otter sat watching us. After a few minutes it ran away but reappeared a bit further away, still keeping an eye on us. The driver told us that this was quite rare and not many people get a chance to see otters here. That afternoon we set out on our first trek from Uncle Tan's. It was very hot and humid in the jungle as we scramble through branches and vines, finding more centipedes and lots of small frogs, some so tiny they were hardly visible.
Dad's Dinner
Dad got a bit hungry in the jungle and decided to go native. The guide also pointed out jumping spiders, which are capable of temporarily paralysing limbs, and cricket frogs. These were almost forgotten though as we spotted a flash of orange in a tree and followed it to find an orangutan sitting in a tree before swinging away. A bit further on we came across another orangutan which sat watching us from its seat in the trees, allowing us to get right underneath it before it disappeared off into the undergrowth. Orangutans are only seen once or twice a month here so we felt very privileged to see them in the wild once again. Walking back to the camp we also came across a pygmy squirrell climbing a tree next to us.
Uncle Tan's camp is like a wildlife hide in itself and huge monitor lizards would come walking through, alongsed wild pigs. Mam decided it would be a good idea to feed a wild pig a polo and it sat below us and actually sucked the mint for ages, licking its lips constantly. We nicknamed it polo and it turned out to be the mother of a five-pig family which could be seen constantly in or around the camp. There
were also lots of macaques around the camp, looking to steal anything not tied down. We had a shock when we were all watching two small macaques on the roof and a much bigger one ran up the steps of the eating area, grabbed a loaf of bread and ran away again. Soon monkeys were popping up everywhere with slices of bread in their mouths. It must have been a bit dry for them though as soon two monkeys began creeping down the roof, jumped onto the table, grabbed a tin of condensed milk and took it back onto the roof where they sat and drank it. Later that afternoon I was the only person in the eating area when another big group of monkeys arrived. They ran in, threw the lid off a metal container and stole a jar of jam from inside. Others climbed the mesh windows of the kitchen, reaching inside to grab what they could, including handfuls of crisps from a packet they could reach. Each time people left their huts on a morning the monkeys would be there trying to get in before reappearing just after meal times when they would grab loaves of bread,
Orangutan at Uncle Tan's
We came across this one swinging through the trees on a trek into the jungle. bananas and even french toast. As I sat there That night we went on a night trek into the jungle, lighting our way by torches. We were getting along fine, holding onto trees and branches to help us along, until the guide pointed out the huntsman spiders on many of the trees. From then on it was hands to ourselves. We found cicadas shedding their skin and looking like something out of Alien, frogs everywhere, an indigo flycatcher sat on its nest, and a fat, hairy tarantula sat in a tree. We also found two big scorpions. The guide got one out to show us and, to all of our shock again, Mam held it, letting it crawl over her hand, although she didn't look too happy about it (see the pic). The next morning it was time to leave the camp, heading back along the river on the boat and seeing one last crocodile and the very rare lesser adjutant. From there we got onto a minibus to take us Semporna, Sabah's dive capital. Check back on this blog in a couple of days when there will hopefully be a couple more photos.
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steve horner
non-member comment
Strodders.
Hello, been following your blogs, i work wth your dad. Just woundering if you are going to publish any photo's of him in the speedo's I've lent him for his holiday !! Sounds like the trip of a life time. Dave.