Borneo - Really Wild Show

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July 25th 2007

Published: August 5th 2007

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Daniel and Lucy

Orangu-Gang

The whole crewe!

Hey Everyone

Welcome to our adventures in Borneo!!

When we last left you I was getting very excited about our trip over to Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. After a plane trip over from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived in Sandakan which was going to be our base for the next 6 days. Sandakan isn’t exactly the prettiest places we have been, in fact if you didn’t know about all the amazing things that lay on its doorstep you’d probably be on the first plane out of there. After planning everything that we were going to cram into our short trip we grabbed a quick bite at a “bistro restaurant at the harbour side”, which turned out to be a café with plastic chairs on the quay of a diesel fumed port, before hitting the hay in order to be up for our action packed few days.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. No it isn’t a place where alcoholic, drug addict orangutans go to dry out!! It’s a centre that tries to rehabilitate orangutans, that have either been orphaned, or been kept in captivity illegally, back into jungle life.

Turtle Island Beach

So so gorgeous. The view's not bad either!!

At the centre you walk out to a viewing platform in the forest, where twice a day you can watch as the rangers arrive with food for the orangutans. This place was one of my must dos on our entire trip and, as we waited for the cheeky little fellas to swing in to get their breakfast, I was as excited as a kid is on Christmas morning waiting to see if Santa has been. After 10 agonizing minutes the ropes that are suspended from the trees began to move and a young orangutan swung along to the feeding platform. He was shortly followed by 5 other juveniles, they quickly saw off a group of macaque monkeys that were trying to get in on the action, and tucked into a feast of milk and bananas. After stuffing their faces a few of them disappeared back into the forest but two stayed to entertain us with acrobatics on the ropes, before they also had enough and swung out of view.

As I loved the morning session so much, I insisted that we stayed for the afternoon feeding time as well. To pass the time in between we decided to do

Kinabalu mountain

People travel from all over the world to climb this mountain. Why bother, when you can just fly past it!

one of the nature trails in the centre hoping to stumble across an orangutan or two. Unfortunately the only wildlife we encountered was the two leeches that decided to attach themselves to my foot.

The afternoon feeding time was even better than the morning. The morning session is very busy, with coach loads of tour groups, but the afternoon is much quieter. Also this time they were joined by a young adult male who really ruled the roost. The word Orangutan actually means “Wild Man of the Forest” and you can really tell that they are genetically 96.4% human. Each one had its own separate personality; there was the bossy one, a cheeky one, a shy one, a grumpy one and a playful one. After a while the crowds disappear but I won’t leave until the bitter end. Just before it closed there was only about 20 people left, when the older orangutan swung across the trees down onto the viewing platform, barged Dan out of the way and matched off back into the forest. The remaining baby orangutan then decided to mimic him and also jumped down to within a couple of inches of us. Most people scarperred

Baby Tarantula

Baby!! I'd hate to see the mommy! Dan was about about 1 mile away at this point!

but I was running after them. I LOVE ORANGUTANS!!!

The next morning we set sail for Turtle Island where we were going to spend that night. The island is part of a national marine conservation park that is working to protect and increase the endangered turtle population. The place itself is beautiful. It is a tiny island which you can walk around in 10 minutes, surrounded by golden beaches and crystal clear water. We spent the day basking in the sun, swimming and visiting the other neighbouring island. As only 50 people are allowed on the island at anyone time we had the beach to ourselves. The snorkeling was amazing and we got to see blue starfish, sea-cucumbers, rainbow fish and clown fish (or Nemo for you Disney fans).

Although the day was fantastic the best was yet to come. After dinner we were asked to remain in the restaurant whilst the ranger went out to see if any turtles had come ashore to lay her eggs. We were like expectant parents as we waited and waited and waited. Eventually after 3 hours the ranger ran in and shouted ”turtle” and in small groups we all had to

Showman!

What a show off!!

follow. In the dark we had to make our way along the beach to where a mother had landed to nest in the sand. As bright light could scare the turtle we had to watch by dim torch light as she laid 65 eggs. I was expecting her to be quite small but she was enormous, over 1m in length and you can tell why people refer to them as dinosaurs.

Leaving the eggs buried on the beach leaves the eggs open to the treat of being washed away, eaten by predators, or collected by humans for food. In order to help protect them, the rangers move the eggs to a hatchery where they will be safe for the twelve weeks before they hatch. After watching this process we were also lucky to watch as a group of 45 baby turtles that had hatched that day were taken down to the shore and released. Hopefully, when the female turtles reach the age of 30 they will automatically return to the same beach and the process will continue again.

The following day we were up with the birds to return to the mainland where we were to do a

Sexy Wellies

These boots were made for walking...

3 day/2 night jungle trek with Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Adventures. As the tour didn’t start till midday and because it was close by, in the morning we were able to fit in another trip to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Sanctuary. I was beginning to think the centre would take a restraining order out on us, we were there so often! You’d imagine that we might start getting a bit bored but the orangutans are so entertaining I could quite happily spend the whole week there. This time after the main group had their fill, the two youngest ones remained on the platform playing, hugging, kissing and fighting. We had to be thrown out when the centre closed for lunch. I am beginning to think I have a problem.

That afternoon “Uncle Tans” transferred us by boat along the Sungai Kinabatangan River to their jungle jump that was going to be our home for the next 3 days. It wasn’t exactly a 5 star resort!! It was open front huts with mattresses and mosquito nets, and no running water, but we were there for the adventure and it certainly lived up to expectations!

Even on the boat ride up to

Chateaux Borneo

5 Star all the way!

camp we spotted macaque monkeys, monitor lizards, cranes, hornbills and a herd of bearded pigs. After our introductory briefing and dinner we got to go out on the boat again for a night river tour. This gave us the chance to see some of the more nocturnal wildlife. Our hoard included- sleeping monkeys, eagles, kingfishers and owls.

The next morning we were up at sunrise for another river tour to try and catch the wildlife as they looked for their breakfast. This gave us the chance to see pig-tail macaques, long-tail macaque monkeys, and crocodiles. After breakfast we had a two hour jungle trek where we found loads of unusual plants and vegetation, lizards, creepy crawlies and bats.

That afternoon we had free sometime so were lounging around in camp. I was starting to worry that we had not seen hide nor hair of any orangutans. But then as we were having afternoon tea one of the guides spotted something ginger moving in the trees near to camp. He shouted for us to ‘grab our wellies’ and we raced to get them. I don’t think I’ve moved as fast for years!! As we followed we found it was

River Sunset

Speechless!

an adult female orangutan and her one year old baby boy! We then followed them as they swung through the trees looking for dinner and somewhere to nest for the night. We were able to track them for about half an hour before the mother started to get upset and threw a huge branch on to our guide’s head. It felt like we were David Bellamy crawling through the undergrowth. The amazing experience being only around two metres below a wild mother and baby orangutan was definitely one of the best experiences I have ever had (I mean EVER).

Back at camp we had another late afternoon boat ride. This time we got to see proboscis monkeys (more on them later), lots more macaques, baby crocodiles and a massive monitor lizard. We also got to see one of the most beautiful sunsets either of us has ever seen.

After dinner we had a trek through a very dark jungle. This time we got to see lots of creepy crawlies, frogs, scorpions, and a small clouded leopard. But for some strange reason Dan was no where to be seen when we spotted a tarantula. God knows where he must

Dance Fever

The Fame auditionee could move well, but didn't quite have "the look"!

have gone to!!

On the third morning we had a final boat ride, before bidding a very sad farewell to Uncle Tan’s. Although it was very muddy, really tiring and we left smelling very whiffy, it was worth it for the fantastic time that we had.

We had our last afternoon to ourselves and as we still had the nature bug we headed out to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Proboscis Monkeys can only be found in Borneo and are certainly one of the strangest animals I have ever seen. The males are quite large monkeys with very big, long, red noses that they use to attract the females (See the pictures and you will see what I mean). Rather them than me, that’s what I say!

Today (Tuesday) we leave Borneo and jet off to Bali. We have loved every minute here and there was loads that we didn’t have chance to do. We will definitely be back!!

With love
Lucy & Dan xx

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