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Published: March 18th 2009
We have started our Intrepid tour in Borneo. We meet our tour guide, Andrew, who is from New Zealand - but he has led this tour 16 times already so he knows the country pretty well. Intros with the other 10 travellers and paperwork over we head off to a local restaurant for dinner. This is a true locals restaurant and is full - the menu is in english and we select our dishes, with a bit of guidance from Andrew. They are all very tasty 😊. We have just finished our meal when Malcolm and Gail arrive and Andrew takes us to a great lively bar on the waterfront (we missed this area by about 50 metres 2 nights ago!!) Andrew starts the evening off by ordering buckets with 2 big bottles of Tiger Beer in each at a discounted rate - only to find he has misjudged the number of beer drinkers - by some margin and for the next 3 hours bucket after bucket of beer arrives with only 3 or 4 of us drinking. The bar girls were all petite Malaysians, very friendly and insisted on opening each bottle and pouring the beer - almost hassling you
into drinking more but in a nice way. We had a great evening talking with Gail and Malcolm until we kissed goodbye and waved them off at gone midnight 😉. We stayed until about 12.30 and then left Debbie and Mary drinking with Andrew, an Australian named James and another Intrepid guide.
Our first proper day of the tour starts late - luckily - the hotel doesn't do breakfast so we went out to a local coffee shop - Starbucks 😞. We then have a couple of hours free before we head off so decide a short walk to the local market is in order. All open air, with lots of fresh vegetable stalls, old clothing and some touristy bits until we finally get to the fresh fish market. Stall upon stall of fish of all shapes and sizes, shrimps and crabs all freshly caught that morning - a fantastic sight with locals selecting and buying. We wander over to look at the fishing boats which are very old fashioned and wooden and just happen to see someone who has just bought a huge tuna wheeling it to his van - we are impressed with the size and he
lets us take a picture😉
Back to the hotel and we jump in two minibuses and head off in brilliant sunshine towards the Dunsan village we are staying in tonight. But as we enter the mountain area a tropical storm lets loose and the rain is bucketing down - it does not let up for 6 hours! Our minibus sets off up the mountain road ascent, but after 30 mins uphill the air con stops, the bus gets very hot and smoke starts to come out of the engine. We pull into the side of the road and jump out - this bus will go no further today and a replacement is called for while we huddle under the rear door out of the rain. Luckily it soon turns up and we transfer over and drive on uphill for another 30 mins. At this point we go off road and the minibus cannot manage this so we transfer to a 4 wd car and a farmers truck with seats - luckily it has a tarpaulin roof so we don't get wet. Thirty bumpy mins later and we arrive at the village to be greeted by local women drumming on
Village Cultural Dancing
No choice - we had to join in !big gongs. Our village host and mountain guide, Sappinggi, greets us and we are shown to rooms with 4 bunk beds, which are clean, good sheets and pillows and seem nice - 4 star village rooms (outside toilet and cold showers so not 5 star). Bags in the room and its back down again for some dancing by the village children to the rhythm of the gongs - and then its our turn for dancing and gong banging 😉
Entertainment over and its on with the boots and wet weather gear (its still pouring down) and we head downhill to the home of Sappinngi, who is our lead guide for climbing Mt Kinabalu. We are served a nice soup, possibly chicken - it was hard to tell - followed by rice from Sappinngi's farm and egg omelette, a chicken dish and vegetable dishes- all very tasty! Then we all sit round and out comes the locally made rice wine - everyone takes a turn introducing themselves and then having a drink of rice wine - it tastes like strong sweet cider and is quite pleasant. Sappinngi then explains about an annual race from the Mt Kinabalu Main Gate up
Drinking Rice Wine
With Sappinngi - a great guy and guide to the summit and back down again. He has done this in 3 hours 10 minutes which we are all impressed with, but at this stage do not know how tough climbing the mountain will be so we just think it is a very quick time. Unfortunately at this point Sappinngi is called away as his father is critically ill in hospital, but not to worry, more mountain guides appear and introduce themselves and hand round more rice wine. We get talking to the guides in mostly pigeon english, and amongst much laughter Bill sells Mary for two chickens and a rice field to a 60 year old guide with black teeth!
The next day we walk down to Sappinngi's house for breakfast - unfortunately his father died overnight - he was officially 97 on his identity card, but was thought to be over 100 years old as births were not recorded when he was born. The cremation and funeral will be this afternoon and Sappinngi will still lead the climb tomorrow. Breakfast consists of local Sabah tea (no milk), egg fried rice, noodles and bananas. Bill got tucked in, but Sue declined the rice and noodles for some
reason 😉 Breakfast over and we set off on an hours walk around the village - basically a hill walk along slippery, muddy and hilly paths - but the view of the valley and Mt Kinabalu covered in cloud are really nice. Back in the bus for an hours drive to Mt Kinabalu National Park where we are staying in Grace Hostel tonight, a 5 star hostel, with hot showers, big towels, toiletries and clean sheets on the 6 bunk beds in our room. After lunch we decide to visit the botanical gardens, which we found disappointing as we did not see very much (turns our Gail & Malcolm did the same thing, but had a guide and saw lots!). We then decide to do a 2km/1hr national park trail, which turns out to be steep, slippery and muddy. Half way round the rain starts, but not too hard. As the mountains are still covered in clouds there are no views - still it was a good warm up for tomorrow. On the way back to the hostel we bump into Gail and Malcolm who are just checking in for their climb. We meet them later in the evening to
say hello and try to co-ordinate times so that we can climb together.
The mountain climb check in is strictly monitored with only 150 climbers per day allowed, and if you don't have a pass you cannot get on the mountain. We decide to take the more direct starting trail up the mountain (with the majority of people) and to have a porter to take our thermals and change of clothes. The 3 guides are already booked, they get paid 115 ringgits (23 pounds) per 2 day trip up and down the mountain. We pack for the climb, the main weight being 6 litres of water which we will need for the first day. The climb is split into 4 stages, the main gate to the rest house near the tree line on day one, the climb from the rest house to the summit and back and the climb back down to the main gate on day 2.
Climbing Mount Kinabalu Next day we are up early, have a buffet breakfast and pick up our packed lunches for the climb and its into the bus that takes us to the main Timpohon gate, which is at 1856
meters. We meet up with Gail and Malcolm, check in and off we go, for the initial days climb that will take us 6km and an increase in elevation of 1417 meters. The walk starts off with a mix of uneven steps, rock scramble and the odd proper step. It is very hard walking up right from the beginning. At about 3km/2500m Sue starts feeling the effects of altitude sickness. She is lightheaded, dizzy and emotional and we slow down and rest. After a while we start off again, only for it to happen again at the Layang Layang shelter at 4km, 2702m elevation. We stop again and have lunch, giving Sue a long rest. We have 2 km to go and slow down considerably, letting everyone else go ahead and with Sappinngi staying behind with us - he is very helpful and supportive. In the end we get the the Laban Rata Rest House at 6km and 3273m elevation, but it takes us 7 hours and Sue is in a bad way with altitude sickness by the time we arrive. We choose the early start for the climb as we want to see the sunrise on the summit and
think it may take Sue a while to get there. We go to bed early (in a 8 berth dorm) as we have to be up very early tomorrow for the climb to the summit.
The next day starts with an alarm call at 01.30, but this was hardly needed as few people got much sleep. At 02.10 we set off in the moonlight - perfect conditions, with our head torches, thermal underwear, hats and gloves on, but with fleeces in the backpack. We have to climb about 3.5 km and an elevation of 800 meters. After about 30 mins Sue is again dizzy and light headed with altitude sickness. We stop for a 10 minute break and carry on only for Sue to stop again after 50 meters. At this point Sue decides that the climb is not for her and Sappinngi escorts her back down, making sure she gets to the rest house safely. Bill sets off on his own and soon catches up with the group he set off with, but at this stage on the climb everything is very personal in terms of energy, breathing and the need for rest stops and he decides to
Mount Kinabalu
A rare clear view before the climb carry on on his own without a guide. This is not a big deal as there is a rope trail when the path peters out at the tree line. Gail and Malcolm catch up with Bill and he is left behind after about 300 meters, although he does see them occasionally for the next hour during the odd rest stop. After about one hour the path gets very hard, the energy level nosedives, breathing is difficult and Bill gets out of breath very easy, prompting regular recovery stops. He reaches the end of the tree line and the path disappears and the thick white rope starts. The going now gets very difficult with a very steep rock face which can only be traversed by grabbing the rope and walking up at about 70 degrees for about 10 meters. After this it is still steep, but there are now narrow ledges to walk up. Bill still needs to use the rope to get up, and he needs to hold on tight as there is a very long drop if you fall - luckily it is dark and he can only see within the beam of the headtorch. At this point he
starts to realise this is a proper mountain climb and not a tourist attraction. The rope goes on to the the last check point on the mountain - you show your pass and you are ticked off the list so that they know who is on the mountain (this is checked off again on the way down). By this time there seems very little oxygen and Bill is on a rock face which seems to be at a 45 degree angle and he cannot hold onto the rope. So it one small step in front of the other, stopping to rest frequently - this goes on for what seems ages and if he looks up he can see other head torches further up the mountain. Eventually he reaches the top of this section and the terrain changes to about a 30 degree angle. It seems to go on forever. By now it is a very slow plod, with frequent rests. If Bill has to step up he feels sick and has to stop to recover. Up and up on this plateau, looking up Bill thinks he has seen the top only for more distance to appear. Its about an hour
before sunrise by now and Bill was totally exhausted, with just determination the only factor keeping him going. Eventually in the distance he see Lows Peak (the summit) appear in the moonlight and this provides the encouragement to keep going. But this is a real summit and the last bit becomes very challenging. There is still a rope and about 200 meters of proper climbing to go. Sometimes Bill can use the rope, but at other times it is free climbing and falling would mean bad injury or death. As he starts off Bill looks out and thinks he sees the sunrise, but 10 minutes later it has not changed 😞 (he later finds out it is the lights of Kota Kinabalu City). Bill gets a burst of energy at this point and manages the last section very quickly. But he cannot see the summit, so asks a passing guide how far to the top - he gives Bill a strange look and points and says " 5 meters" - looks like he was a bit spaced out after all. Another couple of meters and Bill bumps into Malcolm, gives him his camera and asks him to take a picture
An Early Rest Stop
With our guide Sappinngi of Bill with the summit plaque. SUCCESS and very emotional, Bill watches the sunrise having got to the summit at 05.50, taking 3 hours and 50 minutes to get there 😊 😊 😊 😊 😉
Bill stays at the summit for about 20 mins and sees quite a few of the other members of our group arrive. By now there is daylight and Bill can see just how far he has come - this is a very real mountain, with stunning scenery, rock plateaus and secondary peaks. This was the hardest thing Bill has ever done, but it was worth it. Unfortunately its now time to descend, he tells one of our group's guides and he is off at 06.10, with very tired legs (it will get worse). By now he pauses every few yards to take pictures, so the first part of the descent is very slow, even so he catches up with Gail and Malcolm and ends up walking all the way down with them. It is so different in the daylight and so rewarding, but the legs are just so tired and every step hurts. Bill gets through the checkpoint and carries on down, having to
absail the steep rock face he climbed up earlier. After 2 hours 20 minutes he arrives at the Rest House, at 08.30, only to find that Sue has just woken up - she looks and sounds much better. We grab some breakfast and decide to head back down the 6 km to the main gate before the rest of the group in case Sue needs to go slow. But as we descend it is quickly obvious that Sue is fine and we make good time, reaching the 4km to go marker in 90 mins. Unfortuanately the cloud quickly comes in and the very heavy rain starts to come down. Its on with the raincoats and ponchos, but nothing seems to stop this rain and it quickly penetrates everything, including getting down the tops of our boots. The path quickly turns into a sodden mess, becomes slippery and becomes into a small river in places. The rain slows us down, even though we want to speed up - and we quickly get fed up but continue to press on as we have 4 km and 3 hours to descend in this 😞 Eventually we reach the check point off the mountain
Our Rest House
At 3272 meters elevation and head to the cafe where we are meeting the rest of our group. The cafe is cold, we are wet and we find out that our fleeces are with the porter who is with the last group on the mountain so we cannot change. In the end we have to endure 3 hours of this as one person is in difficulty getting down and he has 3 guides and the porter with him. Eventually we are all down and we set off for our hotel, damp, cold, fed up and tired.
First impression when we get to the Round Inn in Poring is that the hotel is dull and dingy - still we grab our key and head for our room. We open the door and it does not look nice, old blankets, with bits of ceiling fallen on them and onto the sink in the bathroom. The bathroom is a toilet with a water heater shower fixed above it and an old plastic sliding door. Still we get out of our wet gear and take it to the laundry - its charged by weight and we end up with 5 wet kilos - still it will be
A View From the Rest House
Late afternoon after we arrive ready by tomorrow. Showered and starting to get dressed we discover that the blankets are infested with fleas and the the sheet nearest the wall has hundreds of baby spiders on it - this is the final straw and if we could have got a taxi we would have left immediately for Kota Kinabalu. But Poring is a two horse town, with this Inn and a few souvenier shops servicing the Poring Hot Springs National Park. We explain the problem to Andrew and he gets one of the owners family to give us another room - this is not much better, but at least there are only a few flies on the blankets. We remove these and decide our sleeping bags will be used tonight. Down for dinner from a very limited menu, Andrew says the food is "very tasty", but by now we realise he says that everywhere we eat and the food tonight was the worst meal of the trip - still the chips were nice and we stay up drinking tiger beer.
After breakfast the next day we head off to explore the Poring Hot Springs National Park. Starting with the forest canopy walkway while it
Sunrise at the Summit
Bill was about 10 meters below the summit at this point is quiet. Unfortunately we did not realise that this involved climbing more steps and muddy paths, still when we get to the canopy proper we are high in the trees. The path is long wooden planks on horizontal ladders, with rope and mesh support tied on to big steel ropes strung between trees. Sounds basic but is quite safe, even if it is a bit wobbly as you walk across. It was a nice view, but we did not see any monkeys or birds. Next stop was the hot sulphur spring bath - there are free open air baths, but women have to cover up and bathe in tee shirts and long shorts, so we rent a private cabin (dead cheap) and Sue can bathe in a bikini! The cabin has two large plastic baths about 3 foot deep and long enough to stretch out. We soon have the plugs in and the natural hot water flowing. It takes 10 mins to fill the bath, but we jump in and wait for the water to rise. The water is hot and soon we are relaxing and enjoying a soak. We last in the water for about 40 mins before the
heat gets to us and we jump out for a cold shower and to dry off before getting dressed. We then decide on a visit to the orchid garden, about a 10 minute walk away in the hot sun. We get there only to find the main gate shut, so we carry on round the corner thinking there may be a newer entrance further up. But all we find is a staff entrance. Still Bill walks in and looks around only to see Jackie, the parks semi tame Orangutan laying on a concrete path. Bill shows Sue and a quick photo is taken before we back away - this animal is large. We later find out the orchid garden is shut as nothing is in flower - why did they not put a sign at the park's main entrance. We decide to eat lunch in the park's buffet restaurant. This is expensive, but we don't think the food tonight will be up to much, so we need a big meal. By about 2.30 the heavy rain starts again, this seems to be a regular thing and we are getting worried about the night in the open in the jungle that
Near the Top
Going down - no photos going up as pitch black is to come. Luckily we miss the rain today as we decide to catch up on our blog in the afternoon 😉 We eat at the hotel again tonight, but this time choose safe and boring dishes - chips and basic noodles. Followed by more tiger beers and home made rice wine provided free by the hotel owner, who then produces photo albums of her daughters wedding and her grandchild! A late night - past midnight.
Today we travel to the Kinabatangan area by air con coach - 5 hours later we arrive at the local MESCOT Base whose aims are jungle regeneration and eco tourism. We pack a bag for one nights jungle camp - when we booked we imagined a tent already erected - but we find out it is individual hammocks and we have to erect them ourselves!
We are due to set off early afternoon - but as usual a tropical downpour has started and its just not feasible. But an hour later the rain eases off and we collect our hammocks and set off in a big open topped boat. 15 mins later and we stop at a couple of steps which lead
to a slippery, muddy bank which we proceed to try to slide and scamble up without getting too dirty. About 50 yards into the jungle we find a big wooden table covered by a tarpaulin - our cooking and dining area. We are shown the toilet - a small square hole in the ground 😞 And then we get a demo of how to put up the hammock - luckily the rain has eased off, but the ground is very muddy and we squelch around. We start on Sue's hammock - she selects two trees about 2-3 meters apart and tie the hammock on - securely as we don't want it sliding down in the night. Next its up with the tarpaulin to keep off the inevitable rain, animal droppings and tree branches and leaves. Finally the mosquito net is tied up and its finished. We then put up Bill's nearby. Then its off on our first activity - an animal spotting jungle cruise - by now its late afternoon and the rain starts again so out come the ponchos and raincoats. But we do get to see lots of monkeys leaping about in the trees - some of the
monkeys have very tiny babies. We also see lots of birds, including hornbills and a kingfisher. 😊
Back for dinner - its now dark and the candles are on the table - giving a dim light. The dinner is handed out in a tin bowl - cold rice with small pieces of chicken and green beans. We can't really see what we are eating and both of us just pick at the meal - so we break out the emergency rations - a packet of jammy dodgers - yum! Then its off for our night time jungle trek - along an old elephant trail, which turns out to be very wet and squelchy and soon our boots are covered in mud. We don't see anything big but do find spiders, crickets, leaches, fingernail sizes frogs and lots of other bugs. The 40 min trek turns into 90 mins and some people pick up leaches, which result in panicked shouts for help to remove them and constant checking - luckily we both escape this fate - or so we think. Back to camp, we use the jungle toilet and start getting ready to hit the hammock - when suddenly Sue
On the Way Down
Its steep and no way to hold on screams "my t-shirt's covered in blood - get it off me" - we lift up the t-shirt, but no sign of a leach, so undo her trousers - nothing there either. We inspect the t-shirt, no leach. Finally we look more closely in her tummy button - there is old congealed blood - the leach had been sucking from her tummy button and had got full and fallen off 😞 Not surprisingly Sue is a bit shaken - Bill helps her change her t-shirt and gets her into her hammock. Surprisingly we both get a reasonable nights sleep, although Sue said the moskito net made her feel a bit clostrophobic and we were kept awake by a disco/karaoke from the nearby village and the guides mobile ringing 😞 😞
The next morning we are up at 05.30 and back along the same trail as last night for an early morning solo stake out. We trek for about 20 mins and then are dropped off one by one to get some isolated jungle time and hopefully see some animals - Bill saw a black squirrel and Sue a stick insect - so not really a success 😞 Back for breakfast
Absailing Down
Luckily there are ropes to assist at this point - hard boiled eggs, curried noodles and bread/crackers and jam. And then its time to take down the hammocks, before setting off on a 45 minute jungle trek to a conservation area. Off we go back along the same path we have been twice before - boring - but soon start to get into an area new to us. The path becomes more swampy and soon we are trudging through deep mud and puddles. We are not seeing any animals and 2 hours into the 45 minute trek we ask the guide how much further - he replies we have done 2 km and have a further kilometer to go and the the ground will get more boggy for the next stretch!! And sure enough it does - we are ankle deep and more in mud and water and there are leaches everywhere - we are all keeping an eye on each other, Sue finds one trying to burrow through the belt on Bills back and Bill sees 3 leaches trying to get through his trousers at groin area, he rips his pants open and calls for help!! Eventually we reach the conservation area, jump in the boat and head
back to the MESCOT centre to be re-united with our luggage. At the centre we have to take our boots off to enter the building, with everybody fearing leaches and pools of blood in their boots. Both of us have a leach in our boots, but luckily our thick socks have protected us and we just pull them off without harm.
Its lunchtime and we are soon off to the homestay where we will sleep tonight. The family we are to stay with is Hajah Sal Biah. The house is set back off the main road and we are greeted by the man and his wife at the door and invited in. The house is very large and clean and we have our own twin bedded room which looks very comfortable. Sal Biah and his wife live there with their son, his wife and their 4 children, who are all very young. We are both filthy and indicate that we would like a shower before lunch. The shower is very basic, an outhouse with a rainwater tank and a scoop to throw the water over yourself. It doesn't sound up to much but it was very refreshing and allowed
Sulphur Bath At Poring
Basically just a hot deep bath - but it did feel good us to do a final leach inspection of our private parts - relieved we found none 😉 Clean at last we are invited to lunch at the table; rice is served and we help ourselves to green beans, omellete, fried fish and optional chilli. The food was 'very tasty' -the best meal we have had in ages!! We talk during lunch and manage only basic communication as their english is minimal and our malaysian is non-existent, but we do learn a couple of words by the end. After lunch we head off to some local caves, Agop Batu Tulug, to look at 500 year old coffins - quite interesting, but so many steps up! Luckily the afternoon rainstorm holds off until we arrive back at the MESCOT centre. The rain means that the scheuled volleyball game against the village is cancelled. Instead we get a demonstration on how to make a fishing trap (boring - Bill fell asleep) followed by a cookery lesson, where we make our own dinner - we were both on the cake making group and our coconut dough cakes were delicious. After dinner it is a culture show, which we have to dress in local costumes
for. An hour of gonging, dancing and martial arts later we are presented with an artificial rose and wave goodbye - off to our homestay for a good nights sleep in clean sheets, with a good moskito net.
Breakfast in the homestay the next day is noodles, coconut dough balls and sweet tea (no milk) - actually quite nice. We take a picture of us with the family and sign the visitors book - it goes back to 2003 and they are proud of it. We say our goodbyes and its off to Sandakan. The hotel is nice but the rooms are on the 4th floor and no lift! We decide to go on a short tour, starting at Agnes Keats House - a famous local writer from the 30's - but the whole group decide not to go into the house - deciding instead to have tea and scones at the nearby English Tea House - delicious even if the clotted cream became a bit unclotted in the heat!! Its then off to the local WWII war memorial for Australian and English POWs and the local Malaysians who tried to help the soldiers. The memorial is inside a
park, which has been built on part of the original POW camp. There is a small museum that tells the story of what happened, a few original artifacts, some informative stones and the memorial. Only 6 prisoners survived out of around 2500 - and these men only survived by escaping and being hidden and helped by the local Malaysians, who risked their own lives. A very sad and moving visit - but why has the park been allowed to to become overrun by joggers - there was even someone doing press ups against an information stone - disrespect or what !!!!! Next stop is a chinese temple with a laughing budda - very nice, but we missed the monks chanting. We then move onto to a hilltop restaurant for a steamboat buffet dinner. The restaurant is cavernous with probably 200+ covers. This is the first steamboat for us. Basically there is a big soup tureen on the table which is filled with either plain stock or the spicy tom yam stock. You then help yourself from the huge uncooked buffet of seafood (prawns, crab, fish, fish balls) or meat (chicken, beef) and various noodles - place the items in the
Pouring in Poring
Our regular afternoon downpour broth for 3-4 mins, scoop out and eat - very tasty, although a bit messy. The night finishes with Bill and Andrew in a very basic local bar drinking Tiger Beers and watching the first half of the England/France rugby game
Next day it is off on a boat to Turtle Island National Park where tonight we hopefully get to watch a turtle laying her eggs and also see hatchlings being released on the sand and help them find their way to the sea. When we arrive we have a lazy day on the beach, swimming, snorkeling or just sunbathing, a much needed rest by everyone. Bill decides to take the 30 min walk round the island and sees a monitor lizard in the sand/sea, which when Bill approaches, swims to a shallow rock in search of lunch. The lizard is one of the natural predators for the turtle eggs. Lunch and dinner are buffet style and served in the cafe off the beach. When evening time comes Bill is feeling unwell as he has a dodgy stomach due to something he ate the previous night so he skips dinner and just waits for the turtles to come ashore.
Erecting the Hammock
Luckily we had help from the Rangers At about 21.30 the ranger calls everyone to the beach where a turtle has come ashore to lay her eggs. We all circle around the huge Greenback turtle (about 1 meter long) who has by now dug a hole in the sand and has started to lay her eggs - an absolutely amazing sight. As the eggs are laid the ranger collects them and puts them in a bucket. The turtle is unaware this is happening. The reason this is done is to move the eggs to a hatchery to allow them a better chance of survival from predators. The turtles are an endangered species and every % increase of survival of eggs is vital. Next we watch the eggs being placed in an artificial hatchery hole - well Sue does while Bill makes a dash for the loo. Its then onto the most interesting part of the night - releasing the hatchlings into the sea. The hatchlins have just hatched from eggs that were laid 60 days ago and are in a basket 2m from the sea shore waiting for us to release them. A ranger tips up the basket and about 100 turtle hatchlings (about 10cm long) scuttle
Our Jungle Hammock
Less bugs than the Round Inn !! towards the sea - except for some that head off up the beach and have to be re-directed. The hatchlings have little strength and when they reach the sea they are washed about in the surge, eventually getting into deeper water. About 95 %!w(MISSING)ill not survive, of the 5%!t(MISSING)hat do there is no knowledge of where or how they spend their first 30 years. This was a great experience 😊 😊
Early the next morning its back by boat to the mainland and on to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary. The Orangutan is another endangered species and the sanctuary has been set up to re-introduce the species into the wild. It is funded by tourists and there are 3 levels of re-introduction, the early years nursery, Feed Platform A where the food is provided and the tourists can view and Feed Platform B where the Orangutans are encouraged to go as they become more independent. We arrive for the 10.00 feed, only to find the viewing platform is mobbed and the feed platform littered by monkeys - not surprisingly only one Orangutan and its very young baby turn up - its still an impressive sight. Back for the
15.00 feed - there are fewer people and no monkeys - the Orangutan from this morning makes a short appearance with her baby again. Then another adult arrives with a much bigger juvenile and they both sit on the platform eating fruit. In the trees behind another large juvenile is seen, but it does not approach. Much better than the morning session. We then have to make a quick exit as we head off to the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary for the 16.30 feed. We get there early and our taxi driver produces green beans for us to feed the tame Silver Leaf moneys that come right up to the view platform. As the feed time approaches the number of Proboscis monkeys increases until there are way over 100, from the very large males, down to tiny babies. As the feed is placed on the platforms, they get overrun with the monkeys - a fantastic sight, looking at these strange monkeys with their weird faces 😉 😉
Its now our last day and we get a flight back from Sandakan to Kinabalu. At the airport we part company with the rest of the tour - going off to the Shangri-La,
A Tiger Leach
They are bigger and have a stripe down the side while everyone else goes off to a seaside guest house. But we will take a taxi to their hotels for a final dinner and to say our goodbyes before heading back to a very welcome clean and comfy bed - the tour was great but at this stage we both need some luxury. In two days we will be off to our final destination, Hong Kong and then its back home - get the sausages in crusty rolls ready !!!!!!!!!
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Umair
non-member comment
hi GUYS !
hi Bill and Sue. Hope u r having a fab time in Singapore. Definately no leaches there I hope. Kalsoom and I GOT BACK TO UK today and i was delighted to read your blogg. All the wonderful memories came flooding back. Have a safe trip back and I will contact you soon and we will meet up very soon. Umair Masood