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Published: February 11th 2007
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Arriving by taxi in the dark at what looked like an industrial estate, we felt uneasy about the jungle tour we had booked with 'Uncle Tan's'. However, we spent the evening relaxing as the rain poured continuously, and hoped for better weather in the morning. Morning came, and off we went to Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary, having bought huge black macs to keep off the unrelenting monsoon downpours.
Our memories of the Orangutan sanctuary are sadly disappointing: Standing in the pouring rain among crowds of other daft tourists, looking into the trees for a small black dot in the far distance (an Orangutan). David had the immeasurable joy of seeing a moving arm; the only things Louise saw were the raindrops cascading over her glasses.
Arriving back at base, dripping-wet and quite worried about our impending jungle adventure, we decided to see what the tour group arriving back felt, before signing our lives away. With positive reports of the wildlife, and a determination not to be wet westerners (well, at least in one sense), we headed off towards a jungle camp we knew to be flooded. The prospect of wading waist-high on a wildlife trek sounded ridiculous, yet exciting -
these were the experiences we would remember, we thought. We were right.
When we arrived at the riverbank by mini-bus, we boarded a boat, which was to take us to the jungle camp. The rain had stopped, and en route, we saw a monitor lizard, proboscis monkeys, macacques, hornbills and egrets.
The boat pulled into the clearing of Uncle Tan's' camp, usually the scene of much activity, including volleyball (the net was still up), but now, sadly, just a very murky swimming pool. Buildings on stilts were above the water level, but the water between them was waist high, and rising all the time. Asking to go the toliet, we boarded the boat again, and were taken to a small hut surrounded by water, behind which one could releive oneself through a hole in one of the planks into the water below. We felt uneasy about the rigmarole involved in going to the loo, and we wondered what we would do if we needed to go at night. On seeing the accomodation, we soon had the answer. Our jungle lodge resembled a cage. A wooden structure with wire mesh for windows, foam mattresses and mosquito nets inside, and
a porch at the front (this was under water) was our home. When one of us needed to 'go', the others had to close their eyes and sing a song, so that the unlucky person could climb onto the balcony frame and hang over it before doing their business. Yes, very funny.
It's fair to say that we were slightly underwhelmed by our new digs, and by the thought of trekking through floods. Nonetheless, we wolfed down a buffet-style dinner and started to get a little excited as we were briefed by our guide about the itinerary. Mostly, we were looking forward to our night boat safari planned for that same evening. At about nine pm we climbed abord the little narrow vessel, and drifted into the pitch black jungle. Stealth was of the essence, and the guide continually pulled the boat up quietly, towards small night-time creatures, half-hidden in the rainforest's thick undergrowth. We spotted a couple of kingfishers, and some small frogs, among other things.
Later that night, the four of us made the unanimous decision to leave a day early, thereby departing the following morning. The night safari had been fun, but the promise of
the usual mammal sightings was looking unlikely due the flooding, and the weather was not improving. Moreover, it was David's birthday the next day and he adamantly refused to sleep in a marooned cage on his special day. We decided instead to head to Semporna, a coastal town used as a base for excellent snorkelling and diving and the possibility of seeing sea turtles at close quarters!
David's birthday began at six-thirty am as we were woken up by the boat pulling up at our cage to take us on our morning boat safari. We got ready in about 2 minutes flat and before long we were away. This outing was disappointing, and the rain soon started drizzling. However, we did manage to see a baby crocodile and another monitor lizard (or was it the same one; it seemed to be in exactly the same place as the last one?).
If it had been the intention to secure David a half-decent birthday, then we were failing misarably. The wet day-safari completed, we ate our dodgy, fly-ridden eggy-bread and triple-wrapped our bags in bin-liners for the journey back in now, torrential rain.
The boat ride back to shore
David in his new shorts
To top it all off, we had put David's swimming shorts in to be washed, so he had to wear these beauties that we bought from a local shop! was horrific. The rain was beating down so hard, it felt like it was coming at us sideways and upwards. David and Amanda, (the non spectacle wearers) pulled their raincoat hoods tight over their heads and hunched in their seats, they were unable to look up for the hour long journey. Michael and Louise at least had some defence against the nail-like raindrops drilling into their eyeballs. Our bin-linered backpacks swam around in the ever filling boat as Michael continued to bail out vast quantities of water.
What felt like many hours later, we arrived on 'dry' land. Soaked to the bone, we fumbled about, checking our valuables weren't damaged and putting on some dry clothes. Then, finally, we were in the dry, though not especially comfortable, minivan. We were taken back to Uncle Tan's to collect the rest of our luggage. This was particularly frustrating as Semporna was a mere three hours by direct bus from the camp pick-up point, as opposed to the full days travel we ended up having to endure, including having to back-track twice along a particularly bumpy road in the pouring rain. We eventually arrived in Semporna, tired, uncomfortable, grumpy and starving. Happy
f***ing birthday to me, muttered David, stoicly. Desparately trying to salvage some sort of birthday occasion, Amanda, Michael and Louise blew up ballons, wrote cards and wrapped presents.
We found a 'posh' hotel for dinner and David ordered a mixed grill. No amount of meat could make up for the disaster that was David's birthday, but this meal at least went some way towards it. The staff also came up trumps with a single candle on an upturned plastic bowl, brought out to a high-pitched 'happy birthday' song. Now, with David feeling more like a birthday boy, we brought him back to his cosy hotel room filled with balloons, presents and cards. Michael and Amanda had bought him a mach III razor in an attempt to ensure no future beard growing. Louise bought David new sunglasses and a game for his gameboy advanced which he had purchased in Thailand.
Semporna is a very small town where the people seem very interested in westerners, at times even craning their necks right round just to get a look. There is essentially very little to see and do in the town itself, but it is the base for some exquisite diving
and snorkelling. After some deliberation, we eventually managed to arrange ourselves a boat trip to the island of Mabul, by going direct to a local fisherman. The four of us hired some snorkelling equipment, bought some cooked noodles for lunch and headed for the port.
On reaching Mabul, we jumped off the boat and pulled on our flippers and snorkels. For David, this was the first time, and he was slightly apprehensive. Nevertheless, before long he was having the time of his life along with the rest of the group. The diversity of sea life was simply stunning. We saw hundreds of corals, both soft and hard, a whole host of tropical fish species, (including Clown fish, or Nemos as some people will know them!), a Manta Ray, some huge starfish, and best of all, a turtle lurking on the sea bed.
All in all, this was a really fun day. We had our lunch in the boat which was moored up on the island, the weather was terrific, the water was crystal clear, and the boat crew were really friendly. The only not-so-relaxing side of the trip was the very bumpy ride back which saw us being
thrown around all over the place until we were bruised and battered.
We left in the morning, sunburnt from snorkelling, and endured another long and uncomfortable bus journey in order to reach our next travel destination. We had to stop off in a rather unappealing town called Sandakan (which smelled), where we did Internet, and tried to plan our next moves. We reflected on our time so far, and decided that apart from the snorkelling trip, Malaysia hadn't really been all that kind to us so far. Anyway, we decided that it was imperative that we remained upbeat and so we started to look forward to our next adventure!
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Alex
non-member comment
Niiiiiice shorts. Big shake!
That is all.