Kinabatangan, Malaysia...jungle trek...simply unforgetable!

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Life is full of surprises! Your learn about yourself everyday and sometime it is just about giving it a try, pushing the boundaries and you surprisingly end up discovering that you are up to new experiences!
Decided to go for the jungle safari about a week before departing for Borneo, truly scared by snakes and spiders and well mosquito tend to love me (or my blood...pick one!) so ones would say I might not be the perfect ‘candidate’ for a jungle safari…Guess, it was just a question to give it a try! Simply loved it and wish I could actually have spent more time there!

But back to the initial journey…Although Borneo might seem as next door when you are based in China…well, that was a long long journey…but so worth it!
Night flight to Kuala Lumpur, landing at 1.30AM…next flight at 7AM…plenty of time for music and reading! Arrival in Sandakan at 10AM, pick up at 1130AM, more reading…then a good 2 hours drive on a proper road (lots of palm trees…) followed by an additional hour drive on a rocky path…and when you feel that you are finally there…well, technically, had already taken both the plane, bus and car so the only transportation that was missing was the boat…and on the boat we went! Finally reaching Nasalis nature lodge at well 4PM… Technically, took me nearly 24hours from Shanghai...

The resort was quite nice, although basic, everything was eco friendly and the staff simply amazing! A big thanks to all of them…they are the one who made this experience truly memorable…

Other really good point, less than 30mn after check in, we were already on our way for the first jungle trek! Along the river…lots of birds, long tail monkeys, proboscis monkeys, gibbon (yes !!! got so lucky!), huge lizard, snakes sleeping on the trees…and the sounds … as you turn off the engine of the speed boat they are all yours…magical…overwhelming.. Simply surrounded by it…
Came back as the sun was going down…an other amazing sunset over the river…

Time for dinner and getting ready for the night trek ! Felt quite confident prior to the dinner, but half an hour later and lots of stories (and pictures…) from the other guests, and I was well…geared up, hoping that I wont be attacked by leeches, snakes or spiders…sweet..oh, and add to that the advices from our guide…”should you see fire ants on the floor, keep moving…if not, they will attack you and it is really painful” sweet…obviously, when in the pitch black jungle you don’t spend your time checking out the floor for those tiny fire ants…gonna be fun!
So in the pitch black jungle we went…crossing over the electrical barrier (to prevent big animals to get in the resort..), nice “danger” sign on the way out and here we were…in the mud, watching out for leeches, looking up for snakes sleeping, and turning around at every single noise hoping for some more monkeys/birds! After half an hour, we got to all turn off our lights…and listen, not just hear, but actually listen to the life happening around us…one more of those magical moments…
An other half hour and it was time to go back for a short night of sleep…
Wake up time at 5AM the next morning for an early morning boat trek…

Short night (and previous night in the airport), clearly not awake at all…actually, really not awake! A huge rat had sneaked into our chalet, and passed by the other girl, she screamed (which wake me up although I hadn’t identified that sound as a scream), and then the rat runned into my direction and walked by without me even notifying…the girl was truly impressed by the fact that I was not scared by rats…well, until the moment I told her I even didn’t see it! Coffee time…

Early morning time along the main river…and well, after slightly insisting, our guide made a right into a tiny branch of the river…so narrow at some stage that he had to paddle to go through. This got to be the best part of the morning trek, surrounded by trees, monkeys everywhere you look…Just spent time hanging there…love it!
Last trek for this part of the trip…but looking forward to more ‘jungle’ experience, truly amazing!

Writing this blog from Sipadan, Mabul resort....lots of diving…(and some of the best I have ever done!)…so be ready, lots of new blogs coming up!

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