Pot bellies and blood sucking antics...


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Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Kinabatangan
October 13th 2009
Published: November 1st 2009
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The Sungai Kinabatangan was yet another place we only learnt about on our travels.. we don't do much research until we arrive at a place so only get set on going somewhere if someone highly recommends it.. which is exactly what happened here.

This is basically a natural reserve located alongside the Kinabatangan river where you have the opportunity to spot Orangtans, Pygmy Elephants, Probiscus Monkeys, Macaque Monkeys and a whole host of other birds and wildlife so we were keen to go and see if we could see anything ourselves. We'd been recommended the Sakuru Greenview B&B so after hitching the remaining 42km to Sakau from the main road because the minibuses were ridiculously expensive, we checked in and immediately booked ourselves on the afternoon sunset boat trip along the river.

Our wildlife spotting started before we'd even got on the boat when Dale saw a gibbon, an orange langur and a hornbill within minutes of each other in the same tree. When our guide Beji turned up we were quite happy that as we were the only guests in the B&B that day we were also the only people on our tour and in the boat.. so we got a very personal service!

We headed on up the Kinabatangan river for about 20 minutes and then turned off up one of it's major tributaries where the main wildlife can be seen. It wasn't long before Beji spotted a huge monitor lizard lounging around on a tree branch. We were quite amazed as we didn't even know that monitors climbed trees and also that he'd managed to see this as we'd have gone straight past it. He did say that he'd been doing this job for over 11 years now though so that explained why he spotted this and the other animals with ease as we went along and was even kind enough to lend us his binoculars so we could get a better look. Further upstream we saw another monitor and then a beautiful kingfisher. The best thing about this area is that the banks are so close together that you are never far away from anything on them or in the trees and you can get quite close.

After a while we spotted about 4 or 5 boats upriver and after initially thinking we were the only people in this area we realised how popular it really was as these boats were jam packed with people in fancy trekking gear carry large lensed cameras and very expensive looking binoculars. At this point we worked out that they had all come from the super expensive lodges that we only got as far as reading about before ruling them out because they were way over our budget!

The group of boats had all stopped to view a big group of Probiscus Monkeys so we were quite excited to get our first proper viewing of them, there were so many of them it wasn't difficult at all and we could see why you are virtually guaranteed to see them out here. Beji told us all about their lifestyles and how they live in one of 2 groups. One group is made up solely of batchelors while the other is made up of a main male and his hareem of ladies much like many other mammals. It doesn't take a genius to work out which group Dale said he would rather be in if he was one! Sophie was a little distraught to learn that if a main man is outed from his ladies gang by a rival male he doesn't get welcomed to the mens gang with open arms, but instead has to live alone for the remainder of his life which seems quite sad.

We stopped to watch for ages and found it funny that they have gained the name big nosed pot bellied dutch men. After meeting many Dutch men (and women) on our trip we could'nt see why they have been singled out as having these features. Beji explained that the name comes from back in the colonial period when the Dutch were gaining land and trade in these parts, the locals thought they had a canny resemblance to the featues of these fine monkeys and so the name stuck.

We left the monkeys to their daily lives as the sun had now gone down and they would soon be going to bed anyway and travelled upstream a little where we saw 2 new groups of macaque monkeys which were much nicer than the normal long tailed ones you see right across Asia. One was a group of short tailed ones who were all very handsome grooming each other, and the other a kind of medium tailed variety again much nicer looking than their naughty cousins. Our guide had told us that crocodiles were also found in abundance in this area but it was very unlikely we'd see them as they are quite scared of humans so even though we had our eyes peeled the whole time we didn't see one. Sadly he'd also told us that the pygmy elephants were at a different location at this time of year so we didn't get to see them either but seeing the Probiscus Monkeys had really made our day and were the main reason for our visit so we weren't disappointed in the slightest.

The next morning we were up at 5am for our dawn cruise. Again we went down the main river but quite a bit further this time and turned off another tributary toward Oxbow Lake, a natural lake formed over time. On the way we didn't see any mammals but did spot many rare birds that make this area their home. As much as we like to see birds we really aren't really keen ornithologists but we can say that if you are then you really should come here and you will not be disappointed. We managed to spot the rare storm stork, 3 varieties of hornbills, loads of beautiful kingfishers and a few eagles on the way.

A short walk through the secondary jungle around Oxbow Lake was also included in this trip so we donned our wellies and set out. Although we didn't spot any wildlife on this part of the trip we did encounter one of the jungle locals but not one we would like to meet again! As there had been a huge thunderstorm overnight we suspected that these little guys would be out in force but having not have the displeaure of meeting them before (except for the squashed ones Dale had in his shoes in Taman Negara) we weren't sure what to expect. No sooner had we stepped of the boat than Beji had grabbed one of these horrible leeches to show us! It wasn't like the big fat black ones you see on tv, but this one was small and thin with tiger stripes and kept waving around trying to find something to suck onto... needless to say we both recoiled in horror!

While we walked around the jungle we not only had to try not to lose our boots in the knee high mud, but also to not touch any of the leaves because there were loads of these horrible things waving around just waiting to relieve us of our blood. Of course it didn't take long before one of us got got and it had to be Sophie didn't it! While Beji calmly stood in a clearing removing loads that had got on his back Sophie felt a cold slimy thing on her stomach so pulled up the shirt that she'd worn to protect herself. She had the predictable response of nearly passing out (literally) and screaming at Dale to get it off her when she saw it making it's way North up her body. Dale unsuccessfully tried to pull it off as it made it's way onto her breast but after more screaming he gave up and she pushed herself forward to Beji who didn't know where to look as she'd totally undone her shirt by this point with no regard to what he might get an eyeful of! Thankfully he got it off on the first attempt but from that point onwards we pulled all our collars, cuffs and trouser legs in very sight to
Sophie going for the walkSophie going for the walkSophie going for the walk

it was raining and the hood was up for leech protection!
avoid getting sucked on again. They really are disgusting things and we cannot understand what possible purpose they must serve in the foodchain!

After this whole ordeal we made our way back to the boat quicksmart and breakfast was calling so we made our way back to Greenview. With 2 trips under our belts and being quite pleased with our wildlife spotting, with the exception of the elephants who were in another area, we decided to leave this wildlife haven and travel northwards to Sandakan where we'd get to see yet more of the orange hairy ones we so love to see!


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