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Published: April 6th 2007
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After traveling in a minivan for over an hour we then traveled by boat for another hour, but this was also our first taste into wildlife watching. Yan (our occasionally pulled up and pointed out animals to us, mainly birds but we were all a little tired and our infusesum wasn't as high as it could have been.
We stayed at Uncle Tan's Wildlife Camp which is situated in the lower Kinabatangan flood plains next to lake called Danau Giarng which translates to "Happy Lake". The jungle was to be our home for the next two nights.
Our room was a wooden hut with metal mesh which slept five people. The beds were just single mattresses on the floor, we did however get mosquito nets but unfortunately no fan and believe me it did get hot. The shower facilities consisted of a bucket and a few outdoor taps, there were cubicles to wash in however you had to fill your bucket up first as there was a sink but no taps.
At 7pm we had a briefing where we were informed of the routine for the next two days and we were also introduced
to all the staff, all being male, very bizarre as they live there 24/7. We then had dinner time and met Rob (another chap from Bristol is there any men left in that place or are they all traveling?). The food was actually really good, considering we are in the jungle with not a shop for... who knows how far...
At 9pm it was our first safari, which was by boat. We got to see a fair bit of wildlife, again mainly birds, lots of kingfishers and hornbills, we also saw a baby crocodile and a pair of eyes in the water, long tail macaques and also proboscis monkeys, these are quite ugly really. The males have incredibly large noses and big pot bellies, they used to be found in South China but are now unique to Borneo. The trip was supposed to last an hour but by the time we got back it was close to 11pm.
Erica and I then had played cards and were joined by Ampong and Tony, two guys that work there. We taught them a card game that Ampong was very good at and in return they taught us one
called monkey. After calling it a night I was about to brush my teeth when I could hear Ampong calling me, a civet cat had just come into the camp, probably looking for food.
The next morning we got up at 6am and headed back out on the boat looking for wildlife out hunting for breakfast. We saw two crocodiles of medium size, apparently there is one about 3 metres. We also saw a fish eagle, rhino hornbills, black hornbills, more kingfishers (I’ve forgotten which type) and three otters. One was way ahead of the other two which were lagging behind; the one at the back kept stopping for a breather. We had to laugh as they reminded us of Erica, Rich and I on treks. I would always be ahead of them two, Rich would be a little further back and then Erica would be back.
We returned for breakfast and then Lan took Erica and I back out on the boat to one of the places the large croc has been previously seen, but unfortunately he wasn't there.
It was then time for our morning trek in the jungle, although at
this time of day there was not much to see, Ampong pointed out tiny frogs, centipedes and a rather large spider. He moved a plant out of his way and picked up a friend without knowing, a leech. I had expected them to be quite fat, like slugs really like on the film stand by me, but instead they were very thin and peculiar looking.
When we returned to the camp we had lunch and then it was free time, despite intending to write in our journals Erica and I caught up on some sleep instead.
At 5pm we were back on the boat, mist had started to settle on the river and it felt quite eerie. Erica, Rob and I were squeezed on to one seat but part was through the trip I was moved to another boat all on my own, boo. Well there were other people on it but not anyone I knew. On this trip I got to see more crocodiles, 3 actually but still no sign of the daddyO. We also saw hornbills, proboscis monkeys and macaques. Another animal we had yet to see, if we were lucky, was the orangutan.
At 9pm we were off trekking again, Lan took us out wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, literally no shoes, no t-shirt, just shorts. All of us were wearing long sleeve tops, long pants, socks and either walking shoes or Wellington boots and I still got bitten by mosquitoes. It turned out to be one of the best trips, we learnt how to spot a snake, frog and a spider from 30 metres and I also became chief scorpion spotter. We saw poisonous centipedes, long legged centipedes (which I found, it was eating along legged spider at the time, well it was until Lan picked it up). Furry caterpillars which leave you itching for days, tree frogs, tiny frogs, fire ants and if you hadn't already gathered scorpions. Lan had wanted to get one out as they hide in trees but the two I found didn't want to play, eventually he found one which came half way out, he also found the small non poisonous variety too. We then headed back and he found one last creature for us, a large tarantula.
The next morning we were up at 6am again for our
last trip, another morning boat safari, which turned out to be the best ever. We saw more monkeys both proboscis and macaques, but also got to see a female and baby orangutan from a distance. Then later we saw a mature male which is apparently a rare sighting and we saw him really close up. To top it all off we then came across the 3 metre crocodile again we got so close to it. It was just lay on the river bank and then suddenly slid into the water, it gave me a bit of a fright when it moved as it suddenly occurred to me how big it really was and how bloody dangerous they are. Up in the tree above was a mangrove snake, so mission accomplished we had seen everything that as a group we had aimed for.
All that was left to do then was to have breakfast and pack. It was a brilliant few days and we had an amazing time. I only wish we could have stayed longer.
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