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Published: November 30th -0001
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On the 30th of June I flew to Sabah Malaysia on the north east corner of Borneo. This would be my last stop before I met up with Brittany in Thailand. The main reason I wanted to go to Borneo was to head into the jungle to see some of the great wildlife there.
I flew into the town of Sandakan and headed to Uncle Tan's guesthouse from were I would head to the campsite they have on the Kinabatangan River. Before I headed out to the campsite with the rest of the group the next day we went to the Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Center. Here we were able to see Orang-Utans that had been brought to the center in their natural environment. We got their in time for the morning feeding session where rangers brought bananas and milk to a platform in the jungle for those Orang-Utans that wanted to supplement their regular meals. The park had a system of ropes set up that the Orang-Utans came swinging in from the jungle on before they settled down on the feeding platform. The Orang-Utans stayed around for about an hour and then the Pig-tailed Macaque and Silver-leaf Monkeys fought
over the leftovers. The Macaques were a little more bold and came over to the viewing platform and got within a few feet of us.
A group of about 15 or 20 of us headed out to the river campsite in the afternoon. The journey involved a 1.5 hour bus ride and then a 1 hour boat ride down river. As we rode down the river we saw Macaque and Proboscis monkeys as well as several birds. The camp sits on oxbow lakes connected to the river and the water level was high enough that we were able to boat through the forest and right up to the camp. We traveled through narrow lanes in between the trees that would every once in a while open up into a great lake before ducking right back into the trees.
The camp is set up right on the shores of the oxbow lakes and has simple cabins with sleeping mats on the floor with mosquito nets. We had a dining area where we could hang out in the afternoon and evenings and a volleyball court. The staff at the camp was excellent and did a great job at finding all
sorts of animals for us in the jungle and on the shores of the river. They were very friendly, great fun to hang out with, and knew all area and the animals like the back of their hand.
I spent a total of 4 days out at the camp during which time I was able to go out on early morning boat rides up and down the river, late morning walks through the jungle behind the camp, evening boat rides on the lakes and river, night boat rides on the lakes and river, and/or night walks in the jungle. I mixed and matched my days so that I could get the most of all of the trips and saw some great animals.
Out on the river in the mornings we were able to see several birds such as herons, egrets, eagles, hawks, hornbills, kingfishers, flycatchers, and more. In the evenings we saw monitor more birds, monitor lizards, and all types of monkeys. At night on the river we were able to get very close to birds such as flycatchers and kingfishers that sleep at night and look for crocs.
On the jungle hikes we were able to
see some great insect and frog species. On the morning walks we saw millipedes, scorpions, several types of tree frogs, bats sleeping in leaves, spiders and other insects. In the evening we were able to find sleeping birds, scorpions, beetles, frogs, spiders, stick insects, and other insects. I was fortunate enough to join a pro photographer and his friends on a couple of these hikes and we found some rare insects such as the lantern bug and some great frog species.
We had some resident animals around the camp that we saw every day. I quickly found out that the cabins are really to keep the mischievous Macaque monkeys out of our stuff. These little guys would get into anything that wasn't nailed down or shut away and would get down right mean. One little guy managed to open the heavy wooden box we had our tea stuff in and took the condensed milk can off. He ended up pouring the whole thing out on himself and his buddy below him and spent the next few hours licking it off himself. More than once I was chased off by a group of these things for getting too close. We
also had a large Bearded pig that would wallow in the mud below the kitchen and a 5 foot monitor lizard who would come by in the afternoons. I also stayed up late enough to see the Civet cat that would come into camp when the lights went out to pick at the scraps in the dining area.
After my 4 days at the camp I headed back to Sandakan and spent one day checking out the town. There wasn't a whole lot to the town itself and I had wanted to get to the Turtle Islands off the coast but the trip was booked for the day I had. I instead went to a little croc park that had some interesting and big crocs there. They had a 17 foot croc that had been removed from an area after eating 5 of the locals. They also had some crocs that were born with no tails.
After the croc park I walked to the Memorial Park which was a tribute to the 20,000 or so English and Austalian POW's who stayed, worked, and eventually died in Sabah during World War II. During the war all POW that were
captured in Borneo, Singapore, and other areas in South East Asia were brought to this area to work on building an airstrip for the Japanese. During their time in the camp the soldiers were given only about 150g of rice and small amounts of other food a day and then made to work long hours in the sun. Many soldiers died here and those who did not die during the work were marched west to another camp. During this march most of the POW's died and those who did not were finally killed by the Japanese. Only 6 POW's of the 20,000 that were sent to this area managed to escape. The site was a memorial to these men and also to the local Malaysian people who helped those who escaped. It was a very interesting memorial and a great reminder that we should never forget the sacrifice of those men.
On the 6th of July I headed over to the town of Kota Kinabalu in the north west of Sabah. I had about half a day to look around the town which was interesting but nothing overly special. There were some great islands just off the town that
are supposed to have some good beaches and snorkeling but it was too expensive for me to rent a boat by myself to get out to them so I spent my time walking around the markets and enjoying a nice dinner in an open market area. On the next morning I was off to Bangkok Thailand to meet up with Brittany so keep any eye out for a blog on our adventures there.
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