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Published: January 19th 2008
Just hanging around
These Orang Utans are at the rehabilitation centre where animals that have been captured from the pet trade or had their habitat destroyed are re-integrated into a natural population in a protected forest.Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good festive season whatever you were doing.
First up this month is news about the collection for Ibuan School. You raised a grand total of £615!!!! That’s more than I ever guessed at, Many Thanks. To spend it all I am taking the head teacher shopping on the 31st of this month. We have to go about 10 hours by bus to Davao where the suppliers are. A full blog about that trip and the handover ceremony at the school will be along in February.
So the main topic this month is my Christmas holiday with Maria in Borneo. We headed over to Sabah which is one of the Malaysian territories in Borneo. It used to be British North Borneo before becoming part of the Malaysian federation 50 years ago. They still drive on the left, English is widely spoken and we found shepherds pie followed by bread and butter pudding on the menu in one restaurant.
Sabah is on the main Asian tourist trail so we were immediately confronted with strange sight - white apes with lots of cameras! Of course what we were really there to see
were the Orang Utans, and Proboscis monkeys.
We started off in Sandakan which is the gateway to the eastern part of Sabah, the best place to see much of the wildlife. Its easy to arrange tours with local operators and though a bit more expensive than the Philippines its not bank destroying. We headed straight for the Orang Utan rehabilitation centre at Sepilok for an almost guaranteed sighting of semi wild Orang Utans. The centre releases animals into a 4300 hectare area of protected forest where they join part of the natural population. There is supplemental feeding provided twice a day but no variety - only bananas. This is to encourage the Orang Utans to become independent and forage for their own food. Being very intelligent they become bored with too many bananas but seem to enjoy coming to look at the tourists.
From there we headed to the Kinabatangan river for some river safari trips and the chance to see totally wild animals. On the way we stopped by some huge caves to watch the change of shift as 2 million swallows came back into the cave and 2 million (give or take a few) bats went
Bed hair
Question; do the Orang Utans get attacked by the leaches as much as humans? If so I feel sorry for them! out for dinner. It was a very impressive site. The pile of guano inside was mountain sized and the swarms of cockroaches enough to make your toes curl. There were also plenty of cave centipedes that our guide assured us were poisonous enough to kill a cow. Crazily people actually sleep in the caves while harvesting the birds nests.
On the river we were able to see a long list of wildlife as well as some beautiful sunrises and sun sets. The list includes Elephants, Orang Utans, Proboscis monkeys, otters, Hornbills, kingfishers, crocodile, monitor lizard, Silvered Langur, Maroon Langur, and lots of Macaques. Doing a little trekking in the jungle we met plenty of leaches (2 found my groin for a good drink) and followed trails of elephant footprints and ‘cannon balls’.
Our next stop was the Turtle islands national park. Its about 45 minutes from Sandakan by speedboat and put us right back on the border with the Philippines. 3 of the 6 small islands that make up the area are Philippine owned. Thankfully the conservation effort in Sabah is better organised than it is in the Philippines where turtle meat and eggs are still eaten. We
Proboscis boss man
Check out that nose! This is a dominant male relaxing after breakfast. spent the night on one of the islands and were very lucky to see a large Green turtle come ashore and lay a clutch of 78 ping pong ball sized eggs. These were collected by the warden for incubation in the hatchery where the eggs can be protected from high tides, other turtles digging them up by mistake, and predators like rats and lizards. Finally before bed we released the baby turtles that had hatched out that night in the hatchery - very very cute! Around 3000 turtles use these islands each year to lay their eggs making them a very important breeding area.
Aside from the fantastic wildlife one of Sabahs other attractions is Mount Kinabalu. At 4095 meters tall it’s a good pull to the top but not technically difficult. There was no chance of me passing this by without heading for the top. We arrived late in the evening at park headquarters and quickly jumped under 3 layers of blankets because at 1500m it was already cold! Would we have enough clothes for the top? Spare socks to use as gloves went in the pack. Before climbing we had to conquer a mountain of paperwork but
soon got on our way sharing a guide with a Belgium couple and three Australians. Climbing up the forest is mossy and draped in lichens. The trees gradually shrink to less than head height by the time you reach the lodge at 3300m. We were amazingly lucky to be climbing in bright sunshine with spectacular views looking down on a fluffy carpet of lower clouds. I was even able to sunbathe at the lodge in the afternoon. The temperature was only 12 degrees C, the coldest I have had since visiting the UK a year ago.
Next morning we were up at 2am wrapped in all our clothes and thankful for the socks on our hands. Heading up the final climb was harder work with more breathing needed than at sea level. We reached the summit an hour before sunrise and snuggled together behind a big rock for warmth. Once the sun came up the views were spectacular and it didn’t feel so cold. Heading down at full pelt to enjoy hot chocolate at the lodge was great fun but a killer for the legs! Maria was suffering the next day and I have to admit so was I
- going soft in the Philippines!
After such a spectacular holiday arriving back in Manila was a shock as the bus dropped us in a dark smelly bus station in the heart of a concrete jungle. Getting back to Lanuza was nice; it’s the wet season so everything is green and fresh and the surf is up. With less than 3 months left before I finish work here it feels like time is going very quickly.
That’s a quick round up of our Christmas holiday; we had lots of fun and have plenty of good memories (as well as many photos!). I hope you all had good fun whatever you were doing. See you next month with a big pile of books!
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Bill Carr
non-member comment
Great adventure Matt and Maria
Hi Guys, congratulations, what a terrific story and the great photos bring it to life. Regards Bill, Gold Coast, OZ.