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Published: March 31st 2009
26th March 2009
After a gentle start with breakfast and a few goodbyes to some of our friends at Lucy’s (we had a couple of hours drinking beer on the balcony last night) we heave our bags onto our backs and head out to the local bus stop to pick up a minibus to Ranau then to catch a connection to go to Poring Hot Springs in Kinabalu National Park.
The journey to Ranau takes two hours but it went very quickly as Pili and I spent the time brain storming some ideas concerning our future plans after we finish our trip in June (we have some exciting ideas but more about that later)
From Ranau we take the 19km trip in another mini bus with some Malayan tourists who we advise to stay at the same lodge as us as it’s much cheaper than the park lodges.
Our home for the next couple of nights is ‘Poring Lodge’ about 500m up the hill from Poring Hot Springs in Kinabalu National Park. On the surface it looks amazing, beautiful flowers with big butterflies flitting around against the background of endless hills covered in rain forest. The room
brought us down to earth straight away. Pili’s face was a picture when she saw the VERY basic set up. The room consisted of bunk beds, fan and a very basic bathroom. The windows were slated and didn’t shut properly and the whole room was a grey mildew colour. We paid 40 ringgit a night (£8:00 per night) compared to the 150+ in the park, we had no choice really. One bonus for me anyway was that I noticed on the way in an assortment of large insects of all shapes and sizes. Massive beetles, some with huge antennae, splendid moths and even a large stick insect. All these monsters were going to be great subjects for my camera, Pili was not as enthusiastic as I.
We decided not to waste any time and headed straight for the park. It seems after 3:00pm the staffs disappear or gather to play football, we just walked straight through the gate and nobody was around to ask for fees.
We followed the signs for the Tropical Gardens which seemed as good a place to start as any. The sun was scorching hot and by the time we reached the gardens we
were drained of energy and were thankful of a sit down in the shade.
The Tropical Garden was a bit of a let down. They were located in a nice patch of Jungle but with no info & just a few trails. It took maybe twenty minutes to walk the whole trail and only saw a few birds in cages. On leaving we decided to search for the star of the area, Jackie a 18yrs old female Orang-Utan who was taken in as an orphan, hand reared then released with another male back into the jungle. Sadly the male was electrocuted by a fence a few years ago which was an unfortunate accident and since then Jackie has been returning from the daytime in the jungle back to the research centre where she makes a nest of folded leaves close by in the trees. Her presence here is not publicised as she is strictly a wild ape but I think she’s lonely and also benefits from the food the researchers provide for her when she turns up.
We were lucky; we went around the back of the research centre initially to look at the Barking and Sable Deer
that were grazing on the hillside. We then notice Jackie sat staring at us at the entrance to The Orchid Research centre. She came walking over to Pili and I started taking photos, Pili and Jackie checked each other out, then this friendly ape headed towards the tourist seating area occasionally looking over her shoulder to make sure we were following. I told Pili not to make direct eye contact and to move slowly around her and gently sit down next the ginger beauty.
After Pili had sat down Jackie noticed a bag of spicy peas in the side of Pili’s rucksack, she immediately helped herself to the Malayan snacks which after trying quickly dismissed and reached for Pili’s bag again, hooking her index finger into one of the straps. Pili looked very worried when she realised she was caught and then felt the power in the apes arms. I intervened unhooking her finger which took a bit of doing I have to say, thankfully Jackie didn’t seemed bothered. Jackie then sat back and placed her arm behind Pili and just looked at her. It was very surreal to be up this close to our cousin, Pili was elated
and I have a picture of my two beautiful girls relaxing together. Pili decided it was her time behind the camera so we changed places. Jackie got off the chair and sat in the leaves looking for bits of fallen fruit. Gently I held her hand in mine, feeling her rough, powerful fingers, hands that hold her huge weight effortlessly from the jungle canopy. She was quite happy for me to do this and carried on turning over leaves. She then decided to relocate to a stone seat around the table nearby. She climbed onto the table, belly down and looked around. I approached her again talking calmly to her. I sat down next to her and placed my hand gently on her forearm. To my amazement and thrill she turned to me and looked deep into my eyes and smiled a smile that totally caught me by surprise, so human, so warm, a definite connection between the two of us. Pili my hero captured this precious moment on camera. Looking now at the photos it seems almost unreal, but it’s there, ape and man communicating without words, it has to be one of the proudest moments of my life!!!
With a new trust Jackie thought she perform a little for the camera. She moved back to the original seating, laid back with her hands behind her head and posed for the camera like a top fashion model, she loved the attention. She was so gentle, even when the local Macack Monkies came over to collect the savoury peas that Jackie had taken from Pili’s bag and poured onto the table. Not once did she chase them away which is what I expected.
This whole episode lasted about an hour and when she’d had enough of us she climbed down from the chair and slowly ambled back up to the Tropical Garden where she disappeared to make her nest for the night in the trees. Pili and I floated in a daze down the hill towards the entrance of the hot springs, what a privilege to have shared such a moment with the wild woman of the forest here in Borneo; it is more than we could have ever wished for and days later writing this account I still have a huge grin on my face.
We decided to end our evening in the park with a
soak in the famous hot, sulphur springs. After crossing a rope bridge across the river and walking through the outlying jungle we came to the pool area. The pools were a little disappointing compared with the ones we tried in Hammer Springs, New Zealand, especially as they were not natural rock pools but tiled baths, never the less we were very glad of a hot soak and a cool refreshing shower afterwards to wash away the sweat caused by the humid jungle.
Completely knackered we left the park and found a choice of street restaurants outside, we were starving. We chose a basic Malayan establishment; order three cold Tiger beer. My first one didn’t touch the sides. We ordered chicken with cashew nuts and beef in black bean sauce and a shared portion of rice. The bill came to 30Rm which is about £6:00, it was all delicious and we didn’t leave a single grain of rice. After the meal I sat and watched a group of Borneo Gecko’s raced across the ceiling chasing juicy bugs. With the amount of insects to feed on here you’d expect these little reptiles to evolve into bloody dinosaurs, there is more than
enough protein to super charge their evolution.
We then climbed the hill in the pitch black bloated from our meal but still managed to force a Corneto ice-cream down. Our path was being occasionally illuminated by the flashing of a lonesome firefly heading towards the bar.
When we arrived back at the lodge ready for our beds (we’re getting old, it was only about 9:00pm) we discovered our hostal was under siege from a barrage of HUGE insects attracted by the fluorescing light around the lodge. I spent 20 minute photographing as many as I could in the toilet/shower block and all the landings and hall ways before retreating to the room. The sound outside was deafening and not only from the cicadas. The place was swarming with huge beetles, cicadas and moths, all flying full speed into the side of the building. Some of the beetles & cicadas were the size of Brussel Sprouts! From inside the room it sounded like someone throwing rocks at the building, it was quite unnerving and so loud it prevented us from sleeping for a while. Pili thought she heard them moving furniture around which I think they were more than
capable of. I felt like I was in a scene from the Sci-Fi classic ‘Star Ship Troopers’. A one point one of the giant cicadas crashed into our bedroom door, fell to the floor and was swarmed by minute ants. The poor insect was screaming so loud it shook the windows, it sounded like some kind of possessed demon. I ventured outside with my monopod and rescued the beast by flicking him away from the ants. The cicada immediately stopped screaming and started rearranging itself, I felt good that it wasn’t suffering anymore and was sure he’d fly off into the night. Sadly one of our Japanese neighbours stamped on him while going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I found its body exactly where I had left him recovering earlier on. The ants had also found breakfast!
We also had a lodger with us during the night. On the top right hand corner of the door frame was a huge, long beetle with long antennae (I have to get my research books out when I get home, he may even be unrecognised to science as many creatures here are), he was obviously a predator so
I convinced Pili it was good to let him stay and consume any stray blood thirsty mosquito or spiders in our room. Actually if we’d had rats we’d be safe with this beastie in the room with us, it could have probably taken down a horse. I sat on top of my bunk down loading two 8mg cards of photos and watching this handsome beetle methodically clean itself all of which I captured on film. At 12:00 midnight I said goodbye to my new Beetle friend (I named him John after my favourite Liverpool Beatle), smiled to myself while reminiscing about the incredible experience we’d had with Jackie the Orang-Utan and settled into a very restless night, thanks to my peeling tan from my day getting sunburnt snorkelling last week.
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ANN HODGES
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REDHEAD
Iam speachless and thats a novelty, AMAZING PHOTOS and write up definatly brought me to tears I KNOW THIS WILL STAY WITH YOU BOTH FOREVER ,LOVE NOT WAR ALWAYS WORKS!!us humans have a lot to learn .I hope that everybody gets the message.,cant wait for the next Blog. love MOMxxxxx