[Kinabatagan, Malaysian Borneo] 6am is not a good time of the day for us but V was up in a beat and off to the ablutions (no showers btw) some 400m away – not fun in the middle of the night I can assure you. A quick cup of tea and we hit the river. These river safaris are the best and most comfortable way to see the jungle in our opinion.

As we headed down stream the sun started to chase the clouds away. We didn’t see much for some time – mostly birds (Kingfisher and Fish Eagle) and more macaques. The jungle here is not primary rain forest and is dotted with the evil palm oil plantations (but we like marge a lot) but most leave corridors connecting the pockets of jungle – I assume they supply the animals with maps. Sightings improved dramatically: a troupe of Gibbons, some Proboscis monkeys and three Orang Utangs. The gibbons are the coolest of the lot in our opinion. Such amazingly long arms and impeccable skills. One was showing off swinging around the trees with one arm. The Orangs were off in the distance perched on their nest high in a leafy tree. We were lucky to see them – a youngster, a mother and her baby (that was only visible after zooming in on the photos). The Proboscis sighting wasn’t too good. Hope we get a closer look at the ‘Dutchmen’ later on.

Back at camp we munched a large breakfast around the swam of bees that were desperately trying to reclaim the honey on our pancakes. Our little group is pleasant and chilled. A Frenchman and a French-Dutch couple. Joep (the Dutchman) used the ‘off’ time to school everyone, including the staff, in table tennis. The guy is a master. Our next activity was a jungle walk. Knowing what to expect we were not looking forward to it. Jungle walks mean muddy shoes, mozzies, sweat and sightings of plants and insects. The walk lived up to expectations but the guide was knowledgeable and interesting – we even learnt a few things in between swatting mozzies (the mozzies here are so viscous that they even go for V).

An afternoon snooze with a table tennis ‘World Jungle Championship’ going on in the background and we were keen on getting going on the evening boat safari. We did get to see the Proboscis Monkeys up a little closer but not much else and in the fading light photography was useless. The flying foxes however, were impressive. Thousands of them heading off overhead to feed. With a wingspan of up to a meter they are the largest flying mammal. The ride back to camp was interesting – speeding along the river in the dark – lucky the moon was out!

After dinner we were scheduled to go on a night jungle walk around 9. With the rain setting in and weighing the chances of seeing something interesting with the discomfort level, V and I decided to opt out and headed to bed early. Good call I think. The others came back drenched after spotting one frog and a bird sleeping with it’s head under it’s wing 🙂

[Pictures: Will Upload]

Some Flying Foxes and a lot of boring clips from the river safaris

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi