An early morning wake up alarm at 4:20 am got us up in time to get ready to be met at 5:00 in the lobby for a ride to the airport. The overnight stay in KK was required due to the very limited number of flights out of Mulu and our destination of Sandakan.
We got to the airport quickly -- there's very few cars on the road at this time of the day. We were at the gate very early, but no complaints as it's always better to be early when navigating unknown airports. The flight was 30 minutes long; I fell asleep as we were pushing back from the gate and was jolted awake as the plane took a harder landing than normal. Fortunately I was too groggy to be startled.
We collected our bags and was greeted by Rose. She is from the Sabah area of Borneo. We have now joined a larger tour group of another 8 people so the bus we're on is a mini sized tour bus.
Most of the people who come and visit Borneo are from Australia, UK or Germany. There are very few people from other parts of the world. Or maybe that's a bias because at the various lodges that we stay at, we're grouped with certain tourists groups (ie western vs eastern) to keep staff and tourist expectations the same.
After picking up the other members of our group at My Nature Resort we are off to the Sepilok orangutan rehab centre. Orangutans are the closest animals to humans and only found on Borneo. They generally live solid a solitary life in trees above the jungle floor. Most of the orangutans come to the rehab centre as orphans or were kept in captivity in zoos or private collections. Our instructions were that we could not carry in any bags. Apparently the orangutans can grab your items and the centre has disallowed bags to avoid potential tug of wars. The reality is that anytime the orangutans come close to people the staff chase them away. I only brought in my little camera. That was a mistake on my part...
On our way to the see the orangutans we hear elephants. Our guide advises us that the centre is also looking after pigmy elephants but doesn't allow the public to see what they're doing yet. We notice a hole in the bushes between us and the elephants and discover we can see an elephant. I try and take a picture or two but the elephant is moving and the opening is small. I'll see what I end up with when I get home.
It can take several years to rehab an orangutan--some will never go back into the wild. Our first stop was to the baby orangutan area. It's not really babies, but young toddlers playing about and having a good time. The viewing is all done in a building with a large glass wall overlooking the outside. There was a large play structure for the orangutans to play on and the centre had put out food n the platforms. Several orangutans were playing and eating. Up to this point Judith would have been ecstatic to play with one of the young critters but after watching their interaction with each other, quickly discovered that they're not gentle creatures. Even young they are incredibly strong and in their play are pretty aggressive.
We watch for as long as we were permitted. All but one looked healthy and when we asked our guide about the sickly looking one, she said it was brought into the clinic last year and it looks much worse than it did a year ago. Something tells me that it's not going to live much longer. We then left to go to the feeding platform at another location in the centre. A young man carried a large basket of fruit strapped to his back climbed onto the platform and dumped it out. Then he clapped his hands once and sat down at the back of the platform and waited for the orangutans to arrive. Only one eventually appeared, a mother carrying her baby. The platform was a little farther away than my little camera could handle. I know I would have taken some great shots. However, it was interesting to watch the mother and baby feed for some time before leaving for other parts of the jungle.
During the whole time, the young man remained quietly at the rear of the platform not interacting at all with the feeding orangutans. His purpose became clear as he stayed a little while longer and when he didn't think that any more orangutans would come, he left the platform. Two seconds later, macaque monkeys began climbing on the platform and feeding one at a time. They had obviously been waiting for him to go. There was also a squirrel and several geckos that found the feeding platform.
After the orangutans we stepped into the adjacent Malaysian Sun Bear rescue centre. These bears are smaller than their North American cousins with a distinctive white patch on their chests. The bears in rehab have been either orphaned or rescued from captivity. Unlike the orangutan area, the area for the bears are fenced. I'm not sure how many bears are in each enclosure. In the wild, these bears have been hunted for their claws and gall bladders due to Chinese demand for these products.
We get back on the bus for our journey to Abai Jungle Lodge. The bus takes us to a seaside cuty. The Sim Sim Water Village is this interesting community of little houses packed tightly together. The houses are built on stilts to accommodate rising water levels. There is a concrete walkway between the houses (at least on the sections I saw) which we walked on to reach the pier.
The boat is about a 28 foot fibreglass shell with a hard top and front. The sides and back are open and it's powered by 2 x 85hp engines. Our luggage was stored on board and we boarded the boat siting on bench seats facing each other.
We roar off to the mouth of the Kinabatangan River. It's amazing how much the sediment from the river changes the colour of the ocean as we get closer to the river mouth. There must be tons of sediment flowing downstream every hour. We proceed up the river mouth. It starts off as a very wide river mouth--if it weren't for the colour of the water, you would think it's part of a wide ocean channel. As it narrows you can make out the current. The guides point out that it's risen a lot over the past week or so as we've had a few nights of torrential downpours. We travel for about another 30 minutes up river. All you can see at the river edge is secondary rainforest meaning that it's been logged. There is now a protected buffer along the rainforest; I suspect that in the other side of the buffer are hectares of palm oil trees. I have gps recorded parts of the trip, so when I get home I can view where we are on google earth and see what's on the other side of the buffer.
We pass a small village on the way to the lodge. We learn that the lodge supports this community by purchasing goods and employing people so they don't have to move away.
We arrive at the Abai Jungle Lodge. It's set on the banks of KInabatangan River. The river is at least 150 feet wide where the lodge is located. The lodge is owned by S.I. Tours Ltd. who own 3 different jungle lodges including the one we're staying at next.
For a jungle, the accommodations are fine. This is the oldest of the three lodges so it's showing their wear. They seem to be a bit stingy on the number of towels since there was only one bath towel in the room. And there is no shampoo or bath soap. I can't remember the last place I stayed that didn't supply shampoo... There is also no wifi--that means there will be no posts.
As soon as we get there it's time for a late lunch. All the meals are buffet and for the jungle stays, are included as there aren't any other restaurants to go to. They always have fruit for dessert, either as the only dessert item or with other dessert items.
After lunch we get our room assignments and have about an hour to go and get organized to go out on our first excursion--a late afternoon boat ride to go see wildlife. We're to meet back at the dock at 4:30 but are invited for tea and snack beforehand at the restaurant.
The boat ride was in an open runabout with bucket seating for 12 people. We zoomed off up the river and saw a large variety of animals including proboscis monkeys, macaques and an eagle. My phone camera isn't meant to take wildlife photos under low light conditions but since I didn't pack my SD card reader which would have let me show you other pictures I took this is all you get for now.
During the late afternoon excursion it started to rain. It got pretty wet despite rain ponchos. The people with expensive cameras didn't take photos when it rained as they didn't want to damage their equipment. Judith was using a cotton carry bag. Three days later it's still drying out. Things take a long time to dry when the humidity is as high as it is in the jungle. There is a woman travelling on her own. Isobel is in her 70's and she looks fit and a lot younger.
Back to the hotel for a group dinner. It's interesting to find out about the other people in the group. Four people travelling as a group are all cousins from the UK. One of them, Michael, is a butterfly expert.
After dinner most of us go out for a guided nighttime nature walk. There are lots of nocturnal animals and we see a few.
The it's back to the room as we need to be at breakfast at 7:00 so we can be ready for a morning excursion
No comments:
Post a Comment