Borneo is the land of orangutans, gibbons, elephants, probiscus monkeys, long and pig tailed macaques, monitor lizards, hornbills, mosquitoes, leeches and much more! Though we only had a week to experience the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo, we definitely had enough of an adventure to give us something to talk about.We spent a few days in Kota Kinabalu city (KK), which is like any other SE Asian city, but with a small town feel. The torrential downpours kept us from seeing too much of the city, but we sure did experience some fun Malaysian malls, a street fair and covered outdoor markets...but the city wasn't what we came for, probiscus monkeys and orangutans were priority on our agenda.
We left KK for Sepilok, where the world renowned Orangutan Rehab Center awaited our visit. Arriving at the center just before feeding time gave us some great close up views of a couple of orangutans and yes, they are cuter in real life! Since the center works to save orphaned baby orangutans, they slowly transition the apes back into the forest so designated feeding times within the forest allow food supplement for the cuties and orangutan spottings for us tourists. We watched four orangutans for well over an hour as they hung around, ate and interacted with one another before we left the center for our 3 day jungle excursion.
You cannot visit Borneo without spending at least a few days in Kinabatangan country. Sugai Kinabatangan is Malaysia's second largest river and is just pulsing with wildlife- especially towards the end of northeast monsoon season. Once you look past all the mosquitoes and leeches awaiting fresh blood, you'll be amazed in what you see. During our few days there at a lodge, we had a couple sunrise river trips and evening river trips with a guide and a hike through knee deep mud to view an oxbow lake. The river trips are the way to go since much of the wildlife seeks refuge along the river's edge. So what did we see?
Well, we spotted: tremendous birdlife-the hornbills being the coolest of the bird sightings, followed by the brightly colored kingfishers dotting the river's edge, saw enough long tail macaques to be pleased for a lifetime-best appreciated in the wild (just ask P), spotted an orangutan in the wild! and although it was quite far from our boat, it was cool to watch her armspan reach out to pluck fruit for breakfast- these creatures have quite the armspan! We spotted several troops of probiscus monkeys- only found in Borneo! The ~6ft long monitor lizard was a bit shy so we only had a quick glimpse as it creeped along the riverbank before booking it for the dense vegetation (the sleeping baby monitor tucked away in the crotch of a tree branch wasn't as exciting for some reason). Other sightings included a silver langur, a couple of eagle species, thousands of leeches (during our mud hike) and an elephant! Though not the newly discovered pygmy elephant, we were thrilled to see any elephant and this one was huge. The guide informed us that it was a solitary male elephant and though he seemed calm and content sucking up oil from various oil palms in a nearby plantation, he's actually very dangerous. We watched as he stuffed himself with palm oil and waved at us with huge elephant ears before we moved down along the river's edge to tell the locals of the dangerous beast lurking in the plantation. As a side, these trillions of oil palms making up tons of acres of plantations are part of the reason most wildlife is being siphoned towards the river's edge-that and the logging operations. So, although we were pleased with our wildlife sightings, we hope the Malaysian government will move forward on the protection of native habitat.
So get yourself to Borneo, make sure you go through an eco-friendly lodge for your jungle excursion and be prepared to be amazed!
We left KK for Sepilok, where the world renowned Orangutan Rehab Center awaited our visit. Arriving at the center just before feeding time gave us some great close up views of a couple of orangutans and yes, they are cuter in real life! Since the center works to save orphaned baby orangutans, they slowly transition the apes back into the forest so designated feeding times within the forest allow food supplement for the cuties and orangutan spottings for us tourists. We watched four orangutans for well over an hour as they hung around, ate and interacted with one another before we left the center for our 3 day jungle excursion.
You cannot visit Borneo without spending at least a few days in Kinabatangan country. Sugai Kinabatangan is Malaysia's second largest river and is just pulsing with wildlife- especially towards the end of northeast monsoon season. Once you look past all the mosquitoes and leeches awaiting fresh blood, you'll be amazed in what you see. During our few days there at a lodge, we had a couple sunrise river trips and evening river trips with a guide and a hike through knee deep mud to view an oxbow lake. The river trips are the way to go since much of the wildlife seeks refuge along the river's edge. So what did we see?
Well, we spotted: tremendous birdlife-the hornbills being the coolest of the bird sightings, followed by the brightly colored kingfishers dotting the river's edge, saw enough long tail macaques to be pleased for a lifetime-best appreciated in the wild (just ask P), spotted an orangutan in the wild! and although it was quite far from our boat, it was cool to watch her armspan reach out to pluck fruit for breakfast- these creatures have quite the armspan! We spotted several troops of probiscus monkeys- only found in Borneo! The ~6ft long monitor lizard was a bit shy so we only had a quick glimpse as it creeped along the riverbank before booking it for the dense vegetation (the sleeping baby monitor tucked away in the crotch of a tree branch wasn't as exciting for some reason). Other sightings included a silver langur, a couple of eagle species, thousands of leeches (during our mud hike) and an elephant! Though not the newly discovered pygmy elephant, we were thrilled to see any elephant and this one was huge. The guide informed us that it was a solitary male elephant and though he seemed calm and content sucking up oil from various oil palms in a nearby plantation, he's actually very dangerous. We watched as he stuffed himself with palm oil and waved at us with huge elephant ears before we moved down along the river's edge to tell the locals of the dangerous beast lurking in the plantation. As a side, these trillions of oil palms making up tons of acres of plantations are part of the reason most wildlife is being siphoned towards the river's edge-that and the logging operations. So, although we were pleased with our wildlife sightings, we hope the Malaysian government will move forward on the protection of native habitat.
So get yourself to Borneo, make sure you go through an eco-friendly lodge for your jungle excursion and be prepared to be amazed!
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