In the jungle, the mighty jungle..

North East Sabah, Borneo

Sandakan

Leaving the fantastic diving and bad memories of being robbed behind us, we caught a bus to Sandakan, the former capital of Sabah. We met a couple from Texas, Kori and Chad, on the bus and went out for dinner with them for a cheap martabak (Malaysian filled roti) with curry sauce. They too had travelled in South America and it was a great opportunity for us to reminisce. As the Malays are Muslim and don't drink we headed for a Chinese restaurant in search of a few beers. We found it. Thus ending mine and Mik's week of abstinence.

Sepilok

The next day we headed to Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary which is located in the jungle. The orangutans are an endangered species and so native injured or orphaned orangutans get brought here, to one of only four sanctuaries in the world, cared for, and taught how to fend for themselves. They do their own thang in the jungle most of the day, but have a feeding platform, so that the public can see them. We went to both daily feedings and watched as orangutans large and small swung through the trees to make their claim on the bananas. It was a great sight, especially as the smaller long tailed macaques would try desperately to steal the bananas out from under their noses. They are such funny creatures, in some ways so very human looking, but being covered in bright orange hair makes them look so comical. We stayed an extra day at the resort and spent the day just relaxing in the jungle environment, and getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes.

Kinabatangan River

The following day we were picked up and taken to the office of Uncle Tans Wildlife Tours. This company had come highly recommended for their 3 day jungle tours along the Kinabatangan River. I was very keen to experience the jungle as we hadn't done it in South America, but I was slightly concerned with the company's opening line about their accommodation. This is not the Hilton, it read. Ahh! Oh well. I'm sure I'll manage for the two nights.

We met the other people in our group and we were really lucky as it was just us and another couple from Amsterdam, Koen and Linda. Normally there are about 20 people a day on the tour, and as there were also just 2 people in the camp from the previous day, we had gotten very lucky indeed. We took a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to the river where we boarded a rather small boat. I only say this as I knew the river to be full of crocodiles and was somewhat alarmed to be so close to the water. The journey took considerably longer as we zigzagged across the river stopping to see the wildlife on the way. We saw egrets and other birds, long tailed macaques and BIG crocodiles on the river banks which slunk into the water and somewhere under the boat When we approached, gulp.....! We even got to see an elephant - another stroke of luck. The elephants are extremely endangered and there are only around 150 left in the area. They also only pass through this area twice a year and we were fortunate enough to be there at one of those times. I can assure you that wasn't due to any amount of forward planning, just pure luck! We sat in complete awe as we watched an elephant scratch his backside on a tree trunk on the banks of the river just 20 feet away from us.

Upon arrival we walked the 10 minutes or so through the mud to the camp and were assigned a room. I use this word in the loosest possible sense as really it was just a few planks of wood held together with chicken wire. Still, the huts usually slept 6 and we had it to ourselves so at least no-one else would have to hear me whimpering at every strange sound from the jungle. The beds were just mattresses on the floor with a mosquito net above them. We had been provided with a single sheet each, but no pillows. This I created out of my dirty washing bag, sealed of course, wrapped in a sarong. We carry sleeping bag liners with us so at least we would be covered, but I still went for the extra covering of a towel too. We thought the sleeping arrangements were bad until we saw the toilets. Well, holes in the ground. They were of course the usual 'french style' toilets but these were worse than most as they were in the middle of the jungle where most ideas of sanitation went by the wayside. They also attracted hoards of mosquitoes. And I can tell you that it's not easy squatting to have a pee whilst holding your breath to keep from retching, and waving the mozzies away from your rear end so as not to get bitten. I did my best but to no avail. Hence I just rolled over and crossed my legs in the middle of the night, I didn't want to bump into the camp pig in the pitch black on my to the toilets as Kori had had the misfortune to do!

It wasn't long before we realised just how close to nature we were. Soon after we arrived one of the guides spotted a bright green snake in the grass behind the main hut. It was only small but even as Mik and Koen took photos, I kept my distance. Later during our introduction and briefing we asked our guide Leo whether the snake was a dangerous one. He said that it was a pit viper. We, of course, reiterated the question and asked what would happen if it should bite us. His response, "Oo la la, then you dead". What a way to start. Taxi!

The other form of entertainment in the camp were the long tailed macaques. As soon as any food was out on the tables, albeit covered by plastic hoods, the little monkeys would come swarming and try to grab anything they could. The first thing we saw disappear was an opened can of condensed milk. The thief ran off with it only to tip it all over the thatch roof of the kitchen and lick it off. What a waste! Much better drizzled over pancakes!

Our programme included several safari's over the 2 days, either in the boat or walking though the rainforest. We were provided with welly boots whilst at the camp as it was prone to rain quite a lot, as we would discover. Guess that's why it's called the rainforest then. These of course had to be tipped upside down and shaken vigorously before inserting one's foot.

Unfortunately for me it wasn't just welly boots that the little critters chose to have a nap in. When picking up my bag in our room I felt something crawl along my hand and fall onto the floor. I dropped the bag and made a small yelping noise. A passing guide heard me and asked what had happened. I said I thought it was just a millipede that was now hiding underneath my bag. He asked if it was a millipede or a centipede. I told him I didn't know. I hadn't exactly taken the time to count it's legs. He lifted the bag and saw that it was a centipede, I still couldn't have told you the difference, which apparently meant that it was poisonous. Great, the thing had just been on my hand. The guide tentatively lifted my bag and tried to get the centipede away. It ran across the deck and into one of Mik's welly boots. After much banging of said boot it eventually plopped out and ran off under our hut and away. Phew. I guess I had been grateful that the chicken wire would keep the monkeys, and hopefully big spiders and snakes, out, but hadn't given much thought to the smaller and possibily more dangerous insects. What is it with me and critters?

Having seen the elephant on our way to camp meant we had already spotted the number one ranked mammal. But we had been spoilt and now wanted to see more. Luckily the guides did too and so we did another afternoon boat safari instead of walking so that we could try to find the elephants again. We had pulled into the side of the river just down from the jetty (again I use this word in the loosest way) when we saw the next group arrive. We found out from them where the elephants were and changed our direction. What a result. We hammered it up river until eventually our guide cut the engine and drifted. As we looked at the shoreline we could make out some movement. And as we got closer we could see the bamboo moving and could hear the elephants munching. Amazing.

The guide drove to the bank and got out, disappearing into the undergrowth. He came back and gestured to Mik to give him his camera and off he went again. We sat quietly in the boat. He appeared again and this time gestured for us to follow him as the elephants were right there. He also advised us to remove the bright orange lifejackets we were wearing as they didn't provide us with great camoflage.

We stood on the banks of the river and wathced as the bamboo moved in front of us, then we got a glimpse of a baby elephant just 20 feet away. Slowly we were allowed to climb up the bank and get closer. There were 2 big elephants to our left busy munching away and the baby one in front of us with it's mother some way behind it but staring directly at us and watching over her baby. There were elephants all around us and we could hear even more than we could see. Mik and Koen were going mad with the cameras whilst Linda and I just stood looking completely gobsmacked by what we were experiencing. At one point a few of the larger elephants made a bit of a move toward where we were stood and the guide motioned us back down the river bank. It was actually fairly scary as you could see by the ease with which they had walked through the undergrowth that they could be on you within seconds if they chose to. Then the guide called us back up.

Just as the guys had clambered up the bank one of the closer elephants gave a loud trumpet. We all stopped dead in our tracks. Mik however provided some entertainment in this split second as he did his 'what the hell was that, oh my god how exciting is this, the baby elephant is coming right for me' dance. The look on his face and the springy movement his legs made had me howling with laughter, albeit quietly! Luckily the baby didn't come any closer or we may have had the mother and any other nearby elephants chasing us down the bank.

We watched the elephants for maybe 30 minutes and it was incredible. We had been lucky to be a small group so that we could get out and actually see them in their natural environment. It was starting to get dark and looked like it might rain so we had to leave. As we backed away in the boat however we saw several of the them come down to the water's edge and we watched as the baby took a bath and the others had a quick drink. We had been very lucky. It was a truly amazing experience and definitely a highlight of our whole world trip.

So from the highlight to the low lights. The night safari's! These weren't my favourite activity. The first one in the boat purely because it hammered it down pretty much the whole time we were out and the sound of the driver furiously shovelling bucket loads of water out of the boat left me feeling a little uneasy. Especially when we saw the eyes of crocodiles glinting in the torchlight, although half the time they actually turned out to be tin cans! Phew. We did see a magnificent owl though, who sat quietly and let us admire him, plus other birds and river frogs. It was quite difficult to see these things though as I had to have the drawstring on the hood of my waterproof poncho pulled tight around my face so as to not let the driving rain in. Not sure why I bothered really as I was still soaking by the end. We walked back to the camp and treated ourselves to a can of cheap Indonesian beer. It was mine and Mik's 4 year anniversary after all!

The walking night safari on the second night wasn't so enjoyable purely because I was shit scared. In my mind there was always the possibility of spiders or snakes falling out of the trees on to me. Linda and I had the same misgivings about walking around the jungle at night, and both kept our distance when the boys were playing the - who can get closest to the poisonous black scorpion - game. The guide won as he foolishly let the scorpion run over his hand.

Much to the boys disappointment, and Linda's and my delight, we didn't see any snakes and only one spider. The huntsman spider, also known as the long legged spider, but named by the guides the Peter Crouch spider. It did look remarkably like him. I was glad I had done it though. I would have happily given the scorpions and spiders a miss but we saw transparent frogs, a civet cat and birds sleeping. Clinging onto a branch with their feet, their head tucked under their wing, totally oblivious to the rain falling on them. Very cute. I was also followed by a beautiful butterfly which continually landed on my poncho. This may have been because my poncho was lit up like a beacon by my head torch. Apparently it gave me an angelic look. Well there's a first time for everything!

On our last morning we got up at the crack of dawn again for a second early boat safari. This time we had the camp manager (Lan) and I think he was determinded to find us something. He did. He spotted a large male orangutan sitting in a tree at the side of the river. How they see these things I will never know. Eventually after staring at the branches at which he is pointing does a dark blob shape become apparent and slowly you realise that it is indeed an orangutan. Not just some leaves. Lan decided we should all get out of the boat and try to get closer. For anyone watching from above (e.g the orangutan) it would have been quite an amusing spectacle. There were two groups, so about 15 people, fighting their way through the jungle in search of the particular tree where the orangutan sat. Or at least he did until we found said tree, upon which he would move. So we would change direction and chase after him as quickly at the thick undergrowth would allow us. This game went of for a while but we managed to get a few glimpses of him. It is something else to see them completely in the wild. Eventually he decided he had had enough of this game and so decided to try and wee on us! Luckily I hadn't been able to get close enough to him to have to avoid getting wet. And with that he was gone.

On the way back to camp we were able to take the boat right to the doorstep as the river levels had climbed so much that the banks of the river were flooded. The guides knew every tree and every turn and took us right into the camp. And that was our last jungle experience. We packed up our damp, filthy, smelly clothes and set off back to civilisation desperately in need of a shower. We actually nearly got a wash on our boat trip out as the heavy rain had washed a lot of debris into the river. This included rather large logs, some of which weren;t floating on the surface and could not be seen. So it came as a bit of a shock when one hit the propeller and tipped the boat at an alarming angle. For a split second I think we all thought we were going in, rucksacks and all. Luckily the driver managed to regain control and kept the boat horizontal. The two guides thought it was highly amusing, I guess they must have seen the look on my face. But I saw their's too and they thought it was all over just as much as we did.

We had had a brilliant time and were somewhat sad to leave but the thought of a shower and a proper bed was too much of a draw, so we left the jungle and all it's animals and critters and made it back to the office from where we would catch a bus to Sabah's capital, Kota Kinabalu.

Cara

p.s I know those of you reading this know better than to think that I am the one who is slow in writing up my entries! x