Borneo has lost a huge amount of its rainforests, but this small section along the Kinabatangan River has one of the highest biodiversities of anywhere on the planet! It’s easy to get around and see everything too using boats on the river. We went against our normal methods and joined a tour here. We saw so much wildlife!! Just amazing.
Day 190 – Kinabatangan River Tour day 1
We had a leisurely morning to pack, so the kids took advantage and played in the playground, before we ate some sandwiches and left.
Normally, we don’t do organised tours, as it usually it works out so much cheaper to do it yourself, but in this case it hadn’t been much different, so, in my days of being a bit fed up with planning, I’d handed the reins to someone else and coughed up for the trip. At £200 for two nights accommodation, transport in and out of the Kinabatangan River area, five meals, four boat safaris and a guided jungle walk for the four of us it was pretty reasonably priced.
We weren’t sure whether the driver knew how to contact us, or that we were Block B in our complex, so headed down at 1pm to start seeing if we could find him, and he pulled up at exactly the same time! A perfect start.
Another British couple and a Russian Lady joined us and we headed out for the jungle. Chris described this as ‘the most depressing journey ever’ because, once we’d passed Sepilok and were on the main road down, it was Palm Oil Plantations as far as the eye could see. For hours. The beautiful forests we’d been walking in for the past few days are an island in this, as is the forest in the Kinabatangan area. We’d heard about forests being cut down for Palm Oil, but to see the scale first hand is something else. And we’ve only driven for a few hours, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. How can we prevent the rest of these forests from going the same way, without depriving the people here of a way of life and the right to an income? I guess in some ways tourism is an answer, although that brings its own problems if not done right (pollution, waste, exploitation). So much to think on.
There was no time though. Our bus was late getting to the Sukau Backpackers where we were staying (this is not a luxury tour like some!), so we had about 15 minutes to get into our rooms before heading out on our first river safari. This area is meant to be one of the most biodiverse in the world which huge concentrations of many animals (possibly because they only have a thin sliver of forest left along the river?), so we had pretty high hopes for seeing some monkeys and birds.
We were not disappointed! Our boat had only the five of us and the British couple, so we had plenty of space, and set out alongside a number of other boats from other lodges and tours. We knew we wouldn’t have the river to ourselves so that wasn’t a surprise. The initial river is fairly wide, so we moved down, generally closer to one bank than the other, with our guide driving and spotting.
It wasn’t long before we found Long Tailed Macaques on the bank.
Soon after, there was a small crocodile. Not many birds though. We caught some Pig Tailed Macaques in the trees too.
Then we got our first Proboscis Monkey – one of the main draws as they are endemic to the island. These funny looking monkeys are famous for their noses. The males have a large, cartoon character like nose, whilst the females have funny little snub noses.
Not long after there were more monkeys – this time Sliver Leaf Monkeys. These guys have super cute ginger babies.
A whole load of birds followed; the Brahminy Kite, Purple Herons and Oriental Pied Hornbills.
We turned off the main river into a narrower tributary, which was much nicer. We saw more of all the types of monkey, and then a massive Rhinoceros Hornbill. These birds have a massive 1.5 metre wingspan and a huge red horn. We almost got an amazing picture, but the timing was off by a split second ☹
Could it get much better than this? We felt like we’d seen everything!
It could! Orangutans; a mother and her child. Our guide was so pleased he was congratulating himself. When we asked him later he said they don’t see them that often.
We saw even more monkeys on the way back and watched this huge troop of Proboscis Monkeys for a while.
The trip had more to offer still, as we saw an absolutely massive crocodile in the water, probably over 10ft long, with only its head and tail out of the water. Then it moved and we saw that it had a baby wild pig in its mouth! If you look closely in the pic you can see a trotter sticking out the water!
Once we got back, we had no time to slouch about. Dinner was served about 10 minutes after we returned, a buffet of local foods, with a lot of veg 😊.
Then we had only about twenty minutes to change for the night safari cruise.
We had the same guide, Lan, and the tour started well, with a Buffy Fish Owl almost immediately.
As we pulled into a side river, the torch caught the eyes of a civet, which we could just about make out as a shape moving in the trees (I’d have had no idea what it was if he hadn’t said as it was a blob…).
After this things dried up a little, but we did see some sleeping birds, which was still as odd as before. We got the boat right up under this Babbler, and so close to the Blue Eared Kingfisher.
I found myself wanting to see something else alive, that was how surreal they were. We finished the cruise with a couple of baby crocs. Lan wasn’t happy with the small amount we’d seen, but we were still so ecstatic about all that we’d seen earlier that we still felt really lucky. It was very peaceful floating around, and much easier than trying to walk quietly along behind the guides in the dark. We only saw one other boat.
We were all tired out, possibly from peering out for hours, and we have another cruise at 6am tomorrow morning ☹. Time for bed!
Day 191 – Kinabatangan River Tour day 2
We didn’t sleep well. I was spotting birds and animals in my head and couldn’t settle. I always find it hard to sleep when I’m up early too. Too much pressure!
The alarm went off, and we managed to dress and be ready to go before 6am. I can’t believe I used to get up at this time every day!
Our boat was stuck up on the bank, so it took a while for the driver to free it before we could get on. Could have had more time in bed ☹. There were much fewer boats out at this time, we only saw two others and one of them was also from the Sukau Backpackers.
The forecasted rain was holding off, although the clouds were pretty thick, so there was no sunrise to see. We had sightings of Long Tailed Macaques and Proboscis Monkey troops almost immediately, they are literally everywhere around here.
Given the time of day, we had been expecting to see quite a few birds, so we were a little disappointed that there were not many sightings, especially early on. Across the two hours we did manage to see a couple of new species, and some more of the Pied Hornbills, Purple Herons and Egrets. I think we were looking for the Pygmy Elephant, but they were feeling shy. Still an enjoyable trip, but no where near as amazing as the afternoon before for spottings. I think we really were lucky yesterday.
After the half way point, we turned back and headed down a small tributary, which was really enjoyable. We didn’t see a single animal down there, but travelling under the jungle trees makes you feel so much more a part of it, rather than a spectator from the river.
The stream ended in an oxbow lake, with floating water hyacinths in bloom and an eagle flying overhead.
Back at the B&B, it was breakfast time. The food here is a standard buffet put out at mealtimes for the people on the tours. It was a mix between local foods and Western; garlic and veg fried rice, toast with jam, sausages and hard boiled eggs. Ok though.
We didn’t have much time to relax, as we were also out on a morning jungle walk. This was with the same guide of the previous tours, but this time we were on our own. A private tour 😊.
We started down the road, listening to gibbons calling in the trees beyond. Two of the dogs from the B&B had decided to accompany us and were charging around us down the road. We weren’t very pleased – surely they’d scare everything away? Our guide suddenly turned and disappeared into the undergrowth down a tiny overgrown trail. This headed steeply down a ditch and then wound around trees. Definitely not a well trodden tourist trail, this was narrow, and difficult, with logs to step over, fallen trees blocking the route, tree bridges and very steep slopes. Pretty great really!
The dogs proved to be fairly useful for finding mammals, chasing squirrels and monkeys up trees. They probably flushed the birds out long before we could see them though, so birding was non existent – we didn’t see a single one in the whole hour in the forest with a guide!
We did get some really good views of Red Leaf Monkeys, which are apparently quite rare, so another lucky spot 😊.
Typically we spotted two new species of birds as we crossed the road back into the lodge gardens, including a beautiful sunbird.
The Sukau B&B Backpackers was certainly an ok place to stay. Lots of wooden lodges in a green and peaceful setting. We weren’t on the riverfront like some of the more expensive lodges, but it was a very short walk down to the boats.
There’s a covered open air restaurant area where we hung about for the afternoon, with fans and a green outlook on three sides it was a great place to do some schooling, play cards and spot the occasional passing bird or monkey whilst we waited for our afternoon boat safari (and ate lunch – local curries, yum).
The afternoon passed quickly, and we were suddenly rushing about trying to get changed for the boat. Lan took us down the same smaller river that we went down on the night cruise this time. After all of our amazing sightings the afternoon before, it seemed that this trip was going to struggle to beat it, we settled in to enjoy the river instead. Proboscis Monkeys were spotted again almost immediately, there are so many troops around here, and they really don’t make their presence a secret, with their sandy backs standing out against the green of the trees. They’re also really active, so you can see them jumping from tree to tree. The Long Tailed and Pig Tailed Macaques, on the other hand, are much smaller, and tend to travel along branches between trees. All three are found in large troops, and we saw some groups of around 20 Proboscis monkeys, and an average of 30 members of the macaque troops. This makes for lots of action when you’re watching 😊.
Down the small river we had a totally different experience to the afternoon before, with the boat gently puttering down the waterway. The forecast had been for heavy thunder showers, but despite some heavy showers in the afternoon, we had nothing more than a few spits. We couldn’t believe our luck!
We got a sighting of the rare Whitehead’s Trogon with its crimson breast and a Black and Red Broadbill with his bright blue bill.
But it was the monkeys that stole the show today. First, we had a troop of Proboscis Monkeys cross the river in front of us. As we saw yesterday, the water has some pretty massive crocodiles, so time in the water needs to be minimised. They find trees which hang out over the water, reducing the distance, climb up high and leap as far as they can, arms outstretched, before faceplanting into the water and swimming as fast as they can to the trees on the other bank. The poor little baby clinging onto its mother got absolutely squished and cried out. A bit of a shock for the poor thing I expect.
Then, further upstream we watched a troop of Long Tailed Macaques for a while. They look like old men with their grey beards.
Right at the end, we came across a super-troop of Pig Tailed Macaques. There must have been over 50 of them, with monkeys pretty much everywhere you looked, walking along the bank, climbing through trees, and sitting feeding right out above the river. We spent a while here, watching the baby ones which are so much unsteadier with their climbing, and like to mess around. We watched one push another straight off a branch; luckily there was another one below for it to grab onto. These guys are all pretty used to the presence of people now, so they eyed us with vague interest or distain, and carried on with their lives.
Chris had lots of time to use the camera, especially when we moved slightly further down the river to look at this bunch. Some of the babies obliged by having a fight right in front of us.
There was a bit of a commotion, and we realised another troop were on the other side of the river. If they fight then it’s to the death apparently, but the river was separating them. Or was it? A hundred metres downstream there are some ropes put up to allow the Orangutans to move about the reserve safely. The whole troop proceeded to cross the river using it, which was fun to watch as they all have different styles. Some tried to walk along the top, which required spectacular balance, especially when the others were wiggling the ropes around them. Some went along underneath, and others tried holding the top one whilst walking along the bottom.
We thought it would all kick off, as the other massive male was posturing up and down a branch, and there were some minor scuffles as the troop on the bank were pushed back. It didn’t seem to really go anywhere after that though, and the big males were actually at the back, waiting for the others to all cross first. Perhaps it wasn’t a bid for a territory takeover, simply meeting in passing. I guess they probably avoid fights if one of the big males dies every time…
By now it was time to head back, so we started back down the river, past lots of other boats, most of which had way more people in than ours 😊.
Dinner was a repeat of the night before, which was a little disappointing after our yummy lunch. Ah well.
After our short trip to the reserve, we’ll head on to the town of Ranau, on the slopes of Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in SE Asia and home of weird plants like the Rafalesia and Pitcher plants. Follow us there or head back to Sandakan and Sepilok where we met some Orang Utans.
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