Today we head off into the jungle to try to see orangutans in the wild. Apparently the best place to see them is near a small village called Sakau, which is on the Kinabatangan River. Tragically, the reason why this is the best place to see them is because the palm oil plantations have deforested so much rain forest that its pushed the wildlife all towards the river. However, this small sliver of rain forest (literally the rainforest stretches along the river for kms, but is only 300 metres deep) is now protected, so off we go.
Lonely Planet is right in that, although you think you might need to book some sort of tour in order to go to the Kinabatangan River, you can do it on your own. It was easy enough to get transportation within the budget we'd expected to the village. However, nothing can prepare you for when we got there.
No sooner than we arrived in Sakau than I started to sweat and had 5 mosquito bites. Thank God for 80% deet. I don't care if its banned in Europe and you need to dispose of it in a plastic bag before putting it in the trash. The container doesn't say it'll give me some sort of disease. The chemist who sold it to me said it wouldn't give me cancer. I say no to dengue & lots of itching. Those mosquitoes can go and f-off!
I swear I'm channeling my Mom's citronella candles. If one candle is meant to give you a 5 ft radius of protection, than en entire seance of candles is clearly going to work even more effectively. My 80% Bushman's deet is my citronella candle seance. (PS - it 100% works. You can practically see mosquitoes die when they hit our protective deet wall.
We also needed accommodation. Sukau is a one street town, but nobody told me it was some odd 10 km street! We had our transport drop us at a backpackers closest to the town (still 1 km away), and Pallavi asked me to go up the road and check out prices. I walked, and walked, and walked, and checked, and walked, and checked, and sweated, and walked, and checked, and sweated. I should have just turned around. So stupid! 50 minutes and a minimum of 5 kms later, I returned and we stayed at this awesome homestay across the road from where we initially had been dropped off.
We asked Ezall, our homestay guide who spoke really great English, who we should go on our river safaris with. He said, I can tell you a lot of groups, but the key is to go with somebody who is good. There are two people I'd recommend. 1. Osman (who we'd heard about and notoriously takes people face to face with elephants and ignores there warning signals ((dangerous!!)) but who has taken David Attenbourgh out a few times and is very good). 2. Eagle Eyes. Alright, old Eagle Eyes it is!
We called him up and went on a night safari. Although we didn't see any night cats, Eagle Eyes spotted amazing colourful tropical birds, a crocodile!, probiocus monkeys, and an owl hunting in the river. Did you know that a crocodile's eyes glow white at night? It looks like a little light on the water. Pretty cool stuff!
Once we finished, we went to Sukau's local night market. It runs Thursday through Sunday. Quite a lot for a small village of 1K. Normally there is music and public karaoke but not tonight. Tonight the local Muslim Imam was speaking to a crowd seated in the square. What was he teaching them? He was talking to them about all the reason why NOT to join Al Qaeda and ISIL
As we sat around eating dinner, Ezall told us about the problems between Borneo & the Sulu people over in the Philippines. Less than 10 years ago, there was war between Malaysia & the Sulu people. Over 300 years ago the Sulu people ruled over Borneo and then the British took over. The Sulu Sultan still thinks it belongs to him, but has only made moves to take it over by force after Malaysia invested in its infrastructure. Apparently, the Sulu's even took over bits of Borneo and Ezall remembers them occupying Sukau for at least 4 months, while he stayed bunkered down in his home stay with his government issued weapon, lights out after 5 p.m. That is why they still have immigration checks here. I had no idea!
Tomorrow, 5:30 a.m., another river safari in search of orangutans!
Lonely Planet is right in that, although you think you might need to book some sort of tour in order to go to the Kinabatangan River, you can do it on your own. It was easy enough to get transportation within the budget we'd expected to the village. However, nothing can prepare you for when we got there.
No sooner than we arrived in Sakau than I started to sweat and had 5 mosquito bites. Thank God for 80% deet. I don't care if its banned in Europe and you need to dispose of it in a plastic bag before putting it in the trash. The container doesn't say it'll give me some sort of disease. The chemist who sold it to me said it wouldn't give me cancer. I say no to dengue & lots of itching. Those mosquitoes can go and f-off!
I swear I'm channeling my Mom's citronella candles. If one candle is meant to give you a 5 ft radius of protection, than en entire seance of candles is clearly going to work even more effectively. My 80% Bushman's deet is my citronella candle seance. (PS - it 100% works. You can practically see mosquitoes die when they hit our protective deet wall.
We also needed accommodation. Sukau is a one street town, but nobody told me it was some odd 10 km street! We had our transport drop us at a backpackers closest to the town (still 1 km away), and Pallavi asked me to go up the road and check out prices. I walked, and walked, and walked, and checked, and walked, and checked, and sweated, and walked, and checked, and sweated. I should have just turned around. So stupid! 50 minutes and a minimum of 5 kms later, I returned and we stayed at this awesome homestay across the road from where we initially had been dropped off.
We asked Ezall, our homestay guide who spoke really great English, who we should go on our river safaris with. He said, I can tell you a lot of groups, but the key is to go with somebody who is good. There are two people I'd recommend. 1. Osman (who we'd heard about and notoriously takes people face to face with elephants and ignores there warning signals ((dangerous!!)) but who has taken David Attenbourgh out a few times and is very good). 2. Eagle Eyes. Alright, old Eagle Eyes it is!
We called him up and went on a night safari. Although we didn't see any night cats, Eagle Eyes spotted amazing colourful tropical birds, a crocodile!, probiocus monkeys, and an owl hunting in the river. Did you know that a crocodile's eyes glow white at night? It looks like a little light on the water. Pretty cool stuff!
Once we finished, we went to Sukau's local night market. It runs Thursday through Sunday. Quite a lot for a small village of 1K. Normally there is music and public karaoke but not tonight. Tonight the local Muslim Imam was speaking to a crowd seated in the square. What was he teaching them? He was talking to them about all the reason why NOT to join Al Qaeda and ISIL
As we sat around eating dinner, Ezall told us about the problems between Borneo & the Sulu people over in the Philippines. Less than 10 years ago, there was war between Malaysia & the Sulu people. Over 300 years ago the Sulu people ruled over Borneo and then the British took over. The Sulu Sultan still thinks it belongs to him, but has only made moves to take it over by force after Malaysia invested in its infrastructure. Apparently, the Sulu's even took over bits of Borneo and Ezall remembers them occupying Sukau for at least 4 months, while he stayed bunkered down in his home stay with his government issued weapon, lights out after 5 p.m. That is why they still have immigration checks here. I had no idea!
Tomorrow, 5:30 a.m., another river safari in search of orangutans!
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