Coconuts to Crampons: Wild Man of Borneo

Being home to some large areas of preserved equitorial rainforest, Borneo is an amazing place to see all sorts of wildlife. The diversity here is staggering. There are literally thousands of species of animals here that are found nowhere else on earth - colourful birds, mini-elephants, fruit bats the size of flying puppies, big nose probosis monkeys, bugs that are so large you wonder if you have been suddenly zapped by Wayne's "shrink ray" from the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids ("Is that some sort of sparrow over there? Nope. It's just a gigantic flying bug"). I have always been intrigued by jungles - every square meter is just packed with so much life and diversity. There are so many unknown creatures lurking in the darkness that are heard but never seen, you never know what a trip will turn up. Here in Borneo, there are animals that I had no idea even existed. With dark, twisty, chocolate milk brown rivers snaking through the jungle for hundreds of kilometers, I can't help but feel that I have entered into Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Our first stop on our journey to explore some of the jungles of Borneo was Sepilok, on the east coast of Sabah. In order to ease Marie into the jungle experience, we first stayed at the Forest Edge Resort and had our very own chalet (with air-con!) on stilts surounded by lush trees.

That afternoon we walked over to the Rainforest Discovery Center, where there are a number of paths, towers and even an elevated canopy walkway to really get close to the birdlife. Here we caught a glimpse of a flying squirl soaring by - unfortunately too fast for a photo. It is highly recommended to visit the park late afternoon since there was no one around except for us, and we were allowed to stay in the park until dark (even after the gates were closed).

Can you spot the stick bug?

Long Tail Macaque

Sepilok is also the location of one of only four Orangutan sanctuaries in the world. It is a place where injured or abandoned orangutans are taken in, rehabilitated, and eventually released back into the wild. Before this can happen, the orangutans live in a 40km sq reserve where they are slowly taught to fend for themselves. Feeding stations are set up where you can view the orangutans getting a free meal of fruit from the park staff - however, since this is not a zoo with an enclosure, there is no guarantee that any will actually show up. Lucky for us, two mothers came swinging in with babies clutching on for a free snack!

The name Orangutan means "Man of the Jungle" in Malay. Watching these apes up close was an eerie experience - you see them sitting there and you know they are animals, but something about their facial expressions and mannerisms are oddly.... familiar. I almost felt like I was watching a family on a picnic, with the kids goofing around, the mothers watching on from the corner of their eyes.

Next we took a walk next door at another reserve for Sun Bears - this species is the smallest of all bears and is found throughout asia. Unfortunately, it is also endangered thanks to the usual culprit of Chinese medicine where they cage them to extract bile from their gall bladders.

The best part of this visit was that on our walk back out we literally ran into a wild orangutan on the trail. It swang right onto the walkway we were on and starting making its way right for us. I am no monkey biologist - but it didn't look to be acting aggressively so I just stood where I was as it made its way past and I frantically tried to take as many pictures as possible.

Although there were lots of animals to see in the sanctuaries, it still wasn't the jungle experience I was looking for. To try and see animals in the wild instead, we headed for a trip up the Kinabatangan river to stay at a lodge in the jungle. The Kinabatangan Jungle Camp (KJC) is a 20minute boat ride from the nearest village, and is completely isolated. It turned out to be a great choice - it was no five star resort, but the rooms were clean, the guides were absolutely amazing, and the food was fantastic. My mind was blown away by the number of wild animals we saw. We even started keeping a list of all the birds and monkeys we saw - just from our camp lodge common-area we saw loads of animals including gibbons (loud hooting monkeys), water monitors (a gigantic lizard that looks like a dragon), wild boars, palm civets (looks like a cross between a cat and racoon), an endangered storm stork (only 1000 of these left in the wild!), not to mention a good assortment of giant bugs. It was also a great place to talk with other guests, who mostly were hard-core wildlife experts. Most of the other people at the lodge were either biologists or hardcore bird-watchers, all of which were actually out searching for certain species of birds and animals. Needless to say we had plenty of help at the lodge whenever we were trying to identify a bird we saw. Evening conversations revolved around dicussing the finer points of hornbill identification...

Palm civet

Bearded pig

Water monitor

Golf ball sized millipede

Gigantic moth

During our second day we went for a hike through the jungle and ran into a WILD orangutan about 5 minutes walk from our lodge - it was absolutely amazing to be within 5m, and watch it swinging from tree to tree. He also seemed as interested in watching us, as we were to watch him.

He was eating these tasty wild figs!

In the mornings and evenings we would take boat rides up the river with our guides (one boatman and one nature guide) and look for wildlife. Most of the animals here hang out on trees near the river so we had a great opportunity to see many different families including many long and short tail Macaques, Silver Leaf Monkeys, Proboscis Monkeys, Gibbons, and the more wild orangutans!

Don't want to fall in - there are crocodiles everywhere

Can you spot the croc?

Long tail macaques

Female proboscis monkey

Egret

Kingfisher

Crab spider

THE best monkey of all is the Proboscis, which is only found in Borneo. They have adapted to have complex stomachs which can digest leaves from trees, and have some very.... interesting.... physical characteristics including a big bulbous nose. The males are also, well... ALWAYS ready for action, refered to as their red chili pepper by our guides. Unfortunately we did not get a good picture of a male up close, but we did find a good one on a post card to give you an idea of what they look like.

Male proboscis, from far

Postcard close-up

We even went on a night boat ride - which involved cruising along the river with nothing but a few spotlights. This made it easy to spot all sorts of life lurking in the shadows including large owls, pythons and several crocodiles (with only their eyes poking up above the water level). There is something wildly intriguing of trekking through a place where you are no longer on the top of the food chain.