Monkey Business

One thing I will say about this crappy little lodge cabin, at least the air conditioner worked great last night! I was able to sleep well thanks to a pill and the cold air so the 5:15am alarm clock this morning wasn’t too evil. In the budding light of dawn I was out the door right on time for a mini breakfast of a piece of white bread toast and generic black tea before grabbing a musty smelling life jacket and being ushered onto a boat for our sunrise cruise.

There was chatter at the table about a possible orangutan sighting in a tree right across the river, but nobody could really tell and I didn’t really believe that they would be that close. My binoculars were in my room and I regretted forgetting them but also didn’t feel like going back to grab them for my day pack, which was probably a mistake. We were given smelly lifejackets and loaded onto tiny boats to begin our morning river cruise safari.

Our two boats went directly across the river to that tall tree, and sure enough there was a mama orangutan and her youngster swinging around and feeding on the durian. Our guide, Kurt, explained to us that humans harvesting durian trees are taking orangutan food so they have to move more on ground between trees in search of food when normally they would stay in the trees. The babies spend about nine years with their mother; they are much slower to mature in the wild than in captivity due to the lack of nutrients available to them. In their lifetime, a female orangutan will only have three to four offspring. While it was cool to see them in the tree, I have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed because you could barely tell they were there. Against the milky dawn sky they were just two black blobs in a black tree against a white background. Some of the women with better cameras actually snagged good pictures of them; the first picture below where you can actually see them is one of theirs; I’d like to give a proper photo credit but I can’t remember who took this particular shot. It is way better than we could see in person though. With the naked eye there was no color to be seen. We hung around and watched them for a while before finally continuing down the river.

A few hundred meters down and on the opposite bank of the river, a male orangutan was barely visible in his tree nest; being lazy and sleeping in. His shoulder peeked thought he leaves. The tree was right against a local’s riverside stilt home. Can you imagine having a freaking orangutan just hanging out in your backyard?

Eagle-eyed Kurt spotted a crocodile lurking in a shadowy overhang. Mr Croc was just chilling with only his head sticking out barely above the surface of the water, with its snaggle tooth hanging out the side. The head itself was so long that it was clear this was one gigantic crocodile. Borneo’s giant crocodiles are the largest reptiles on earth and can reach lengths of over six meters! This guy’s headed looked like it was easily a meter itself!

The boats turned off the wide murky river down a much narrower murky river that was lined with lush greenery close on either side. Cruising in the little boat down the narrow waterway felt like being on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland minus the animals and corny jokes. It feels weird to use the word cruise, it was definitely more of a boat ride than a cruise being in the small river boats.

A proboscis monkey was spotted high in a tree and the boats slowed so we could get a look. Yet again, I regretted not having my binoculars and was disappointed at how far away the lone male monkey with his big honker of a nose sat. Can’t they be closer so we can see them better? At least more of them?

Continuing upstream, a large group of long tail macaque monkeys were frolicking through the trees. Kurt explained that they are smart and are known to fish for crabs in other areas by sticking their tale in crab holes, waiting for their tale to get pinched by a crab and then quickly pulling their tale and the attached crab out! Kurt explained that there was no shortage of macaque monkeys and sadly they are still taken and used for experiments. Volkswagen used to test their exhaust levels by putting live macaques in tubes and pumping exhaust in to see how they’d react or die! Humans are assholes. And now I’m completely anti-Volkswagen.

Two small macaques swung from a single vine playing; in their antics they both fell straight down to the bushy tree beneath them. I wish I had gotten a video because it was hilarious. Another slid down a tree rope flagpole style before crossing back across its little monkey bridge to pester a friend. Yes, monkey bridge. Rope bridges have been erected across the river so the macaques can cross without having to swim so they do not get eaten by the crocodiles. Perhaps this has something to do with their abundance? Watching them play on the ropes felt like I was watching monkeys in a zoo but in the best way, it was hard to believe I am in the wilds of Borneo!

Fully entertained by the monkeys, the boats turned departed to get us back to the lodge for a real breakfast. The plates of noodles, eggs, and hot dog looking sausages may not have looked very appetizing but were surprisingly delicious.

After breakfast it was time for a quick change into pants for the jungle walk. I was dreading this as I did not know that we really needed to wear pants and the only pants I have with me are the thick merino leggings I flew in! But apparently pants are a must due to the leeches of the jungle. Leeches! Before boarding the boats to take us downstream to the start of the walk Kurt explained how leeches attach themselves and how to spray them with deet immediately if you get one on you to get it to fall off. He also suggested that shirts be tucked in because they like to search for warm spots if they get on you. At this point, I didn’t even want to go on this walk anymore!

Kurt had the boat driver take us to a fig tree with low hanging fruit so he could pick a few to leave in the jungle during our walk, seed bombs of sort, to help disseminate the seeds and support the regrowth of fig trees. Terrified of leeches by the time we disembarked I figured it would be worth the risk to walk through the jungle. But I was wrong, it really wasn’t very interesting at all. There were some pretty mushrooms, some giant centipedes, and evidence of a sun bear with shattered honeycomb on the ground and claw marks on a tree but other than that, boring. It wasn’t even pretty.

However, I did make it through the jungle leech free so that was thrilling! Since we had been walking back in the direction of the lodge I opted to walk back the rest of the way, along the road, with Kurt and a few of the other women. I needed to get some steps in. I was ecstatic to see rambutan trees but they were on private properties so I couldn’t get my hands on the magnificent fresh red fruit. I can only imagine how tasty a fresh rambutan is. The sun was beating down and the humidity was washing over me. I was very conflicted over the decision I had made; I needed the steps but my body was dying from the heat.

After a much longer walk in the blazing sun than I had anticipated, and I do mean blazing, Borneo is only 5 degrees north of the equator, we reached the lodge. I am not one to sweat but my entire body was drenched; I could feel sweat somehow running down my legs under my merino leggings. I beelined straight to my little cabin and stripped down to jump into the dingy shower before heading to lunch.

Today’s afternoon plain included a couple hours of downtime after lunch before a 4pm cruise, followed by dinner, and a night cruise. Kurt also informed us that the lodge would be serving “high tea” at 3:30. I love high tea! I went back to my cabin after eating and relaxed in the air conditioning to write until tea time was approaching. Leaving my room around 3pm I felt some drops fall from the sky but nothing major. Some ladies in the group were in the open air restaurant playing games and myself and others sat around another table chit chatting. By 3:30pm, it was RAINING. Not just a little rain but pouring. Not only was it raining, but loud thunder was booming. Thunder could mean lightning which is definitely not good for being in a little metal boat on the water.

I had already pretty much made up my mind, with this much rain, sitting in a boat in the river sounded absolutely miserable. I’ve pushed myself to do stuff in the rain before, such as Kilimanjaro where I had no choice and New Zealand where it made me miserable, so I knew enough about myself and my limits to know I would not be a happy camper. I nibbled on the fresh mini donut they served at high tea (the only treat) and watched as lightning started to strike. For just over two hours everyone sat around the restaurant with thunder and lightning all around; wondering what the plan was going to be now. It felt like way longer than two hours.

Shortly before 6pm, the rain finally stopped and the sky cleared. For those of us that had not been on the first cruise yesterday where they saw elephants they offered up the opportunity to hop in the boat for a very short cruise to where elephants had been reported earlier. Sitting on a life jacket to avoid the wet seat, the boat high tailed it full throttle to the sighting location. Alas, there were no elephants. We waited for a few minutes with Kurt and others trying to spot with binoculars but no luck. Without wasting time, the boat turned around and took us back to the lodge for dinner.

Over dinner, the rain returned. With a 7:30pm night cruise planned there was much discussion over what in the heck we would actually see on a night cruise. I was wondering if it would actually happen in the rain. When Kurt announced that it was a go and they were getting the boat ready to bring around I did not have to hesitate much to bid adieu and head back to my room to relax instead. I do not regret this decision one bit; sitting in bed writing I can hear the rain pouring and I am so glad that I am not in a boat, in the dark, in this storm.

Tomorrow morning there is one last sunrise cruise here before packing up and heading back to Sandakkan for the next two nights. The accommodations in Sandakan are supposed to be considerably nicer, a regular hotel, and I cannot wait to take a decent shower.