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We spent one day and two nights at the nature lodge on the impressive 560km long River Kinabatangan.
We arrived in a torrential downpour, the bus driver taking us
there had to make a repair to a bridge to get us across a tributary and to the main river
where a small boat ferried us across a few at a time... the floating
hut below is someone's floating washing cubicle...
Taunted with a picture of a pygmy elephant as we reach the camp...
Our hut for two nights... the whole camp is on stilts as the area is prone to flooding...
We had a series of cruises up and down the river to spot the local wildlife at various times of the day. It was great to be out in a wilder setting after the slight disappointment of the relatively formalised presentation at Sepilok... We started with an evening cruise.
Macaques taking their positions for the night...
Sunset over the river...
After dark the crocodiles could be spotted by the reflections of their eyes in the torchlight...
Another early start... after a wet night, a boatman bails out his boat...
Mist on the river before the sun got a chance to burn it off...
Proboscis monkey - the males have the large noses... you could smell the large colonies when you were up close as they have an ammonia odour...
A juvenile watching us... Proboscis monkeys have distended bellies as they have a complicated stomach system in order to deal with a diet of nutrient poor leaves...
The dark shape in the middle was our first sighting of a truly wild orang utan in its overnight nest...
Hornbill...
A bird of prey taking a break for a preen...
After breakfast we all donned wellies and headed to Banana Grove (devoid of bananas as the elephants had eaten them) and headed for a squelchy, leachy hack through the jungle to an ox bow lake. It was the first time in years since I'd worn wellies and gone for a splosh about in thick mud and it felt great... No shots of the trail unfortunately as I was too busy watching my step and picking tiger leaches off my socks and shorts... I and others seemed to develop a leach checking / leg brushing routine that had elements of a Bavarian leg slapping dance.
Faeces detected... on arrival at the ox bow lake it was clear the elephants had been there not long before...
The lake was full of hungry fish and hungry birds feeding on them... whatever the weather...
A cormorant dries itself after another short tropical shower...
Afternoon cruise... swallows resting on a power line downstream...
A long-tailed macaque watches on...
Another wild orang...
Although we couldn't clearly see the face, it was wonderful to be so close to one in the wild...
A crested goshawk takes an interest...
Clouds start to build for the afternoon shower...
A female proboscis and its baby...
Youngsters playing while mum keeps guard...
Macaques pondering on a pair of ropes set up to help them and the orangs to cross one of the river's tributaries...
Time for an eventful dinner... as we sat down we heard a loud trumpet coming from the nearby trees; the elephants had come to visit and we could also hear them squelching about on the river bank near the camp's jetty. A chaotic rush for cameras and a desire to go into the bush to find them ensued. However we were told to keep put as it's best not to surprise up to 50 elephants in the dark. Grudgingly we returned to our meal awaiting the call to go and see them once their position was known.
I'm not sure if it was the lure of the elephants or the fact that I felt I was eating pet goldfish, but I lost my appetite for dinner...
Up early again for a final crack of dawn boat cruise in the hope of seeing last night's absent dinner guests, but alas it was to be a pachyderm-free zone, but we did see some fancy hornbills...
... and a real bonus of seeing a croc half on the bank which gave us a better view of the whole animal...
