Exploring The East-Coast of Sabah/Borneo - Part 3

At day 2 we had to be ready at 6 AM! Yes, 6 AM! So we could see the early animals. While waking up in the boat, we were sailing thru this mystical fog, searching for all kind of animals.

Just imagine you are sitting in this small fishing boat (with only one other couple & the guide), it is foggy, you are surrounded by nature, water and wind and the ONLY thing you hear are sounds of all kind of different animals. It is such a peaceful feeling. While the sun was coming up we saw a lot of Macaques, doing their morning ritual: ‘playing together’ haha. And then YES, we saw HUGE crocodiles! 2 of them! That was really cool to see! Wild crocodiles! Then suddenly birds flew over the river, Hornbills to be exact and the Rhinoceros Hornbill to be more specific! It’s one of the largest of their species. They were a bit far away, but we could recognize their colored beak and the loud and harsh noise they make. Heading back to the lodge to have some breakfast we saw the Proboscis Monkeys in several trees.

The breakfast, lunch and dinner are on the veranda (if it is not raining), which has a natural atmosphere! At 1 o’clock we got a boardwalk thru the jungle, just around the lodge. Our biologist guide told us about all kinds of flora and fauna.

After lunch and some free time in the afternoon we went for our final river cruise at the Kinabatangan River. We went to the lake that is called the Ox-Bow Lake. We would stop there to trek thru the jungle for an hour. We saw a centipede (with a really scary face), a poisonous millipede, small leeches and a butterfly specie called a nymph. The difference with a normal butterfly is that the nymph can glide.

While being in the jungle you are not only looking for and at animals, but you also see this weird, funny looking trees for example. With beads of sweat on our faces we stepped into the boat again, and oops there was still a leech holding on to my top! On our way back we saw an eagle & proboscis monkeys. When we almost arrived at the lodge, still enjoying the sunset we heard a real weird sound, like a really loud ‘WHOOP’. It turned out to be a Gibbon with a small baby sitting in the tree next to the lodge making this noise!