Spotting

A change of location today. I slept well again, although woke earlier (good practice for the dawn safaris we’ll be doing more of soon!), and V had a good sleep too…perhaps wearing earplugs helped her like they’ve been helping me!
We had breakfast…including a rather tasty omelette this morning, and sat facing out in the lake watching some little birds popping about, some small squirrel type creatures chasing each other around and up the trees, and admiring the beautiful plants and trees around the lodge. We nipped back up the hill to pack quickly (the packing cubes are a great help!) and briefly sit on our balcony to drink in the forest, then brought our cases to reception and met up with Remi and the driver. Once we set off he talked almost nonstop for the 2.5 hour drive. He told us the history of palm oil farming, and why it’s more complicated for the Malaysians than the Europeans think, with their ban on products that contain it. Learned about inheritance laws in Borneo, the emigration of the young to KL, their need to sell off family land, and the evil agents profiting from each sale. He also told about how to grow the trees (incidentally introduced from Ghana by the British) and harvest the oil, and that it is mainly used for bio diesel which is better than diesel. Apparently the economy’s most value here comes from oil and gas exports, then biodiesel export, then incoming tourism, exporting fish and finally exporting birds nests for soup to the Chinese mainland.
We also leaned about the history of tribes/peoples and place names here (and the lack of education of a previous King of the Philippines who gave part of Borneo to the British to be given back ‘when there were no moon or stars in the sky’), the cost of housing and consequent government housing policies, and something about the wildlife well see at our next lodge. V was nodding off as she’s taken an antihistamine tablet have been bitten last night, so I had to do all the active listening and commenting!
We arrived at a beautiful place - the Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge on the Kinabatangan River (2nd longest in Malaysia….another of Remi’s fun facts!) and were greeted with a cooling towel and a fruit drink, then shown to our lodge which is beautiful (although no aircon, only a fan). Such gorgeous views over the river and right in the forest. We had half an hour to unpack and do some clothes washing (wish I’d brought another pair of shorts!) before lunch which was taken on communal tables with the other people (we’re 8 in all) sharing one guide over the next couple of days. We got chatting and realised 6 of us had made the same journey this morning from the same lodge but in 3 separate minibuses, each with our own guide! We then had a couple of hours before meeting up for a late afternoon river safari, so V and I headed straight for the gorgeous swimming pool which was just lovely and a perfect temperature to feel cooled from the sun but it was still almost bath water warm so no shock on getting in! We’d had to negotiate the families of macaques along the boardwalks on the way to the pool…sticks are provided in the rooms to scare them away but were to,d not to make eye contact with them or smile as it shows teeth which indicates we want to fight. If the sticks don’t work, then ‘scream and run away’!! We had a good swim before gradually more people came, but only had about 10 altogether at any one time so still felt spacious and relaxing.
We’d expected a lot of cloud in Borneo, with downpours of rain most days, but so far there’s been almost no rain at all (certainly none that needs a waterproof on) and today there were lots of clear skies and sunshine so we had a bit of time soaking up some Vitamin D before getting ready for the boat. We’d assumed that by this part of the holiday we’d be swathed head to toe against mosquitoes and other biting things, with our head nets and hats on….but in fact it’s all still shorts and t-shirts!
We got our life jackets on and headed out in the quite small boat with our guide and boatman, and had a great time spotting proboscis monkeys, more macaques, red leaf and silver langur monkeys, a monitor lizard, hornbills, a kingfisher, a snakebill and several other small birds flying around us but high above. Fabulous, and plenty of time to stop and watch the primate behaviour and spot different things in the trees and riverbanks, including the high water mark that was about 6’ above the current level, listen to the noisy cicadas and (for V) to worry that every log was in fact a crocodile!
We cruised along one of the tributaries of the river which was where they filmed the proboscis monkeys on the recent David Attenborough series where they jumped across the river, and we saw the rope bridges that the other monkeys used more than the orangutans.
As dusk started to fall the primates were all gathering high in the trees to sleep and cicadas were deafening, and we saw the first proper sunrise since we’ve been here…stunning!
The guide showed us all how to tie a sarong which they’d left on each of our beds so after a while back in our lodges (checking photos!) we all changed into the sarongs for dinner and had a very jolly evening. Dinner was basically, like lunch, a buffet of various lightly spiced curries and stir fries (tonight was cucumber and turmeric, mustard greens, chicken curry and beef in soy, with rice and/or stir fried chilli noodles. Fruit, banana cake and mango pudding (sort of milk jelly) with more fruit chopped in a yoghurt sauce. All very delicious. We chatted to the couple next to us about kids and grandkids, travelling, retirement, other places to visit and Lidl!
Another lovely day…but an early night as we need to be on the boat again by 6.30am!