Kinabatagan River

DAY 1

After we got back to Uncle Tan’s B&B, we packed up and got ready to head into the jungle and have an awesome New Years! We all packed into a bus and headed for the Kinabatagan River. 

Our group consisted of Courtney, two German couples, a woman from Singapore, two American guys we met on Mt. Kinabalu and myself. Once we got to the dock we loaded up and headed out into the jungle.

The guy in the white boat on the lower left is Teo, one of our amazing guides from Uncle Tan’s.

We were so psyched to be out on a boat!

The boat ride was just a small taste of what we would see over the next three days. On our way to camp we saw some hornbills, an eagle, and long tail monkeys.

Hornbill

 

Longtail monkey

  

Not only was the wildlife incredible, so were the views along the river!

 

After about 45 minutes we arrived at camp and got situated in our rooms. Our camp was a series of raised bridges that led you to various open huts, outhouses and an open verandah with a bar for eating, boozing, and hanging out.

After we were all set up in our rooms, ate dinner and then headed out for a night boat safari! We saw an owl, monitor lizard and kingfisher. Sorry the pictures are fuzzy, it is hard to shoot at night…

Owl

Monitor Lizard Tail

Kingfisher

 These birds are cool because they have no night vision. So they sleep at night on small twigs because if they fly at night they are blind and bump into things. If they feel any vibrations on the twig they can fly away because they know a snake is coming for them. So you can get super close and they don’t move.

After our night safari we prepared for a night of New Year’s shenanigans. The staff were super cute and decorated the verandah! We spent the whole night drinking cheap Tiger beer, listening to Teo’s amazing guitar skills and rocking out some acoustic karaoke!

Uncle Tan's Bar/Staff Cooperative

Tiger Beer! Yum.

Courtney showing off her Glee club singing skills!

Our New Years Party!

Our amazing guides!

10 seconds 'till midnight and 2012

Guy and Mark (our Borneo Buddies) being silly… two members of TEAM ORANGUTAN!! (the four of us made up our boat safari team)

Happy New Years!

Our New Years cake... that Courtney claims tasted like lard... at least it looks good!

Our crew!

Guy's "wassup bitches" face

I'm not sure what was going on, something with a deflated balloon and edible cake decorations...

Complimentary drinks...

Peer pressuring this poor kid to eat the biggest piece of cake I've ever seen!

 After our New Year’s celebration, we headed to our mosquito net covered beds (I don’t know why but I loved that our beds had those!) and crashed!

DAY 2

We woke up super early and head out for a slightly hungover morning boat safari! We saw an eagle, hornbill, crane and some monkeys. 

Longtail Monkey

Eagle

Crane

Hornbill

After our nap we got woken up for our day hike through the wet jungle. We put on awesome rubber boots, rain jackets (F-the rainy season!) and headed out into the muddy unknown! Needless to say, we were used to being wet and dealt with the day’s rain like troopers!

After our hike, Courtney, Mark, Guy, Teo and I went fishing! It was a blast and a cool experience… I mean how many people can say they went fishing on the Kinabatagan River in Borneo???!!!

Borneo buddies fishing...

Me!

 

Courtney's idea of fishing...

Teo caught a crayfish!!!

Once we got Courtney off her ass, she caught a catfish and Guy caught two! Good day!

Courtney's catch!

Congrats!

 On our way home we had the most amazing moment. We had been searching for days and finally found one in the wild…

ORANGUTANS!!!!!

Here is one of two we saw… the other had a baby but she was hiding. It is very rare to see them in the wild because they are shy and very good at hiding. We watched them hang out for a minute and then swing away. It was definitely the most incredible part of our trip and everyone at camp was so jealous when we got back… GO TEAM ORANGUTAN!!

We got to camp and were welcomed by the clear sky, beating sun and some long-tail monkeys hanging out at camp…

So cute!

Eatin' some figs!

After some time we headed out for our late afternoon safari. Our goal was to find some proboscis monkeys and enjoy the beautiful twilight… GOAL ACHIEVED!

Finally some blue sky!

Incredible tree

Palm oil plantations

 These palm plantations have become a problem for the wildlife that live in the surrounding jungle and depend on the Kinabatangan River to survive. These plantations have created small pockets of jungle along the river that is cut off from the rest of the larger jungle. These small pockets are not only too small for most of the wildlife to live in, but also makes it difficult for animals (especially primates) to travel from pocket to pocket. That is why it is so rare to see orangutans along the river.

And just when we were about to head back to camp… Teo spotted a proboscis monkey!

 

There were a few in one tree. It was somewhat difficult to see them and they were very shy, but still… they were incredible! I swear they look so much of Squidward, from Spongebob, because of their huge noses and fat bellies… the guided thought it was pretty funny.

We spent the next 20 minutes just lounging on the boat and enjoying the end of this amazing and beautiful day. Especially the setting sun in the clouds.

 

While the sun was setting, I was also able to capture my favorite photo… our tree full of monkeys!

After we got back to camp, Teo cooked up the catfish and prawn that we caught earlier that day. We shared it with the group and basked in the glory of our (O.K. Courtney’s and Guy’s…) delicious, fresh catch!

Teo also shared some rice wine with us…

 

After dinner, I had prepared a surprise for Courtney. It was her 25^th birthday the following day, so I had emailed Uncle Tan’s and requested a cake for her… the lard cake, but it’s the thought that counts, right?!

Note the spelling…

She was happily surprised and the guides serenaded her… sexy island men from Borneo singing and playing guitar for you?? Best birthday present ever!!! 

After dinner and birthday celebrations, our group headed out for our last activity, the night hike! Not only was it so cool hiking through the jungle in the dark, but we also saw a frog, some more kingfisher and these bizarre white, fluffy bugs…

Frog

Colorful kingfisher

Weird bugs...

 

We got back to our cabins, packed and put our wet selves to bed. 

DAY 3

We awoke to the pouring rain in the AM and opted out of the morning safari. Not only we’re we keen on being dry for once, but also seeing wildlife in the rain is very rare. Once we were packed up, we said goodbye to camp and our amazing guides, headed back to the port and boarded the bus that would take us to our next destination. This was such an incredible program and a true Bornean experience!  Thanks Uncle Tan’s!! You guys rock!