Orangutan is a rainforest animal and it dislikes water, so I was surprised to see an orangutan foraging in swampy area of Kinabatangan last month. Actually this is not the first time it is found wandering in nypa forest, so I’m sure it wasn’t lost.
Pic: the coconut-like Nypa (Nipah) swamp
Nypa (or Nipah) palm swamp exists for over 70 millions years and it is one of the oldest forest types in the world. A large and well-preserved area of Nypa palm swamp grows around Abai, along the downriver of Kinabatangan River.
Nypa forest is a swampy area with brackish water. Nobody wants to walk in Nypa forest, as its ground is muddy. Also, the number of mosquitoes there can suck your blood dry. Due to the semi-saline water and seasonal flood, very few plant and fruit species can flourish there. In short, Nypa swamp is a hostile environment to most animals. Egret, heron and wild boar go there sometimes, but they never call it home.
It was a quiet morning. I was on a birdwatching tour with friends in mangrove and nypa zones of Kinabatangan wetland. Our small boat entered a tributary of Kinabatangan River and cruised slowly in dense forest of Nypa palm. Instead of bird’s chirping, we heard loud noise of rustling leaves. We looked at the direction of the sound and saw the palm leaves shaked violently. There was something moving inside, and it was big.
The beast was moving slowly behind the Nypa palm along the river. We couldn’t see it, so we just followed the rustling leaves, hoping that it would show up near the river. After 10 minutes, our patience paid off and we saw it passed by a small opening between trees, for a few seconds. Affirmative, it’s an orangutan.
This orangutan stopped a few times to fall the palm trees. The palm is as big as my arm, and this orangutan could shake, bend then broke it easily. After crackling sounds of broken branch, there would be a long moment of silence, but we still could hear that it was munching something crunchy.
Our tour guide knew what it was eating. This orangutan was searching for the juicy core of the young Nypa palm. This is not the first time he sees orangutan in Nypa swamp, and he believes this is not the only orangutan active here. Behind the Nypa swamp is a forested land, probably where the orangutan lives. Most of the time this orangutan was staying quite far behind the trees. It was only one time I could peep through the tree gaps and photographed it.
The orangutan noticed us but not quite bothered about our presence. It just continued its food journey, almost breaking all the branches it grabbed. As mentioned, Nypa swamp is muddy and orangutan hates water, so it was climbing from tree to tree, to avoid getting wet in mud. Orangutan is smart. If it has to enter the water, it knows how to use stick to test the depth of water. Someone even saw orangutan eating fish. Probably orangutan knows how to fish too, LOL.
You can tell this orangutan is an adult by looking at its cheek pads called flanges. Unlike other primates, orangutan is a solitary animal and spends most of the time alone.
Below are more photos for your viewing pleasure. Such unusual scene and behavior are not something we see every day.
Normal tourists seldom visit this area so we have the cool view all for ourselves. 🙂
We saw other damaged Nypa palm next to the river and believed these are done by orangutan.
No doubt it was an interesting encounter. However, I’m very curious that why orangutan hunts for food in Nypa palm. Is it because orangutan can’t find enough food in rainforest nearby, or it loves the taste of Nypa palm? I wonder..
Someone read my article “Jackie, orangutan who owns a house” and asks, “does orangutan really live in house?” Definitely not! Orangutan spends its night by sleeping on the tree. As this great ape weight about 50 to 100 Kg, it needs something to support its body, so it builds a nest.
Pic: orangutan nest on the tree
If you walk in Borneo rainforest, you would see huge nest high on the tree. It can be the “bed” of the orangutan. To estimate the number of orangutan population, researchers will count the number of orangutan nests. Other great apes such as gorilla and chimpanzee also build nest. In fact, orangutan is the largest arboreal animal in the world.
Last month I was on a river cruise at Kinabatangan River nearby Abai Village around 5PM. Suddenly my tour guide exclaimed, “Look! That’s a orangutan!” It was so far away that it took me some effort to spot this adult orangutan on top of a tree at river bank.
Our boat approached the tree of this orangutan slowly and quietly for closer look. Then it started to climb. “Oh no! It must have seen us and want to flee..” I thought I would lose sight of it very soon.
Wait… It stopped on a big branch and started bending branches.
“It’s making a nest,” my guide said, “orangutan builds a new nest every evening for its bedtime.”
Laran (species: Neolamarckia cadamba) is the favorite tree of orangutan for making sleeping nest, so the villagers start to plant more Laran near their places, to promote conservation and nature tourism.
Not every tourist is lucky to see this. I was so excited! It was my day.
Orangutan is a tree dweller. It spends most of its time on tree, from foraging, feeding to sleeping. To avoid predators such as Clouded Leopard and Sun Bear, orangutan seldom comes to the ground. That’s why forest is an important habitat for orangutan, and that’s why they become endangered species, after people cut most of the rainforest. Tree is a Home to orangutan.
It was folding bigger branches to form a nest scaffold for its bed, then bending down and weaving small branches to form dense leaf covers on top and bottom.
Its skill was so sophisticated that a tree bed was constructed within 15 minutes. At last it laid down and made itself comfortable.
Orangutan chooses tree with good structural support for its nest. This is an intelligent decision rather than a random selection.
It knows how to use strong branches as base and thinner branches for a springy mattress.
To take advantage of the flexible branches for making of a tent-like nest, orangutan bends, but does not break the branches and twigs, to keep them attached around.
Again, orangutan impresses me… Good Night orangutan!
Gomantong Caves (Gua Gomantong) is the largest cave and the most important source of edible birds’ nest in Sabah. The cave is located in 3,297-Hectares Gomantong Forest Reserve of Kinabatangan district, about 85 KM away from Sandakan city. In fact, Gomantong Caves is a limestone cave system consists of 9 caves, and the two largest caves are Simud Putih (White Cave) and Simud Hitam (Black Cave). You can see the map of cave complexes below:
Gomantong Cave is managed by Sabah Wildlife Department, and Sumid Hitam cave is open for public from 8am to 6pm daily. The entrance fee is RM5 (≈USD1.70) for Malaysian adult and RM30 (≈USD10) for foreign visitor. For visitors who want to explore Sumit Putih cave, they need to get a permit and climb 30 minutes of steep hill to reach there.
For normal tourists, the smaller and more accessible Sumid Hitam cave is a better choice. The wooden boardwalk to this cave will take you less than 10 minutes. You will pass through the dense trees of Gomantong rainforest, and spot orangutan or red-leaf monkey if it’s your lucky day.
We were “escorted” by a group of dogs to the cave, haha. A few planks on the boardwalk have rotten or gone, so watch out for the holes. Other than this, it’s a leisure walk.
Very soon we reach the Gomantong Cave (Sumid Hitam). We saw some rolled-up ropes at the workers longhouse. During harvest seasons for birds’ nest, the collectors will stay here and guard the cave.
Before I entered the cave, I already smelled the strong odor of amonia from bird and bat dropping. Fortunately I was well-prepared LOL.
The friendly dogs also followed me into the cave. The raised boardwalk in the cave keeps visitors from deep layer of guano and creepy cave bug, which I’ll show you later. The cave is really dark so you better bring a torch light with you. Though the cave is very dark, it’s a lively and busy world. The cave amplified the squawks of thousands of swiftlet and bat, and millions of bugs were crawling everywhere.
When my eyes got used to the dim environment, I started to see the vastness of Gomantong Cave. The cave is 90 Meters in height.
See the boardwalk in photo above? It looks so small. Now you know the scale of the cave.
The thick layer of guano also makes the boardwalk slippery. Watch your steps. Don’t look up either. Do you know your mouth will open when you look up? Then the bird poo will fall into your mouth, hahaha! Seriously, do wear a hat in the cave.
Bird’s Nest Soup
To most people, this cave is smelly, dirty and warm. To some, Gomantong Cave is a filthy gold mine due to its highly-priced bird nest. Since the 13th century, China traders have been buying birds’ nest from here, for making of bird nest soup, a delicacy for nobles and royal family. Some China emperors may had tasted the bird’s nest from Gomantong. A funny description by Chinese for an upstart is “he rinses his mouth with bird’s nest and shark fin soup”.
Even today, bird nest soup is an expensive cuisine. As China people are getting affluent, demand always exceeds supply. Someone even builds “swiftlet hotel” to farm for birds’ nest. However, edible bird nest from the caves is still considered as the best grade by consumers, as it contains minerals. Farmed bird’s nest is softer and disintegrates very fast after being cooked for a long time.
Whatever, research says that bird nest is just swiftlet saliva consists of water-soluble glyco-protein. Bird’s nest contains no secret ingredient to make you look younger. If women want to stay young, just eat healthy food and exercise regularly, a far more cheaper option. If a lady tells you that bird nest works for her, she is just showing off her wealth. If you still think saliva is good for you, I can sell you my saliva for half price, as it makes no difference.
Harvesting Edible Bird’s Nest
For conservation and sustainability of swiftlet population, the birds’ nest of Gomantong Caves is only harvested twice a year, i.e., Feb-Apr and Jul-Sep. You may see collectors at work if you visit during these months.
Two types of birds’ nest are harvested in Gomantong:
White Nest of Edible-Nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus): the most expensive bird nest (about USD2,000 per KG), mainly swiftlet saliva. More abundant in Sumid Putih Cave.
Black Nest of Black-Nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus): more common but only priced at 20% of white nest, due to excessive impurity such as feather and plant materials in nest, labor-intensive to clean.
The swiftlet is not stupid. It builds its nest high on the ceiling of the cave. Swiftlet is an amazing bird. Not only people want to taste its saliva, it can fly so well that it can mate in flight. The echo-locating ability of these swiftlet allows them to navigate in cave and find their nests in total darkness. However, its sonar is not as accurate as bat hence not good enough to hunt for insects at night.
To harvest bird nests about 100 Meters above ground, the workers use the traditional setup in photo above.
Basically it’s a flimsy climbing structure supported by ropes, rattan ladders and bamboo poles. The workers risk their lives by climbing to the top, scratch the bird nest from the wall and put it in basket. Accident does happen sometimes, and in worst case, they fall and die in deep shit (guano).
The Ecology of Cave
Cave is a lightless world with unique ecology. Besides the noisy birds and bats, there are many ugly creatures call Gomantong their ideal home. Cave is the worst nightmare for Entomophobia (bug phobia).
The cave ecosystem is powered by shit guano of swiftlets and bats. After thousands years of accumulation, the guano is a few feet deep and becomes the all-you-can-eat food source of cave residents. FYI, this manure makes good fertilizer.
The cave floor, even the boardwalk, is carpeted by millions of cockroaches. They feed on the guano, and occasionally, the fallen fledgling. Sound bad but they help to clean up the mess, with dung beetles.
Because of the darkness, being colorful is pointless. Over time, some cockroaches lose their pigment and evolve to white color. Aren’t they cute?
The wall gets venomous cave centipedes (or Scutigera Centipede) everywhere. Their bites are as nasty as their look, and no other creatures dare to stay near them, so don’t lean on the cave wall. They hate light and fled into darkness, seconds after my torchlight beamed on them.
Pic: can you spot the crab? Many crabs live in guano pool here.
I hope I don’t scare you more, when I say racer snakes and giant centipedes also live in Gomantong Caves. Well, freaks just like to live together.
Bat Swarm
A least-known feature of Gomantong Cave is its bat swarm during dusk, when 2 millions bats fly out of the caves to start their day. Though the scale is not as spectacular as Mulu in Sarawak, the show is still quite a treat.
Just wait outside the cave around 5:30pm (they may not come out in rainy day). I saw wave after wave of bat swarms flying across the sky. If you want to see bat swarm up-close, the best spot is Sumid Putih Cave, where millions of bats flying just next to you, swarm after swarm.
I was not the only one waiting for the bats. Their predators also know this. When the bat swarm starts, a few Bat Hawks will prey on the bats. Other raptors such as Wallace’s Hawk Eagle and Crested Serpent Eagle also join the hunt. Many birdwatchers come to Gomantong for this action scene, after they see other birds such as kingfishers, leafbirds and flycatchers in forest nearby.
Gomantong Caves is a public park and very accessible. You only need to drive 1.5 hours from Sandakan to there on a paved road. The only problem is there is no bus going there. If you don’t want to hire a taxi or tour guide, you can rent a car and go there. Below is the location map:
The jungle trail is mainly used by visitors for bird watching. You will see signages and markers along the way. Though you will walk under the tree shades, the air is warm and humid, you better bring some water with you. During rainy season, a few small forest leeches would lurk under the leaves on your path, but don’t worry too much about them.
Pic: the junction to the Sepilok Giant, we are now only 670 M away from it.
Most tour guides know the shortcut and park near this junction. This will cut half of your walking distance.
Pic: the location map of the trail to Sepilok Giant.
RDC is inside the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, one of the most well-preserved rainforest of Sabah, so you will see other giant trees too.
Pic: Sepilok Giant? Not yet. But it’s a tall tree anyway.
Pic: Finally, a signage confirms that we find Sepilok Giant. Yes, it is a living tree.
Pic: we look so small under it. Sepilok Giant is 65 Meters in height, as tall as a 19-floor building!
Sepilok Giant is from the Dipterocarpaceae tree family. It is locally known as seraya runcing (Shorea acutissima) and traded under the name yellow seraya.
Other facts about Sepilok Giant: Girth: 7 Meters Diameter: 2.2 Meters Total Height: 65 Meters Height to Lowest Branch: 32 Meters Saleable Volume: 82 M Above Ground Carbon: 28 Tonnes
Pic: another side of Sepilok Giant
By now you should know why it is known as giant.
FYI, the oldest (and largest) tree of Malaysia is a 1,300-year-old Chengal Tree in Pasir Raja Forest Reserve, Terengganu. The oldest living tree in the world is a 9,550 years old spruce in the Dalarna, Sweden.
Lankayan Island is a tranquil tropical island in Sulu Sea off Sandakan. Situated within the Sea Turtle Corridor and Coral Triangle (a.k.a. “Amazon of the Seas”), Lankayan is also declared as Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA) by Malaysia government in 2001. After visit orangutan and pygmy elephants in Kinabatangan, you must not miss the turtles in Lankayan, to complete your wildlife adventure tour.
Turtle Hatcheries
Lankayan Island is a nesting and foraging place for Green and Hawksbill Turtles. You have a chance to see turtles laying eggs and hatched baby turtles being released to the sea, especially in peak season from July to October.
As nesting occurs mostly at night, an overnight stay is recommended. You can request the staff to knock on your door when turtle nesting or hatching takes place. The egg-laying can take about 1 to 2 hours. The clutch size varies between 40 – 200 eggs but batches of 50 – 80 are most common.
Above: the tracks left behind by mother turtle
Above: the turtle nesting is growing over the years, thanks to the conservation effort!
For better rate of survival, the staffs will promptly collect the freshly laid eggs and transfer them to the hatchery, where the eggs are buried by hand into 75-cm-deep pits, covered in sand and surrounded by plastic wire mesh. The hatchery will protect the eggs from predators such as monitor lizards and snakes, as well as soil erosion.
Above: each nest has an information plate displaying a serial number, collection date and number of eggs.
Above: as you can see, the peak season of nesting is from July to October
After 50 to 60 days, the hatchlings will emerge and the guests would have the opportunity to witness the release of baby turtles.
Above: newly hatched baby turtles. Do you know temperature of the sand can determine the sex of the turtles? Higher sand temperatures result in more females.
Above: Green turtle has one pair of prefrontal scales and rounded beak
Above: Hawksbill turtle has two pairs of prefrontal scales and sharp hawk-like beak
Diving
What makes Lankayan Island an excellent diving destination is the following 3-in-1 diving deal.
1. Reef & Macro Diving
It’s a colorful world under the water of Lankayan. Besides lettuce coral, staghorn coral, jawfish, seahorses, flying gurnards, mimic octopus and porcelain crabs, other pelagic such as scads, barracudas and jacks are found all year round. Lucky divers will see hump head parrotfish, large rays, guitarfish and even manatees.
2. Whale Shark
Lankayan is also famous for sighting of gentle whale sharks. You have a better chance of seeing it from March through May.
3. Wreck Diving
Lankayan has four wreck diving sites, where divers can observe different types of marine life living there. The highlight is Mosquito Wreck, a cargo ship of Japanese’s Mosquito Fleet during World War II and its main structure still remains mostly intact, include its bow gun.
Lankayan Island Resort is the only accommodation on Lankayan and it offers modern amenities, comfortable rooms, and excellent dive facilities. The seafront wooden chalets are well-equipped and attached with private balcony for a breath-taking, open view of white sandy beach and turquoise colored ocean.
“Kinabatangan River is one of the places in Asia with best concentration of wildlife,” a happy photographer said, “I have came here nearly 10 times.” This was what I heard when I joined a Photo Safari trip in Kinabatangan last month. I met two European photographers who had a week-long photography trip in important Sabah wildlife reserves such as Danum Valley and Labuk Bay.
This is my second visit to Kinabatangan. My first Kinabatangan trip was with Uncle Tan Camp in Danau Girang back in year 2007. This time I stayed in Barefoot Sukau Lodge located in Sukau, which is 2-hour drive from Sandakan city and next to the longest river of Sabah, Kinabatangan.
Above: the activity hall and Cliff-Hanger Cafe of Barefoot Sukau Lodge. You can see Kinabatangan River while enjoying your tea. They have nice collection of photographs in display too.
Above: the lodge where I stayed. You can check out their web site for more info.
I am Number Four, heheh..
Above: my twin-sharing room. It is clean and cozy, with an attached bathroom/toilet and wall fan. My roommate is a orangutan. Just kidding..
Above: the jetty of Barefoot Sukau Lodge and the boats for our river cruise later. They say a crocodile named “Franky” would be around sometimes but no luck today.
Afternoon River Cruise
We started our afternoon river cruise at 4pm when the rain stopped. At first I worried that we would not see any wildlife in rainy day. I worried too much.
Crested serpent eagle takes snakes and lizards as food. I saw about 5 of them, quite a common eagle. I spotted White-Bellied Sea Eagle, Storm’s Stork, Oriental Darter, Great Egret and Wallace’s Hawk Eagle too.
The famous long-nosed monkey (a.k.a. proboscis monkey) of Borneo. They are quite used to presence of tourists.
Pygmy elephants! Even though they are the smallest elephant species in the world, they are the largest mammal of Borneo. Only 1,000 of them left in the wild of Sabah.
We are so lucky to see them. Sighting of elephants is not common. I know someone who had visited Kinabatangan 5 or 6 times but never saw an elephant. Pygmy elephants are always on the move, migrating from river side to inland.
Within 15 minutes, more than 10 boats of tourist gathered around to watch the elephants. I believe all the tour operators keep in touch with one another for elephant sighting news.
The herd consists of 10 elephants. Elephants look big and heavy but they are good swimmer. They like to take shower in the river in the late afternoon. Then it rained heavily, so our group decided to stick around to watch elephants only until we were satisfied. The Australian silver hair couple in my group was so happy coz they saw blooming rafflesia a few days ago. Lucky them!
Photo Safari River Cruise
The next morning I waked up early to join the photo safari trip led by Cede at 6:30am. It was raining last night until morning. Fortunately, the rain subsided at 7am so we could start our morning river cruise.
Ok, look at the photo above. All the photographers are equipped with high-end “bazooka” long lens which can cost more than a car, so heavy that they need a tripod to support it. I look at my pathetic cheap 250mm plastic lens (cost less than RM1,000) and offer to sit at the last row, and nobody objected.
However, there are something ugly hiding behind the wall of forest. I have no problem with oil palm. I only hate the way they plan this crop by deforestation. Over 70% of Kinabatangan is covered by oil palm that fragments the rainforest. I am happy to hear that two palm oil mills here were shut down coz environmentalists complained that these mills released effluent into the river. Hey, we are not totally losing after all. There are still hope.
Fig fruit is important food source for primates such as orangutan, so environmentalists try to plant more fig trees in forest rehabilitation projects. >> Click Here to see more photos of Kinabatangan
The environmentalists also build some ropes and bridges to help orangutan and monkey to cross the river that has crocodiles. Yes, the primates do use them and the photo was on the news.
>> Click Here to see more photos of Kinabatangan
We shot anything that flies, include this bird-wing butterfly. The photo safari trip is different from normal river cruise. Whenever we find a target, the photographers will spend longer time to take photos. They also maneuver the boat to get the best angle. Cede always gave some photography tips. FYI, they don’t like subject with strong backlight. The sky is cloudy, so it is not too bad.
We even spent more than 15 minutes under the tree to wait for the monkey to hop to other tree, for the action shots. There was a female proboscis monkey did a 50-feet drop jump, such a suicidal stunt! Unlike those happy snap-snap tourists, these photographers are aiming for artistic and extraordinary shots, nothing less.
There are 7 species of hornbills in Kinabatangan. We found 4 species (Rhinoceros hornbill, Asian Black hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill and Wrinkled Hornbill) that day, not bad. We also saw monitor lizard, long-tailed macaques, etc.
Before I left Sepilok this morning, I walked up to the lookout tower to take a final look of Sepilok mangrove.
So tranquil, so peaceful. I’ll miss this place.
The long-tailed macaques have waked up early and foraging for food debris washed down from the kitchen.
My boat is already waiting at the jetty. It’ll send me to Sandakan city. Since I travel alone, I request for a small boat. They have another nice and comfortable big boat for tourists.
The boat departed at 8:30am. Bye bye Sepilok Laut! Bye bye Monkey!
Above is the route map. My boat will exit from Sepilok mangrove reserve to the estuary, then to the sea and heading to Sandakan. The boat ride takes 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the weather and sea condition.
The forestry staff also followed. He was away from home for a week already.
Beautiful mangrove river view.
In the beginning, our boat cruised along small river, then the river became wider and wider, soon we exited to the estuary.
Above: the signage at the boundary of Sepilok mangrove forest reserve. Entering without a permit is a crime.
At last we came to the open sea and headed to Sandakan. I felt so relax under the shower of warm sun ray in the morning, a huge contrast to the wet, dirty and dark forest in the previous day.
Want to try the Sepilok trip? You may download the information below. I scanned it from the book “Guide to Forest Recreation & Education Centres” published by the Sabah Forestry Department. It contains all the info you need for the trip planning, e.g. pricing, contact, site details. Do not forget to apply for a permit from Sabah Forestry Department, before you visit the forest.
The most economic way is to travel in a group of 4 people, so you can share the cost of guide, room and charter boat.
For example, below are the expenses for group of 4 people:
1. Guide Fee: RM50
2. Park Entrance Fee: RM2 x 4 pax (Note: RM2 for Malaysian adult. RM5 for foreign adult)
3. Accommodation: RM100 (1 room with 4 beds)
4. Charter Boat: RM150
The TOTAL cost is RM208, if shared by a group of 4 people, it’s only RM52 (about USD16) per person.
Or you can choose not to stay overnight, and turn back to the starting point (or rent a boat to go to Sandakan) on the same day, to make it a day trip. >> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest
It was a late afternoon in Sepilok Laut Reception Center. “The bad guy is coming!” the forestry guide warned me, “Do NOT leave any belonging outside your room.”
Then I saw a long-tailed macaque sitting in the wood about 15 Meters away from us. It looks so kind, with a face like a friendly Santa Claus. In fact, macaques can be so aggressive that even the big orangutan doesn’t dare to agitate them.
After observing us cautiously for a while, this monkey came closer to our building and sneak under our platform, peeping us through the gaps of the boardwalk.
Then the rest of the cheeky monkey followed. The guide told me that just a few days ago, these monkey stole the syringe and medication of a tourist, who has diabetes, and ran into the forest. The monkey also knows how to open a door.
There is also a group of red-leaf monkey living nearby, but they are very shy and seldom come near to the building.
“This is an alpha male,” the guide says, “We call him Paul.” Indeed, Paul is relatively larger than other monkey in his gang. Look at the size of his balls!
The guide wanted to get Paul closer to me for a mug shot session, so he gave Paul a pack of chocolate biscuit. Paul came forward to accept the offering and enjoyed the biscuit only 5 feet in front of us.
The expression of monkey is so rich and human-like. Of course I got a lot of good/funny photos. It is not advisable to feed them. If they are too used to human, they will attack anyone who carries food and become a nuisance to tourists. For now, they are still wild.
That’s a female monkey on the roof. Probably the wife of Paul.
In the mudflat not far away from our building, a few baby long-tailed macaques busy searching for food. They also eat crab. That’s why they are also known as Crab-Eating Monkey.
And there was a big monitor lizard stalking on these little monkey. It is very smart. It stayed still whenever the monkey looked at its direction.
But too bad the monkey still discovered the lizard and making alert call to warn others.
Mission failed, so the disappointed lizard retreated into the mangrove.
After meal hour, those monkey groomed one another. They are so relax and don’t even bother about us. I even heard their annoying screeching noise during bedtime.
This place is supposed to be ideal for bird watching. Due to the poor weather, I only saw a few Pacific Swallow, Ashy Tailorbird and Common Iora. If you are lucky, you would see woodpecker, kingfisher, hornbills, etc.
Night Safari
If you stay in the jungle, always take a walk at night, you will see more interesting stuffs than daytime. After dinner, I told the guide I wanted to do a night safari at night. He is also very interested and want to join, so we went into the wood at 7:30pm. As expected, there are so much too see at night. I search slowly with torchlight and turned almost every leaf. Though the guide was with me, he was always out of my sight, leaving me engulfed by darkness, scary…
Above: a few leaves weaved and connected by human-hair-like threads, spooky!
The jackpot of my night safari is the Borneo Anglehead Agamid, which is endemic to Borneo. It is quite small and shorter than the length of my palm. Unfortunately, suddenly it rained and I didn’t bring my raincoat, so we had to run more than half a KM back to our building. That ended my day.
FYI, they say there are a lot of fireflies in deeper part of the mangrove. You may hire a boat to check it out at night.
