Tag Archives: Sandakan

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 2 of 4)

1. Reception Building

SLRC has no electricity supply during daytime, but the staff turns on the power generator every day after 6pm (or whenever necessary) until morning.

The Reception Building has two dormitory rooms. Each room has two bunk beds and able to take 4 people.

The dormitory room is quite basic and only has a fan and wardrobe. Pillow and blanket are provided for each bed. The room is quite clean and new.

Outside the rooms is a shared bathroom. Water heater is not available but it’s ok, consider our climate is warm throughout the year.

There is a big living room area, where you can watch TV. Astro, the satellite TV channel, is available.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

You may sign the guest book at the reception counter or call your dad for money. They have a satellite phone (No: +60-89-676306).

As there is nothing much to do, you may check out some display items and information.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

You can see the nice view of mangrove forest outside the window.

It was raining so I sat inside to stay dry and warm, and enjoyed the river view.

There are crocodiles around here, some are big enough to become man eater, so don’t go swimming in the water. The staff says you would see them during high tide at night. Just few days ago, they witnessed the fight between a monitor lizard and crocodile. The crocodile won and grabbed the tail of the lizard that tried to escape. It sounds like a dinosaur fight in Ultraman TV. Too bad I miss the show.

2. Staff Quarter + Kitchen

There is no restaurant in SLRC, so you must bring your own food. You may cook your food and boil drinking water in the kitchen next to the Reception Building. Since I only stayed one night, I brought only canned food.

You may have your meal in the dining area. Cooking gas stove, wok, plates, spoon, cups, etc. are available in the kitchen.

But be careful of the naughty monkey. They would steal your food.

If you come with a group a friends, you can BBQ here too. More fun..

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

If you think you desire better accommodation with air-conditioning, you may book the chalet which can host 8 guests.

Above: there is a lookout tower not far from the building on higher ground. They say some mobile phone line may get coverage there, but not Digi. In terms of line coverage in Sabah, Digi sucks real bad. This is what a frequent traveller like me can tell you. Maxis is the best so far.

You can get a nice view of large mangrove area from the lookout tower. SLRC is in intertidal zone, so you get different view in low and high tides. During low tide, the mudflat under the river will expose.

The mudflat of mangrove is a busy world. I stood on the boardwalk and saw many activities down there.

The fight between two colorful male fiddler crabs.

Mudskipper, a peculiar fish that can walk on land.

Monitor lizard is the second largest predator (next to crocodile) in mangrove.

The main mangrove species here are bangkita (Rhizophora apiculata), tengar (Ceriops tagal), nyireh(Xylocarpus granatum), and geriting (Lumnitzera littorea). These trees are adapted to harsh saline and anaerobic water-logged soil in this area.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

In late afternoon, I noticed movement in the wood nearby the Center. It was a big long-tailed macaque. According to the forestry staff, it’s the King here…

Update (Nov 2012)!

Now Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) has a new boardwalk in mangrove. You may want to read the new upgrade and latest change of SLRC facilities here.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 1 of 4)

2 Replies

Nearly half of Sabah is covered by forest. However, less than 3% of our forested area is virgin rainforest. Our very famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center is part of Kabili-Sepilok Virgin Jungle Reserve. From there, you can try a 5.5KM jungle trail from Sepilok virgin rainforest to a pristine mangrove forest.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

My plan is to spend 2 to 3 hours to complete the walk of this 5.5KM jungle trail to reach the mangrove forest, spend a night in the hostel of Sepilok Laut Reception Center, then take a boat to Sandakan town in the next morning. I know some travel agents offer such package but the response is very poor, as most tourists are only interested in seeing orangutan and not keen to try the nature trail infested by forest leeches.

View My Sabah Map in a larger map

As the Sepilok rainforest is a first class forest reserve, you need to get a permit from Sabah Forestry Department to enter the jungle. Therefore, I went to the Sandakan District Forestry Operation Office (not the HQ) in Bandar Leila (near to UMW) of Sandakan to collect the permit. Besides, I was also paying for guide, accommodation and boat (see details in this blog entry). Forestry Department is very efficient and thanks to Mr. Kwan. They also express that they really want to promote this place.

The booking and payment took me less than 10 minutes, then I drove 40 minutes to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where the trail begins. My guide, Uncle Severinus, was already waiting for me. A forestry guide is required coz we may encounter dangerous animals such as orangutan, sun bear and poisonous snakes. Yes, dear tourists, orangutan can be very dangerous. Part of the trail is not well-marked, so people can lose their way.

First we walked on a boardwalk, which is the same one used by tourists to go to orangutan feeding platform. Then the guide opened a small gate to the forest trail. FYI, they also have a bird watching trail and a 2KM “Water Hole” trail. The trails here are really nature and heavily foliaged. The guide says in future they will open a new trail from Rainforest Discovery Center to connect to this trail.

Jungle Trekking from Rainforest to Mangrove
In the beginning, you will see many big trees of lowland dipterocarp forest, with an average height of 55 Meters! We pass by a Sun Bear conservation center which will be opened for public soon.

The forest trail is next to the river so it is flooded occasionally during rainy season and become wet and soggy.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

In dry season, this trail poses 0 degree of challenge to me. But it was wet season that time in Sandakan, the trail becomes very muddy after weeks of raining. Though I was wearing the water-proof rubber shoes “Adidas Kampung”, I still have to avoid sinking my own feet into the soft and sticky mud.

Part of the trail is totally flooded. We have to walk at the edge of the trail, or snake around in the wood to find another easier route to bypass the flood. We even “lost” for a few minutes and had to turn back to retrace our trail. Luckily, my guide knows the place very well. He knew that we were on the wrong way coz he felt the place “macam lain” (look different). Now you know why you can’t go alone without a guide.

To feel what we had been through, you may watch the 4-minute video below:

When we were busy passing through the dense undergrowth, we waked up the sleeping blood suckers, the Tiger Leech! Leech is sensitive to vibration and body heat. I believe they can sense us 10 feet away though they are blind.

The tiger leeches always hide in the shrubs and leaves and most active during wet season. When my body was brushing through the shrubs, the tiger leeches would hop on me. I removed more than 20 big tiger leeches and countless small brown leeches from my shirt and skin. I was wearing leech socks but with so many leeches around, it is still a miracle that I didn’t get a single leech bite!

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

Usually leech is absent during dry season. After jungle trekking, I checked inside my shoes and removed a few more. Always “de-leech” yourself before entering the room! Leech is annoying but it does not cause serious harm. I worry more about falling tree branches during rainy day.

Not everything in rainforest is creepy. I came across some beautiful creatures too, like the golden hammer head worm above. Ok, it is as creepy as a leech too.

There are some tiny frogs found along the flooded trail. My guide is always happy to catch one to show me.

Above: the signage in the jungle. But they don’t tell the remaining distance to my destination. There is no hut and resting point on the trail.

Above: the footprint of Samba deer, the largest deer species of Sabah.

Above: sleeping centipede. Look nasty.

Above: sleeping tractor millipede. So, not only human feels sleepy during rainy day huh.

The trail is less muddy after 2KM. I saw some fungus but the variety is fewer than I expect. I feel that part of Sepilok forest is a logged-over forest.

Above: a “bleeding” tree

We saw a few camera trap on the way. But the researcher removed the camera due to flood concern.

Above: I saw thousands of such cicada chimney on the forest floor. We hear cicada calls all over the place as if they are the key residents of the jungle. We also heard the loud calls of Tokey lizard and it sounds like chicken.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

When we get closer to the mangrove, we meet two hilly trails. They call the trail in photo above as “green hill”. It is a long descending trail.

At noon we reached Sepilok Laut Camping Park (a.k.a. The Gap) which is only 1KM away from my destination, Sepilok Laut Reception Center. It started to rain heavily and we took cover under the roof of a multi-purpose hall.

Then we heard something fled into the wood. It was a herd of proboscis monkey. I saw a big male proboscis monkey sitting on a tree about 100 feet away from us!

We used the water and toilet in the camping park. See the broken mirror at the basin? The guide says probably it is broken by angry monkey, who thought it saw a rival male in the mirror, lol.

The toilet and shower rooms are well-maintained and divided into male and female blocks. School teachers and students can consider to have a camping here. The camping ground can accommodate 80 people.

When the rain turned small, we quickly continued our jungle trekking. Very soon we saw the 500-Meter signage.

And finally we reached Sepilok Laut Reception Center at 1pm! I spent 3 hours 30 minutes, which is considered very slow as I stopped a lot to photograph. Normal people can reach here within 3 hours.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

The rain started pouring. But my guide, Uncle Severinus, wanted to go home. He is a very friendly village man from Tambunan. He is old but strong and even offered to carry my heavy backpack twice. I think he is very cute so I take one picture with him. You can see that my shirt is all wet. It’s sweat, not rain.

Another forestry staff, Justinus, in the center shared his lunch and rice with us, so nice. I had some chocolate bars as quick lunch, but it felt so good to enjoy fish and hot soup in cold raining day after a long walk. Justinus has stationed here for a week and happy to see human.

We were not alone. There were something lurking in the dark and looking at us…

Update (Nov 2012)!

The jungle trail to Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) is changed. You may want to read the new upgrade and latest change of SLRC facilities here.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Butt Washer?

4 Replies

Actually I had heard of butt washer many years ago, but this was the first time I saw it in The Mark’s Lodge in Sandakan. When I saw this weird pipe stick out of the toilet bowl, I thought some pervert installed a spy cam to watch people sh*t, though I don’t really mind.

This butt washer is considered as outdated technology, since Japanese version can clean the a$$hole as well as drying it? Anyway, so far this is the only Sabah hotel where I find this interesting feature. I just let you know in case you like to try it out.

Turn it on and you will get a jet of water spray shoot at your hole. If you turn around, you can wash something else, hehe… BTW, I was told that a doctor said very few Muslim got hermorrhoid compared to Chinese coz they clean “it” with water and hand. No kidding. Tissue paper can’t clean our x totally.

Back to the washer, you can increase the force, so strong that it could hurt. The photo below is still not the display of full power of the pipe. Sorry ah, I just make fun of this thing, not laughing at the hotel who is so considerate. It is useful to senior and handicapped people who have difficult to do the cleaning. It will be better if the water is warmer.

Personally I didn’t try it. Somehow I think it would give me a funny feeling of someone licking my butt.. 0_o

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

BBQ Fishes of Sim-Sim Market

2 Replies

My mouth was watering when I wrote this. BBQ Fish (“Ikan Bakar” in Malay language, means BBQ Fish), in Sim-Sim Pasar (market), only a few KM away from Sandakan town, is probably one of the “must-try” food for people who come to Sandakan, and everyone who had tried it always give a thumb-up and come back again. It is a sin if I don’t share this with you.

Pic: BBQ fresh seafood. They use charcoal so the grilled fishes have appetizing aroma.

The location map of Sim-Sim market:

View My Sabah Map in a larger map

Pic: Sim-Sim Pasar (Market)
Sim-Sim Market is open from 8am to 10pm daily.

Pic: dining area inside the market

Even in afternoon and at night, Sim-Sim Pasar is still a busy place coz of its famous tasty BBQ fish. There are a few stalls selling this food and many local people queue up and pick the fish they want. You just choose your fish and they will BBQ it over the charcoal for you on the spot. Depends on your liking, you may have something such as whole fish, fish tail, fish head and even BBQ shrimps.

Pic: food menu with price list. (USD1 = RM3 in Malaysian currency)
Translation: RM (currency Ringgit Malaysia), Kecil (Small), Sederhana (Medium), Besar (Big), XL (Extra Large), Ikan (Fish), Kelapa (Coconut)

Note the BBQ fishes served with red sauce below, a recipe in Indonesia Bugis style.

Pic: BBQ Sapi-Sapi fish, RM8 each

Pic: BBQ Trigger fish, RM10 each

Pic: BBQ squid for RM10

Depending on the size of the fish you order, the price ranges from RM5 – RM28 (USD1.70 – USD9.30). The great thing is – white rice and vegetables are included. No cut-throat 3-digit price there, unlike other seafood restaurants that show you the eye-popping bill after a happy meal.

Sabah is famous for its seafood and the secrets of nice seafood is fresh, fresh, and fresh! They use bigger fishes and apply special sauce on the them during the BBQ. It looks yellow and I don’t know what it is, may be some spices that makes the fishes so tasty, in addition to the BBQ aroma.

Spoon and fork are not given unless you ask. Try eating it with your bare hands is a more enjoyable experience. Rice is provided. For tourists who are not used to eating rice, you need to be careful with the fish bones. Just don’t chew rice and fish in your mouth at the same time.

After the BBQ, the fish skin is harden a bit and hold the “juice” in the meat, so it doesn’t taste dry. I love spicy stuffs, so I always dip the meat in “sambal belacan”, a very hot shrimp paste. This further wet my appepite that I can eat 2 more plates of rice. Life is so beautiful with mouthful of fresh seafood.

Pic: BBQ chicken and shrimps are also available.

You are dripping now, aren’t you?

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Proboscis Monkey, the playboy of Borneo

4 Replies

I had seen proboscis monkeys in Klias Wetland, Kinabatangan and Lokkawi Wildlife Park. The Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sandakan is one of the best spots to see them. During the feeding time at 11:30am and 4:30pm, you can a few families (about 30) of them come for the food.

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

BTW, you also can see many Silver Leaf Monkeys around that area. The people here also call them “Beckham” monkey (probably Beckham looks like them). Proboscis Monkey has nicknames such as “Long-Nosed Monkey” and the “Dutch Man” (Monyet Belanda). The male has bigger nose than the female, and they use their big and long noses as a sex tool to… to… to attract the female. I wonder how do they kiss huh.

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

Like many other primates, the proboscis monkey family is formed by a few wives and a dominant alpha male. Proboscis monkey is one of the biggest monkeys in the world. Besides their big noses, another thing that makes them very unique is their digestive system. The stomach of Proboscis monkey contains the special bacteria that can digest the cellulose and detoxify the harmful chemicals in the leaves. Proboscis monkey can’t eat banana. Anything with sugar will make the bacteria works very fast, causing fermentation that produces too much gas in their stomach, which can make them very sick. In serious case, the excessive gas will pressure the organs surrounding the stomach, the consequence can be fatal. So the park feeds them with bean, cucumber and sugar-free pancake. In the wild, they eat young mangrove leaves, which can be toxic to other species.

For diet of wild proboscis monkey, 66% are young leaves, 26% are fruit and 8% are flowers, a total of 188 plant species from 127 genera, 55 families. They also eat termites.

After the meal, they will become horny and have some “fun.” By looking at the expression of the female monkey below, you can tell that she is really enjoying.

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

But the baby monkey didn’t seem to understand what its parents were doing. It grabbed the big nose of its dad, attempting to stop the party. lol..

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

Another thing that amazes me is the “lipstick” between the legs of fully grown male proboscis monkey. It is red hot and pointing at 12’O clock, always in ready mode to serve his wives. Basically, the male is having a lifestyle and penis that every man on earth dreams of. Proboscis monkey is endemic to Borneo, currently there are only 6,000 proboscis monkey left in Sabah, less than 1,000 in Sarawak, less than 300 in Brunei and about 5,000 (need further study) in Kalimantan.

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

There were some lonely male proboscis monkeys, which don’t have any wife, tried to share the food with other groups. They usually ended up being chased away by the alpha male of other groups. According to the guards, those bachelor proboscis monkeys would form a “gay group“. They don’t really do those gay stuffs. They just group together temporarily for food and protection. One day, they may challenge the alpha male in other group, win the fight, take over all his wives and start his own family.

Click Here to see more photos of Proboscis Monkey >>

FYI, based on the observation by Dr. Ikki Matsuda, the following is how proboscis monkey spends its time:
Resting: 76.4% (wow! what a life)
Feeding: 19.5%
Moving: 3.5%

Don’t forget to check out the high quality photos of proboscis monkey in my photo gallery.

Photos taken in Labuk Bay, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Cute Orang-Utan

3 Replies

Proudly presented to you, the Orang Utan show, at 10am and 3pm daily in Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctaury of Sabah Borneo. The feeding platform is more like a performance stage of orangutan now. Nearly hundred of tourists waiting anxiously for the appearance of Borneo’s superstar, the orang utan. As a “warm-up” opening, the pig-tailed macaques showed up on the platform first. The red and swollen sexy butt of a female macaque caused a hot discussion among the curious crowd.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Then a male orangutan arrived. When everyone was so excited to see him, he started playing with his little bird in front of the public, as if the people were transparent. “His bird bird was so small…”, some commended. Ok, I will let you decide if this is cute.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Soon a few younger orangutan came and the feeding started. The last time I saw this was in year 2005. I took some photos with my lousy compact camera. I blogged and shared the photos online. The photos were not good (in fact a disaster), but surprisingly they are one of my most visited photo galleries. I always wanted to come back to take better photos of them, for this 2nd orangutan blog.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

The “show” was a big success. The tourists were pleased with what they saw, though the only thing orangutan did was eat, eat, eat. Haha… if I do a show like this, audiences will throw stones at me. Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary is not a zoo. The orang-utan here was “semi-wild.” Most of them were orphans rescued by the Wildlife Department. Baby orang-utan cannot survive without parents, so they are taught survival skill in this centre. They are released to the wild when they grow up. The sanctuary provides regular feeding, as an alternative food source, for those who haven’t learn to live totally independent in forest. Once they can live on their own, they may not return for feeding anymore.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Putting orangutan in zoo is not a good option for conservation efforts, as that will change their natural behaviour. The international and local environmental bodies have been pressuring our government and oil palm industry to stop large scale clearing of rainforest, the habitat of orangutan. Having the conservation policy is not enough, if it is not enforced efficiently. Let’s hope and work for a better future for the “Men of Forest” (orang utan).

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

The orangutan is a highly intelligent animal. They can memorise different types of fruits, their locations and fruiting seasons. More amazingly, they can pass on this knowledge to their offspring. Like the photos below, the ranger tried to show the orangutan how to break the sugarcane, and they picked up the skill and seemed to know what they were doing.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

There were only 4 or 5 orangutan showed up, though I thought it should be more. Probably some of them were transferred to
Lokkawi Wildlife Park in Lokkawi and Rasa Ria Nature Reserve in Tuaran? Bet they would miss the free banana, sugar-cane and milk in Sepilok.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Really cuteness overwhelming.. In an hour, we could see so many facial expression. I had them all captured in the photos. Many tourists would not hesitate to hug and kiss them if allowed. Orangutans are adorable but it is illegal to keep this protected animal as pet.

Click Here to see more photos of Orang Utan >>

Please feel free to check out more photos. Remember these photos are copyrighted. You may only use them for non-commercial and non-profit purposes (e.g. personal blog, conservation awareness), as long as you don’t remove the copyright stamp. If you are an environmental organisation, you may contact me to sponsor the photos.

Photos taken in Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 8 of 8

2 Replies

Homestay at Bilit Village

In Sabah, more and more people are moving from villages to city because they want a better life. On the other hand, more and more city people are envy the rural life in villages, where stress and traffic jam are not common. In fact, I wish to have a house next to a river and able to enjoy fishing anytime. Hmm… now I sound like a retired oldman.

Click Here to see more photos >>

There are a few kampung (villages) along the Kinabatangan River. Most of them are Orang Sungai (River People) who works as a fisherman. They also use the water from the river for daily life. During our trip to Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp, we also visit one of the houses in Bilit Village. All houses near the river are stilt houses with the purpose of (1) preventing flood, and (2) avoid wild animals such as snake get into their houses. Seem like every family also uses boat as their main transport.

Click Here to see more photos >>

Our host was an old couple who participated in the homestay programme. The foreigner tourists, who would like to experience the lifestyle and culture of local people, you can live with them, eat the local food, learn the culture and hang around with them. There are many homestay programme all over Sabah. Due to limited fund and support, they can’t afford to promote their service, which can help them to earn some side income.

Click Here to see more photos >>

Our host is very kind and friendly, and he even shared some of his stories about World War II, and how the locals live with nature. Later they cooked the lunch for us. The materials are totally natural, for example, rain water, “walking” chicken that eat natural food, pesticide-free vegetables from their garden. Since it is so natural, you got to eat it by hand. For tourists who are not used to this method, they will get the food all over their hand, face and floor, haha…

Click Here to see more photos >>

After lunch, the local children also performed a few traditional dances for the guests. Without a stage, many local dialect and cultural heritage would be vanishing. Therefore, another reason we promote homestay programme is to give them a stage to preserve the culture of Sabah.

Click Here to see more photos >>

All the guests are also welcome to join their dance. At fast it was a traditional dance, but don’t why how, everyone starts to do disco and chicky dance. So funny… everyone was having fun anyway.

Click Here to see more photos >>

Photos taken in Bilit Village, Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 7 of 8

MySabah.com

Travel guides to Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tag Archives: Sandakan

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 2 of 4)

1. Reception Building

2. Staff Quarter + Kitchen

Update (Nov 2012)!

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 1 of 4)

Update (Nov 2012)!

Butt Washer?

BBQ Fishes of Sim-Sim Market

Proboscis Monkey, the playboy of Borneo

Cute Orang-Utan

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 8 of 8

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 7 of 8