As SKDR disappeared over the horizon our minds moved to our next port of call - this was Danum Valley Field Centre. A research centre located deep in the Borneo primary rainforest - one of the last remaining untouched areas of Borneo jungle. Unfortunately, palm oil plantations and rapacious logging have dealt a death blow to much of the primary rainforest.
To get there we took a mini bus to Lahad Datu, a revolting port town where we overnighted prior to being picked up by our guide the next morning. A 3 hour drive through the jungle and into the protected area of Danum where the accommodation appeared unchanged since the 1950’s, slow ceiling fans, wicker furniture and deep verandahs overlooking the dense jungle. The temperature was in the 30’s and humidity in the 90’s.
We set off on our first trek after lunch and much to our delight we saw 4 wild orangutans feasting in a fig tree high up in the branches. They appear to be very gentle creatures interested in eating and sleeping. That evening we went for a night drive and saw a Bear Cat, several Thomas flying squirrels, sleeping birds, Malay Civet , Sambar deer, and a wild roosting chicken(he was livid having been woken up).
The following day we did a 4 hour trek to the Tembling waterfall where we had a much needed swim! It was just like the old ads for alpine cigarettes. We avoided most of the leeches (although the little buggers certainly bite) and enjoyed the sounds of the rainforest, which changed as the day drew on...gibbons became birds which became crickets which became geckos and then frogs.... That afternoon we returned to the fig tree and saw another 2 wild Orangutans - this time a mother and her tiny baby peering out from under her hairy orange armpit (must be German). We were also treated to the sight of a red leaf monkey with his peculiar clueless face and the commonly spotted pig tail and long tail macaques.
Looking out over breakfast the next day we were visited by a gibbon high in the tree tops, circling around the flowers and shrubs of the veranda a Wood Nymph, a beautifully elegant butterfly about the size of a sparrow.
That evening Nikki did a night walk with the guide and spotted cricket frogs, file eared frogs and other creepy crawlies that only come out at night...not Nikki!
The 3 hour trip back to Lahad Datu was uneventful and we then caught another mini bus which dropped us off at a roundabout in the middle of nowhere where we were to be picked up by the Bilit Rainforest Lodge at Sungai Kinabatangan. We were relieved as we were hailed by the pickup driver after lugging our backpacks and a bag of dive equipment 100m up the road. A 45 min drive and a river crossing later we arrived at our overnight lodging.
Our purpose was to take two Kinabatangan river trips - one in the evening and one in the early morning in the hope of seeing bird life, orangutans and proboscis monkeys. We were not disappointed. The latter are strange to look at with their large protruding noses. The dominant male has a particularly large one which grows even larger once he becomes the group leader (a bit like CEOs’ bellies). The O’tans had once again, much to our delight, found a juicy fig tree where they were clearly planning to stay for a few days with the whole family. We also saw two gorgeous helmeted hornbills at sunset and some pied ones at sunrise.
The river trip in the evening was a mix of tranquility and intense anxiety. The river was serpentine with sand banks and many semi submerged logs jiggling in the current. As the sun set and silhouetted trees were the only thing to see the driver got out his hand torch and with a flickering yellow beam he continued to speed and swerve his way down the river, missing huge logs and sand banks without a care in the world. Our fellow passenger an unlikely looking russian in a pith helmet and linen trousers (and a camera even bigger than those held by the Japanese which he poked into everyone's face!) was beside himself.
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