A slow, bumpy, three hour bus journey took us from Sanadakan to Kampung Bilit. For those three hours we were lost, on what felt like an endless road through palm tree plantations. They just went on and on. We were heading to one of the last areas of tropical rainforest left in Borneo. It was sobering to see deforestation on such a vast scale. Sad Fact 80% of it the tropical rainforest is gone, and logging/burning still continues. 🙁
When palms finally gave way to misty forest we knew we had arrived. We breathed a sigh of relief. We were here to witness one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet and we were excited. Our luggage was loaded on to a small boat and we headed off down the vast Kinabatagan river to our camp
We weren’t sure what to expect (we always keep our expectations low – its a good traveling strategy) but all was great, we loved our little cabin. It was so comfy and cute. And were fed good basic meals in steamy and spectacular surroundings. But of course none of this really mattered, we had come for the wildlife. You know, we couldn’t have wished to see anything more, or anything better. We saw more wildlife, than we ever imagined.
We had morning and afternoon safaris on the river and daily hikes through the rainforest with Theo our excellent guide who really knew his stuff. We also had night hikes to try and see all the creepy crawlies bats and snakes. We were so lucky with our spotting just at the right place at the right time.
It is quite rare to see elephants in Borneo there are less than 1,500 left in the wild and Borneo is a big, big place. Daybreak morning boat trip. (six of us in our group bleary eyed but excited). We really were in the right place at the right time. As we turned a bend in the river we saw him (solitary bull) on the bank. He didn’t hang around for long, but long enough for us all to marvel at him and then watch him disappear back into the forest. We all were amazed that we had been so lucky to see him at all. Our guide said he had just crossed the river. Such a small elephant they apparently are very gentle, they have been dubbed “pygmy” elephants.
Oh my the proboscis monkey such an unusual animal. The male has his gorgeous big nose a real turn on for the ladies! They are surprisingly big monkeys with huge protruding tummies (like a beer belly) the Malays called them Dutch monkeys after the colonists! no love lost there.
The proboscis monkey is only found on the island of Borneo. There are 2 different groups. A harem group consisting of one dominant male and females and their offspring. The harem groups we saw were really big with about 30 individuals. The second group is called the bachelor group. All males must leave the harem group and go live with the “boys” after the age of 18 months.
We saw so many of these groups every evening on our boat trips. Proboscis monkeys (and all monkeys for that matter) like to sleep next to rivers. It is much cooler at night than the than in the humid forest. They travel inland to forage for food during the day and return to sleeping sites along the river in the evening. The different groups often came together at the river’s edge at dusk. These are noisy occasions with males honking and roaring, displaying at rivals, jumping from tree to tree and landing with loud crashes. Great fun to watch. We could have gazed at them for hours. Beautiful.
We saw sooo many of these groups and soo many individuals and so many species interacting with each other – it was hard to imagine them as critically endangered animals. This is one their last places to live naturally.
We saw these groups every morning and evening so fascinating to watch their behaviour and such a privilage to see such a rare animal in its pristine environment. Magic
Our little group of six – we all got quite friendly unfortunately I didn’t take a pic of us all only this one! There was a couple of times we got caught in a down pour. – who knew rain could smell so good. Boy it rained. The clouds just came from nowhere, it was so humid then suddenly a downpour then mist steaming out of the hot rainforest magical. We didn’t really care about getting wet.
Long tailed Macaques, we have seen these guys before in every south east asian country we have travelled to. Generally they are scavenging rascals, who often steal your stuff and generally create havoc where ever they go. Never seen them in truely wild place tho not comaminated by human interaction human food etc. These guys were so cute and laid back – A very different animal we loved them – so mesmerising to watch and so amusing they are a successful species and will survive anything I think very pretty here in the trees.
I couldn’t stop taking pics of the river the light changed so much the greens shifted from verdent to olive. The water sparkled then darkened, orange with mud, the next moment grey reflecting the rainclouds. Always shifting, always changing. Along the banks, the trees stood their beautiful canopies etched against the sky, alive with monkeys birds. Oh so magnificent, so vast, so full of life, so diverse and yet so harmonious. It’s a rare place.
We were getting spoilt now we had been so incredibly fortunate to have seen all we had Lance jokingly said, “I want to see a big croc now.” Our guide said crocs were hard to find as the river was very high so not many shores for them to sun themselves on. But luck was on our side again as we saw three!! small medium and large!! we saw the large one twice on 2 seperate days – he/she approx 13 ft long. he/she lay in the mud watching us. We got way to close for my liking,
Here is small and medium. Theo told us about a monster croc in this river the locals call Black – he is 25 ft long I cant even imagine. That is he has sen it once and he said he was scared – the water is so murky hard to imagine
Drifting down the river we watched these incredibly rare hornbills daily! They flew high in the tallest trees or right over us to cross the river. They are such big birds so colourful with a really distinctive way of flying. Our hornbill sighting were Rhinoceros hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill and the Wrinkled Hornbill.
Other lovely birds we saw egrets and many kingfishers.
Oh the night walks!! so much fun in our humid pitch black forest tonnes of mozzies and huge moths flying about. Squelchy mud ‘cos of all the rain. We had to be completely covered long sleeves, long pants and doused in deet. We were told strictly that we must wear our big yellow wellies. So we did. Every night about 9pm we set off armed with torches and cameras, with Theo to see what we could see. Here is a scorpion very poisonous centipede and a sleeping bird. Whaaat a sleeping bird, we saw many. Oh we have never thought about sleeping birds before and here they were dreaming xxx
I use my phone as a camera so no fab night pics for me hehe.
My favorite tree on the section of river we got to know over 5 days. (orangutan ropes to allow them to cross from one side to another) xx
The fate of this tropical forest is depressing. The future is bleak for the thousands of species that live in it as palm oil plantations continue to destroy the rain forest. Most of this habitat is gone now, and these areas we were in are the last slivers left – It was bitter sweet for us to see it and breathe it in. After the joy and wonder of seeing these animals, insects and plants so beautifully adapted, living so harmoniously, I feel/felt bereft and quite heartbroken wondering their fate. The only thing I can suggest is to buy sustainable palm products or start asking if sustainable – it is everywhere, we all use it, from lipstick to ice cream shampoo to pizza dough, diesel to instant noodles. Here are some of the names used for palm oil.
INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol
1 thought on “Borneo-Kinabatagan River Camp”
Brought back a lot of great memories of our trip!