Sukua,
Malaysia
Monday, March 21, 2005
Against the advice of absolutely everyone we met, we decided to make our own way to a place called Sukua on the River Kinabangatan to go and spot some probiscus monkeys! We arrived in good time having got 2 free car rides and a free boat ride! The only hairy bit was when the driver of our first freebie asked 'So what do you think of Islam?' (What a starter for 10!) Basically it was a good job I was in the car as Paul knows naff all about world religions! We ended up at a great little guesthouse just on the rivers edge run by a local family where we saw monkeys and hornbills just sitting there on the balcony! We spent a great afternoon on a river safari and saw lots of probiscus monkeys playing around in the trees, long-tailed macaques, snakes, huge monitor lizards and lovely hornbills to name but a few! This area is supposed to be one of the best in SE Asia for spotting wildlife and we were not disappointed!
The next morning was just as good when we went out on the boat again in the misty morning light and luckily for us had an avid bird-spotter with us who told us about every bird we saw! We ventured up the smaller tributaries to a beautiful ox-bow lake and saw a very rare storm stork (2 actually), a crested buzzard and various types of eagle again to name a few and a baby crocodile! Awww!
Another whistle-stop tour but definitely one we're glad we put in our plans...
