Malaysia East Sabah, Borneo
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2007
1
12
25
Trip End
Jun 2007
Sandakan,
Malaysia
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
We arrived at Kota Kinabalu, at the west side of Sabah, Borneo 2 days ago. Theres a really big mountain there called Mount Kinabalu which you can climb. We realised that really we didn't have enough time to do this and heard that at the east side of Borneo you can see orangutans, as well as Proboscis monkeys. We also realized that there is also some of the worlds best dive sites there too. We had no idea how big Borneo was and on enquiring realized that we'd have to book a flight to get to the other side of Borneo, so we did. We'd met an Irish couple at the airport, who we shared a taxi with to the Backpacker hostel, and when we arrived back at the airport, they were doing the same thing and were on our flight. We bought a taxi coupon at the airport and shared a taxi with them again the other side into Sandakan town. We had booked into another backpackers hostel, and they'd booked a hotel. The taxi dropped them off at the hotel first and then demanded that we pay again to get to our hostel, even though we'd already paid for the coupon. We argued with him, but ended up just getting out of the taxi. We walked for a bit, and realized that we'd lost the map for the hostel, so we decided to go back to the hotel where the Irish couple were staying.
The next day we met them again at breakfast and went with them to the Orangutan rehabilitation centre. It was amazing to see the Orangutangs. You stood on a wooden stage in the jungle and rangers threw bananas and sugar cane out. After a few minutes the Orangutangs start appearing. Theres pieces of rope attached to a climbing frame and the orangutangs swing across the rope to the climbing frame where they eat the bananas and then make their way back with a much food as they think they can carry! They try and carry bananas in their feet and hands and end up dropping most of it! We then asked a taxi to take us to the Probicus Monkey Sanctuary. The taxi wern't keen on taking us and told us the roads were bad. I thought it was a ploy for extra money but they were right. We managed to get a jeep to take us there, and it was down a really bad dirt track. When we got there there was an entrance fee of 60 ringets if you were a foreigner or 15 if you were local ! Thats about 10 pounds each, which is a fortune here. Again it was a similar set up. You stand on a stage at the edge of forest and when the food gets thrown, the monkeys come out. The Probicus monkeys were strange. They have really big red noses and apperently big other parts !! The ranger then threw some broadbeans down the other side, and some Grey Leaf monkeys started appearing. They seemed more timid, so we wispered quietly. Suddenly one of the monkeys hopped onto the stage we were stood on and was coming towards me! I thought it was great and started filming it with the camera. It seemed annoyed and kept coming towards me angrily. I called the ranger over and asked whether it was safe. He replied ' actually this animal is wild'. We took that as our queue to get out the way! A few of the monkeys came near us, and we realised that one of them was carrying a baby. It looked like a squirral because it was bright orange, whereas the adult were grey. They were all passing the baby about. It was 2 weeks old.
It started raining, so we decided to leave thinking about the road condition. On the way to the jeep, Gary was talking to the Irish couple. I was just behind them when a grey animal ran up to them and was running between their legs! I thought it was a monkey at first, but then realised it was an otter !! I couldn't believe my eyes and was shouting at them to look at their feet, because none of them realised. The woman nearly leaped out of her skin when she saw it ! It walked all the way back to the jeep with us, and when the driver opened the door, the otter jumped in !! I couldnt believe it!! The driver got it out of the jeep eventually and when we left it ran after us down the road. We went back to the Orangutang Rehabitilation centre because our ticket entitled us to return all day and the next feeding was due. It was much better the second time. There was bigger adult Oragutangs, and one jumped onto the stage we were on with its baby. There were also Maquiques.
We then decided that it would be great to do a jungle walk and had read about a nature reeserve on the way to the good diving place. We got a bus there and stayed over night in a hotel. There were no westerers in sight and we were treated like royalty. There was a xmas party on with a singer. They got us both up to dance !! (yes even Gary). The next day we tried to book a jungle walk, but eventually realised that there was only trips of 2-3 days, and to take a taxi was really expensive. We decided just to get a bus straight to Sepora, where we were going diving. We there now and we've booked diving tomorow and Sipidan for friday. The instructor said that I can finish my Open Water diving qualification tommorow aswell, so fingers crossed !
