Welcome to the Jungle!
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2008
1
44
105
Trip End
Jan 19, 2009
Uncle Tan's,
Malaysia
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Sure enough a guy in a truck arrived and we were driven for 15 minutes to an office where there were lots of backpackers milling around and eating rice, fish, chicken and the like.
It became apparent that this was the daily change over - so half the people were to be our companions for the next few days and the others were those who'd survived in the jungle for the last few (5 or more in some cases). We spent 45 minutes or so eating our lunch, paying, loading our bags into another truck but mainly pumping the survivors for information - "What did you see? Did you see Orangutans?" "How bad are the mosquitoes?" What's Uncle Tan like?" "What's the food like?" etc
Out of the bus and onto a boat
.After gleaning some info and finishing our lunch we all (our group was 18 people) bundled into 2 minibuses for our 1 1/2 hour drive to the boat ramp on the river. On the way we got to know some of the other people in our group - and met Chris and Mark from New Zealand who were taking a month or two off work before moving to Brisbane, Phil and Alison from England (previously of Chandlers Ford!) who'd just spent a couple of months in India and Nepal, Leigh and Matt from South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively who were on an extended honeymoon and many others including 3 guys who worked in Hong Kong and were there for a long weekend. Who goes to Borneo for a long weekend!!!
On arriving at a big iron bridge we pulled of the main road and down to a little jetty with 3 smallish speed boats tied up. We transferred all our bags into one of the boats and then sat in the other two. Compared to the boats we'd been in before such as on Koh Tao and in Laos these things could really shift! The river is wide, maybe 100 metres, and flat. We drove/sailed/motored/whateveryoucallit downstream stopping every 5 or 10 minutes to look at some animal or bird in the trees. Within the first half an hour we'd already seen Long-tailed Macaques, Proboscis monkeys, Hornbills, Egrits, Eagles and Orangutans!
Special
! After about an hour we suddenly veered off to the right and it looked like we were going to run into the bank at full speed. Miraculously we didn't all die in a ball of flame but passed smoothly between the bushes into a hidden path through the flooded mangroves. On we went still going pretty fast through smaller and smaller avenues. Finally after another 10 minutes we emerged, from an equally well hidden passage, on to a large oxbow lake on the other side of which we could see a few small wooden buildings through the trees. We beached the boats right in front of these buildings as the water line was just a few feet from their legs.
Having unloaded our bags and put them in our "rooms" - which as Debbie pointed out were like giant chicken coops with wire mesh all around and built on stilts (as everything else was) - we went and had a cup of tea and a biscuit in the main communal area whilst we waited for our orientation talk. Within that time, about half an hour, we saw yet more animals! There were the ubiquitous Macaques, 2 very large Bearded pigs who although wild basically lived in the compound and a huge Monitor lizard who turned up just as we did and then wandered round for the next few days. At one point he decided to get in to one of the boats to check it for food. From then on we definitely looked before we got in.
The camp is no longer run by uncle Tan himself but by a guy called Lan. Lan talked us through our schedule for the next few days and then split us into 2 groups for the boats - The Orangutans and the Proboscis Monkeys - we were the Orangutans don't you know! As well as the 18 of us there were 3 people who where already there having stayed for another two nights
Off to the jungle we go!
. A quiet guy of unknown European origin and Matej and Yvana, a cool couple from the Czech Republic.That afternoon we went out on our first river safari. The two boats worked their way through the mangroves and back out on to the main river stopping to check out any wildlife that our guides spotted. These guys were amazing, like, unbelievable. Whilst driving the boat, avoiding sunken logs and other debris they were able to spot all sorts of birds and primates amongst the trees on the river bank from (and this is no exaggeration) at least... well, a very long way. Like... 1/4 mile or something. Again we saw lots of birds, lots of Macaques and Proboscis monkeys and some Orangutans.
Later that night, after a good dinner, we were back on the river for a night safari. Even in the dark using only a spotlight our guides were still able to point out tons of animals including Kingfishers (who cannot see in the dark and so don't fly off when you approach) lizards, monkeys, bats, frogs and even a Bornean blue tarantula that was spotted from a moving boat up a tree in the dark in the mangroves - I'm not sure if that's a testament to the skill of the guides or the size of the spider!!
When we returned from our night cruise we shared a few beers and were then told we could wait up after the lights went out (electricity only ran from dusk to about 11pm) to see if any Civet cats would venture on to the deck to pick at the scraps left over from dinner
Spotted! First wild orangutan
. Keen to see one I prepared for a long night of sitting in the dark. Fortunately that was unnecessary as before the lights had even gone out a dark shape was spotted hovering at the edge of the darkness. We quickly turn the lights off and a minute later could hear soft footsteps on the floor just a couple of feet in front of us. Someone pinged their torch on and we caught a glimpse of the cat high-tailing it back off the platform into the darkness. The lights were extinguished and moments later the steps were heard again. The lights went on. The cat went off. This game was played for a fair while til we got tired and turned in for the night. The next night at about 1.30am I was fortunate enough to see the cat when I was on my own on the way to the toilet. Shining my torch ahead of me on the walkway, so as not to tread in anything that could digest me, I spied the cat curled in a ball on the wooden slats. It saw me approach and quickly got up and jogged away as I followed with my torch. I didn't get to see it for long (or have time to get a picture) but it was awesome to be alone in the jungle for a moment with this wild animal.I should mention that the river was severely flooded. When we arrived I noticed a thin plank of wood at the edge of a large area of water cleared of trees. It was raised at either end about 2 inches from the water and was about 50 meters from the main structure of the camp
Spotted! Proboscis monkey
. I couldn't for the life of me work out what it was until Lan pointed out the other similar plank of wood at at the other end of the clearing and explained that it was their football pitch and what we could see was the top of the (full-size) goals sticking out of the water! It turned out that the waters edge which was currently about a metre from the buildings was normally 100 metres away and at least 7-8 foot lower!Due to the excess of water, finding crocodiles, which are pretty common in the river, was proving difficult and during our time we only spotted a metre long juvenile lounging on the banks. On the second afternoon for a bit of a change from going out in the boats we decided to take a rather muddy wander into the jungle on dry land. Boots were donned and we took the path behind the kitchen into the trees. We didn't get far, probably just a couple of 100 metres, but it didn't matter as in that distance we saw more monkeys, orangutans, frogs, water scorpions, millipedes (that smell of almonds if you rub them!), butterflies, leeches, frogs and bugs of all sorts.
That afternoon one of the group spotted a large male orangutan very close to the toilets so we all rushed, quietly, over there with our cameras. It turned out that the male, who was fully grown with 'flanges' (big cheeks) and everything, was not alone as we soon spotted the female higher in the tree
Uncle Tans
. We all stood and watch for ages as the two worked their way around each other in the courtship games. It was mesmerizing as at some points they were just feet away.The rest of our time at Uncle Tans was spent relaxing, chatting and having a few drinks with Lan and the awesome group of people who we were there with. I'd highly recommend a trip there if you ever have the chance.
On our third and final day we piled our stuff back into the boats and started back to the bridge where the buses would pick us up taking most people back to Sepilok but Matej, Yvana, Leigh, Matt, Debbie and I onward to Semporna on the Eastern coast. As we pulled out of the oxbow lake in to the mangroves we realised that the water had dropped at least a foot or two. We kept our eyes peeled for the elusive crocs but found none. At the last minute just before we emerged onto the main river Debbie spotted a large Otter peering at us through the trees. It winked (well maybe) and slipped smoothly into the water.
