Sandkan

Aftera 50 minute ride in a small prop plane we arrived in Sandakan - BA and Aer Lingus could learn a lot from the Asian Airlines - impeccable service AND we were served a meal! We were met by our guide and taken to the MY Nature Lodge which is set in one of the oldest rain forests in the world. It’s very clean, but quite basic and very environmentally aware, I.e. biodegradable hair products, body soap etc. plus solar panels on each chalet that provided hot water. There are only 12 guests at the moment, mostly Brits with a couple of Germans thrown into the mix Everyone is very chatty and there are lots of stories about their travels to date.

This morning we were taken to the Orangutan sanctuary in time to see the young ones being fed. We spent a fascinating hour watching them play and eat. Some of them orphaned while others had been taken as pets and then released into the wild when they got too big. Of course, they couldn’t provide for themselves so the people at the sanctuary are rearing them with the hopes that they can be rehabilitated. There are no fences to stop the animals leaving and mixing with the wild ones who live in this area. They generally lead a solitary existence rather than living in a group. One young male has been taken to the jungle several times when it was deemed he was ready to go, but he just keeps coming back. He’s known as the naughty one and obviously is quite lazy as he has decided it’s a much easier life to get three squares a day without having to do any work for it! They were each given a coconut and it was interesting to see firstly their strength as they tore the outer husk off the fruit then banging them on the ground to crack them enough to drink the juice then finally to split them apart to get to the coconut flesh.

Afterwards we went to a feeding station that is out in Jungle. A couple of Macaques monkeys had got there first and are so aggressive that the oranutangs were afraid to go to the platform for the food so they had to wait until the monkeys left before getting the leftovers.

Our final stop before lunch was at a Sun Bear sanctuary. Again the keepers are working towards rehabilitation for the bears - some were there because again they had been taken as pets and released when they grew too big, some were orphaned and some had been rescued from bear farms.

By now, it was really steamy, so we retreated back to the lodge for lunch and a cool down.

After lunch we set off to visit the proboscis monkeys and watch them have their lunch. No one would ever think of them as good looking, but they are interesting. We watched a hareem at the feeding station with the one alpha male. There was one female whose baby had died but she was still carrying it around with her, apparently they will do this for a couple of days before accepting that it is dead and let it go - quite sad. When the food arrived they all sat together and had the food. Clearly sitting with all the ladies gave the male ideas, so he promptly mounted a couple of them much to the consternation of some of the more naive elder human lady observers, who did not understand what was going on.

That concluded our exertions for the day and we returned to the lodge for a rest and cool shower. We must say that the food here has been uncompromisingly local, no western dishes at all, strictly rice and some local veg, fish and chicken. The staff are delightful and keen to help but are not very proactive about giving out information - our room was not serviced because we hadn’t given them the key - who knew!Read more