Day 12: Kinabatangan Walk and River Cruise by Simi

Matt and Eashan woke early ( 515am) to do a sunrise trip. The remaining three of us opted to snatch a few more hours sleep. They enjoyed their boat cruise and Eashan took his drone too.

We all met up again for breakfast at 830. Wow considering we are in the middle of nowhere , they go to town with the food. Check out the photos of the sweetest personalised ( and biggest) breakfast of delicious banana pancakes with yummy homemade syrup. So good. Arushi could not finish hers… I’ve never seen that before ! I checked her temperature ! She was ok!

We then all headed out for a 2 hour jungle hike with Ryan who kindly reminded us that hopefully we might see some interesting wildlife but that this is the real jungle and sometimes you see nothing.

As for the big Borneo 5 , we were still to see the Pygmy elephant and the crocodile . It was highly unlikely to see the Pygmy elephants as they had migrated further down the river and due to the heavy rainfall because of the incoming storm from Western Malaysia ; this meant it was unlikely we would see the crocs too as they were more easily spotted when the water levels were low.

So with low expectations but stunning views around us we set off. … up and down along a thin ridge, Ryan taught us many things along the route .

The jungle is so noisy especially the cicadas-There are around 3,000 species of cicadas worldwide, with approximately 150 species found in Malaysia alone. Sabah, in particular, has over 80 described cicada species and wow they are LOUD- whilst we were trekking amidst the lush forests of Sabah, their melodious chorus filled the air.
We learnt that only the male cicadas can sing. Cicadas can produce a sound exceeding 100 decibels, which is technically loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss if it sings right outside your ear
We found some mounds in the middle of our path- also called kmud chimneys or mud towers. They are vertical tubes of earth built by the cicada nymph as it prepares to leave the ground. These structures look like small mud tubes or domes rising an inch or more above the soil. They were cool looking!

Ryan also showed us the Tongkat Ali , a slow-growing rainforest tree native to Southeast Asia. In traditional Southeast Asian medicine, the long taproots of this tree are harvested, chopped up, and boiled in water to create a bitter tonic or herbal tea frequently used in modern capsule or powder supplements by bodybuilders and athletes looking to increase performance and stamina… ooh and also improving libido too!

The walk climaxed at the top of the hill where we were left unshaded and realised quickly how hot it was once again. Shrouded in sweat we appreciated the views of the river and also realised once again all the palm oil plantations around us. Ryan told us the main industries here were logging, palm oil and tourism .

We confirmed our understanding of logging as not being the same thing as deforestation, though they are closely related. Logging is the process of cutting down specific trees for timber or wood, while deforestation is the permanent clearing of forest land to use it for something else, like farms, towns, or roads.. so primitively speaking or writing in this case ,logging can involve harvesting specific trees or timber from a forest, then the forest can often grow back over time, or new trees can be planted.

Palm oil has been and continues to be a major driver of deforestation of some of the world's most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orang-utan and the pygmy elephant.

Just driving here from Sepilok it was clear to see that this area alone is all about the palm oil… which seemed so ironic as all the tourists are here to see the wildlife! According to the web, “Malaysia is incredibly rich in palm oil, serving as the world's second-largest producer and exporter of the commodity. The sector is a cornerstone of the national economy, contributing roughly 3.7% to the overall GDP and generating billions in foreign exchange earnings through exports to top markets like India, China, and the EU.”

Palm oil is in nearly everything – it’s in close to 50% of the packaged products we find in supermarkets, everything from pizza, doughnuts and chocolate, to deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and lipstick. It’s also used in animal feed and as a biofuel in many parts of the world (not in the UK though!).

As well as being versatile, compared to other vegetable oils the oil palm is a very efficient crop, able to produce high quantities of oil over small areas of land, almost all year round. This makes it an attractive crop for growers and smallholders, who can rely on the steady income that palm oil provides.

So it is strangely weird being here surrounded by all the palm oil plantations . As well as the deforestation issue there is other concerns about the conversion of carbon rich peat soils throwing out millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. There also remains some exploitation of workers and child labour. These are serious issues that the whole palm oil sector needs to step up to address because according to the western world it doesn’t have to be this way… but I’ve seen no evidence of anyone thinking this is wrong here… and I don’t feel confident asking about it .

Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop. Globally, palm oil supplies 40% of the world’s vegetable oil demand on just under 6% of the land used to produce all vegetable oils. To get the same amount of alternative oils like soybean, coconut, or sunflower oil you would need anything between 4 and 10 times more land, which would just shift the problem to other parts of the world and threaten other habitats, species and communities. Furthermore, there are millions of smallholder farmers who depend on producing palm oil for their livelihoods. Boycotting palm oil is not the answer. Instead, we need to demand more action to tackle the issues and go further and faster.

The best thing we can do is support sustainable palm oil and avoid boycotts, since we know substitutions with other vegetable oils can lead to even further environmental and social harm. In fact we need to make sure it has
The RSPO certification (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) . This is a global standard verifying that palm oil is produced legally, without new deforestation, and with fair treatment of workers and local communities. It aims to make sustainable palm oil the norm through strict environmental and social rules.

A quick Google showed me this

Unilever PLC: Sourced through brands like Dove, Magnum, and Knorr, Unilever PLC was one of the early major consumer goods manufacturers to join the RSPO.

Nestlé SA: In 2025, 100% of Nestlé's crude palm oil and palm kernel oil was verified via RSPO-certified sources or credits.

Ferrero Group: Known for Nutella and Kinder, Ferrero achieves near-total traceability, sourcing over 96% of its supply through the strict RSPO segregated model.

So looks like Nutella is actually ok for now ! Anyway still better to eat our “not”ella and just ensure we keep informed about RSPO and make sure their members are really making the palm oil industry sustainable as it promises.

We started heading back as it wasn’t a circular route. Then about half way back Ryan heard from his colleague there were some wild orang- utans nearby . We quickly sped up which trying to remain as quiet as possible … and then the magic happened… We saw an orang u tan in the wild! Totally incredible !
We watched in awe and shared the binos between us all. Our eyes even sweating ! But we could catch glimpses of the orange furred creature ..Ryan beckoned us off the path so we could try and get even closer . Arushi and Eashan could hardly get there quick enough . We slipped and slid down the hols, snapping branches and twigs but were rewarded with the sight of 3- a mum and her teeny baby and another youngish one. Ryan seemed in total awe too and kept on saying
the orangutan was deffo angry and agitated as it was showing the clear signs of that which were most notably the "kiss-squeak" sound and aggressive branch shaking. Meanwhile he kept on getting us closer and closer .. i was torn.. I was excited to see them but also didn’t want them to be distressed or put any of us in any danger of course !
We just followed Ryan’s lead and put all our trust in him and watched them very closely and followed them for 20 mins or so. It was one of those times in your life you will never forget … totally mesmerising ! It was of course amazing to see but I did feel the mother was deffo giving us warnings to leave them alone which we did of course .

We headed back to camp for another amazing meal. Lunch was chicken and rice with egg noodles and crispy onions . Really good!

I haven’t mentioned that our 3n2d trip is also with two other families - a Swiss family of 3 and another British family of 4 from Reading. All lovely people but poor Eddie ( the English 16yr old) has been suffering with a dodgy tummy ache. He didn’t make it for breakfast or the morning walk but actually a few hours later he was able to join us for the end of the walk and so was rewarded with the orang u tan sightings.

In the afternoon we headed back to the river for another cruise. Knowing Pygmy elephants were really not going to happen , we pinned all our hopes on the still pretty unlikely crocodile. The weather was a million times better than yesterday and it was so pleasant out on the water. We were all more experienced in scanning the foliage and tried to spot crocs in the mangroves. We went down narrower tributaries of the river which really felt like the deepest darkest jungle and before we knew it we were rewarded with a sighting of a flying lemur. How the guides sported that was really incredible . Millen the wildlife spotter saw what they were pointing to very quickly too.. it took me an age.. it was so well camouflaged but I got there in the end .. much to the children’s relief !

Ryan with his expertise spotted a baby crocodile about 10cm off the river bank.. it was about 20 cm long so probably only about a month old or so.. almost looked kore

And if that hadn’t ticked all our boxes ( well minus the Pygmy elephants) we joined the hordes of boats ( there was 8 other boats) spotting another orangu tan. We just about saw it which was cool but it really made us appreciate what we had seen earlier as this really wasn’t anything compared to our nearby 30 mins encounter with three of them on our walk!

Cups full we headed back up the 600 stairs for one last time . Beers on the verandah followed by another delicious meal of chicken cordon Bleu with mushroom sauce ( we found out Jason trained a a chef.. made total sense) before a bit of blogging and Padi theory so we would all be set for our diving adventure.

Meanwhile poor Eddie having perked up earlier was deteriorating again with tummy ache when he walks and a temperature and even sickness… it was looking like appendicitis !!! Poor them!! They were all so calm as they realised they had no choice but to head off to hospital. We really are in the middle of no where. There was a small local hospital 45 mins away otherwise they would be heading to Sandakan 2 hours away and failing that a flight to Kota Kinabalu in the morning . It was a sudden and sad departure as they were a lovely family. Let’s hope he gets it sorted at the local hospital . Poor boy.

We found out in the night they had checked into a nearby hotel and how brilliant Jason had been. Eddie was having a CT scan the next morning . So fingers crossed all will be ok!Læs mere