Kampong Malapi

It was a two-and-a-half hour ride by speedboat up the Kinabatangan River to Sukau Rainforest Lodge, where have spent the past three nights.

On the trip up our guide told us he would stop to show us any significant wildlife sightings, but we didn’t need to stop, mainly because he was asleep for most of it.

We arrived around four in the afternoon, and soon boarded a small boat to look for wildlife. It was oppressively hot and sticky, but peaceful yet fun buzzing around from one side of the river to the other as the guide pursued possible wildlife.

Africa has its “big five” - the lion, leopard, buffalo, giraffe and elephant, and Australia its “big four” - the kangaroo, emu, platypus and tall poppy. In Borneo there is the orang utan, proboscis monkey, hornbill, crocodile and pygmy elephant.

We saw our first orang utan in the wild very quickly, shortly followed by a host of proboscis monkeys. The monkeys are apparently quite easy going and will happily help to groom members of other monkey species - this is not surprising, as anyone lumbered with a nose the size of that on the male proboscis monkey would have to be pretty easy going.

From the right angle the males look like a chubby Mr Magoo without his glasses.

Hornbills were also plentiful, although a little harder to see in the tree tops. Of the rhinoceros hornbill variety, however, there was only the briefest of sightings.

Then there was the crocodile, which was also plentiful, both large - very large, in fact - and small.

Of the pygmy elephant, though, there was no sign whatsoever. Our guide kept promising that there were elephants in the area, and each boat excursion included the enticement that they were “waiting for the word” that the elephants were down by the river. What rot.

In all, we spent eight hours numbing our bottoms on the slightly padded seats of the boat, and came away very happy with the animal sightings and the experience. Especially in the early mornings, the air was cool, the mist was rising from the still river and there was a sense of anticipation about the day - and the big breakfast awaiting our return.

One of our boat trips was at night. No pygmy elephants, funnily enough, but we saw lots of small crocodiles, (luckily) small snakes and some incredibly colourful kingfishers and other birds of different varieties. It was a bit surreal zooming across the blackness of the river, with the guide using the only light on the boat to scan the bank for animals, rather than watch where he was going.

And it was peaceful. We stopped the engine (deliberately, I hope) and drifted for some time under a canopy of stars and in the enveloping silence. The waxing moon, in its last nights, shed a tiny reflection on the otherwise dark river.

With this peace and tranquility in mind (and the multitude of animals out there waiting to poison and/or eat us), we move on to the Tabin Conservation Area, and… the leeches.Read more