Reset search
Malaysia
Satellite

Malaysia
Sungai Menungal

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • TravelerAway & Around 2022
      1
      Day 52

      Sukau Rain Forest

      July 23, 2022 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

      Malaysian Borneo! We spent the morning with Orang Utans (yes, it is two words in Malay). Some of these lovely animals are wild but swing into the Sepilok Reserve
      at feeding time for a free snack. Others are long term residents of the rehabilitation program. We also visited the sun bears before heading 2.5 hours up the Kinabatangan River to Sakau Rainforest Lodge. We saw crocodiles, Macaques (long and short tailed), Proboscis Monkeys, Sivered Langur Monkeys and several eagles and hornbills.

      Tomorrow we hope to see the Borneo Pygmy Elephant. 💗      Read more

    • TravelerAway & Around 2022
      111
      Day 53

      More Orangutans 🦧!

      July 24, 2022 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

      It’s our last day at Sakau Rainforest Lodge. It’s been like living at the zoo. The Orangutan in today’s video and photos was just hanging around with a group of long tailed Macaques near the lodge. We watched him climb through the forest eating berries for 20- 30 minutes.

      Our afternoon was spent spotting hornbills, monkeys, crocodiles and a small python.

      The sunset was followed by a lightning ⚡️ show but no rain yet.

      Tomorrow is a travel day- 2.5 hours by boat back to Sandakan and then our flight to Kota Kinabalu. We are working our way home. We can’t wait to see everyone and sleep in our own beds 🛌.      Read more

    • TravelerBorneo 2024
      1
      Day 4

      Sepilok

      April 9 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

      Sepilok is about half an hour from Sandakan and was a great start to the jungle part of our trip.

      First up was the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, where orphaned young and otherwise deserted animals are nurtured and prepared for life in the wild.

      They are the most amazing animals (mum rears her baby for up to nine years before they go out on their own) and we spent some time watching the juveniles and then the older animals feeding. They are fed only a small amount so that they will go and forage for more by themselves, and possibly become completely independent.

       Next stop was the Bornean Sun Bear Centre.

      Bornean Sun Bears have a few natural disadvantages, chiefly of which is a gall bladder that secretes bile that in some cultures is regarded as a powerful aid for libido/period pain/household cleaning.

      Then they may be captured as pets and have their claws removed, which (as the claws are bone) is excruciatingly painful and (as they rely on their claws to climb trees and dig for food) means they cannot survive in the wild.

      As sun bears eat termites, they also play an important role in keeping the trees healthy.

      In the afternoon we braved the hot sun and humidity and visited the Rainforest Discovery Centre.

      We walked high into the trees on the three hundred metre canopy walkway, constantly on the lookout for animals. For this part of the visit, though, the pickings were slim, with some distant bird sightings, two squirrels and a lizard.

      Then we waited in a large group for dusk, enjoying the slightly cooler air and the peaceful atmosphere high above the ground.

      Everyone was waiting for the red giant flying squirrels to perform their tricks. All eyes were focused on a box fastened to a tree, from where two little eyes peered out.

      Finally, he made his move, climbing out and up the tree before gliding gracefully down about thirty metres to his destination. All eyes were on him, but they had to be assisted by torches, as by this time it was quite dark. Steve was brilliant, his torch tracking the entire flight like a pro.

      Then we were taken along a series of bush tracks in search of night animals. Again, though, animals were scarce. We saw an incredibly vivid blue kingfisher, a scorpion, and a small pit viper that could easily have been stomped on; other than that it was down to lizards and stick insects for our entertainment.

      We’re now heading up the Kinabantangan River to Sukau Rainforest Lodge, for the part of our adventure.      Read more

    • TravelerBorneo 2024
      2
      Day 6

      Sukau

      April 11 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      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

    • Maria og SteffenBorneo 13-25 april 2017
      Day 10

      Dag 9: Sukau og Kinabatanganfloden

      April 21, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

      I dag stod vi op kl. 5:30 da vi skulle på flodsafari fra kl. 6-8. Vi skulle sejle i en mindre båd end hidtil og ind af nogle mindre floder. Her så vi en masse spændende dyr. Der var ingen aber og næsehornsfugle som på gårsdagens tur, tilgengæld var der flere slags isfugle, brednæb og andre farverige fugle. Vi så også en stor ferskvandskrokodille, der svømmede lige op af vores båd. Det er kun under en måned siden en plantage medarbejder hernede blev spist af en krokodille, så de er ikke helt ufarlige. Vi så også en flot grøn slange, der var krøllet sammen på en gren udover vandet.

      Efter flodturen var vi på en guidet tur rundt i skoven omkring vores lodge. Her fortalte en lokal guide, som er fra en af de lokale stammefolk om, hvordan de overlever i junglen. På turen så vi nogle flotte fugle samt firben og flyvende øgler.

      Om eftermiddagen var vi på endnu en flodtur på den større flod. Her så vi igen store flokke med næseaber og langhalede macaqueaber, der sad i træerne tæt på floden. Vi så også en ny slags næsehornsfugl. Højdepunktet på turen var dog en flok korthalede macaqueaber, som vi kun har set få af tidligere.

      Om aftenen var vi på natsafari, hvor vi sejlede ud på en båd med projektørlys. Her så vi mange af de fugle vi havde set i løbet af dagen, dog sovende på grenene, så man kunne komme helt tæt på. Vi så også nogle flyvende hunde og en ugle.      Read more

      See translation
    • TravelerBackpacking SEA
      Day 226

      Zu Gast bei Maria und ihrer Familie

      September 17, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Ein paar wenige Tage verbringen wir bei Maria und ihrer Familie in ihrem bescheidenen Heim in Sukau direkt am Fluss. Zusammen mit Maria, ihrem Mann, ihrer in die Jahre gekommenen Mutter, ihren Brüdern sowie Schwägerin und ihrem Neffen hausen wir in einer einfachen, aber gemütlichen Holzhütte. Hühner, Gänse und Katzen gackern, schnattern und miauen den ganzen Tag wild drauf los, immer auf der Hut vor den Krokodilen, die im Kinabatangan River auf Beutejagd sind. "Zwei Enten haben wir in den letzten Monaten verloren", sagt Marias Mann und kann sich ein Lächeln dabei jedoch nicht verkneifen.
      Maria setzt sich aktiv für den Schutz des verbliebenen Waldes in Sabah ein und zusammen mit ihren Brüdern Mus und Shaa gibt sie ihr großes Wissen über die reiche Tier- und Pflanzenwelt in und um den Fluss Kinabatangan an ihre Gäste weiter. Zusätzlich verwöhnt sie diese mit ihren brillanten Kochkünsten.      Read more

      See translation
    • TravelerBackpacking SEA
      Day 227

      Der Fluss der kleinen Elefanten

      September 18, 2017 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Orang-Utans, Nasenaffen, Borneo-Elefanten - es gibt nur einen Flecken auf dieser Welt, wo man all diese Tierarten beobachten kann: am Fluss Kinabatangan im malaysischen Teil Borneos. Das Gebiet um den Kinabatangan River umfasst tropische Wälder, Altarmseen, Sumpfgebiete. Über 500 Kilometer schlängelt sich dieser Fluss ins Landesinnere und an seinem Ufer kann fast die gesamte Tierwelt Malaysias beobachtet werden. Aus traurigem Grund: Nicht weit vom Fluss entfernt erstrecken sich die endlosen Palmölplantagen, die die exotischen Waldbewohner Borneos immer weiter zum Fluss drängen und ihnen Stück für Stück den Lebensraum nehmen. Die Ölpalme ist bis heute die dominierende Einkommensquelle der Region und nur langsam entwickelt sich das Bewusstsein, dass die verbliebenen Waldgebiete Sabahs geschützt werden müssen.Read more

      See translation
    • TravelerHome
      Day 38

      Sakau

      February 25, 2018 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      We were picked up at our nature lodge by our new guide and taken to the Sandakan harbour where we boarded a speedboat with about ten other people. The trip took about three hours of pretty fast sailing. We did experience a couple of heavy showers along the way, so we all got a bit damp - the boat had a roof, but was open at the sides.

      Along the way the guides got very excited as we saw their version of the ‘ big five’ - Pygmy elephants ( which max out at 2.3 mtrs tall) , a wild orangutan sitting in a fig tree having a great feast on the fruit. Once it started raining heavily again, we watched him cover himself with branches and even break off a branch that had a good leaf cover and use it as an umbrella. We also saw proboscis monkeys, a crocodile and a rhinoceros hornbill. The boat ride was great as we really felt we were in the deep jungle - mangroves and lots of thick bush.

      We arrived at our new lodge which is one of the National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World. The accommodation is great - we have our own chalet with a deck that faces the jungle. After settling in, we joined our guide for an evening boat cruise - this time we came prepared for the sudden showers as Brian quickly purchased ponchos for us. We saw more probiscis monkeys but little else except the jungle scenery.

      We got back just in time for a mediocre dinner with our guide and discussed our plan for the next day that was to include a visit to a cave to see the bats leaving in the evening ( high on Anne’s list of things to do). However, he went on to explain that the area is covered with cock roaches - apparently all the handrails are covered with them. In addition there are also long legged centipedes, but the final icing on the cake was that you are provide with masks due to bat guano dust, and a helmet to stop stuff falling on your head! One look at Anne’s face, I realised that my life long ambition to watch millions of bats fly out of a cave had to be shelved! Anne did offer for me to go on my own, but I wouldn’t want to do that would I!!

      The next morning we set off for our early morning boat cruise at 6:30 and discovered why it’s called the rain forest. It had rained hard all night and at 6:30, it was still bucketing down. However, being hardy Brits, we donned our newly purchased ponchos and set off regardless. Not sure the effort was worth it, but we did see a crocodile, a stork-billed kingfisher, Black Hornbills and a number of monkeys. Our guide is such a keener that we stayed out much longer than the other people only to find, when we got back to the lodge, that they had scoffed most of the breakfast!

      Later in the morning we did a short walk on a covered walkway around the lodge, but as it was still raining hard, the birds and animals were wisely keeping a low profile, so we only saw a few monkeys but had some interesting information from our guide about the trees and plants that we saw.

      Later in the afternoon, we ventured out with our guide once more for our last boat cruise. It had rained solidly all day, so donned in our ponchos, off we set to see if we could spot any wildlife. As you can imagine, there wasn’t a lot of action, but we did spot more Black Hornbills, a White Bellied Sea Eagle, a Brahmin Kite. We also spotted some Silver Langur (Silver Leafed Monkey), some pig-tailed Macaque and a flock of night herons. Not a bad haul considering the weather.

      We leave tomorrow to go back to Kota Kinabalu for a night and then on to
      Langlowi Island for our last five days before returning to Ireland.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Sungai Menungal

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

    • 2024© FindPenguins
    • Home
    • About us
    • Blog
    • Group Tracking
    • Press
    • Terms
    • Privacy Policy & Cookies
    • Support
    • Legal notice
    • English