Our last night in dry Brunei, we hired a couple of the local water taxis to whizz us around the stilted villages. Being such a small country they use every available space, water or not, schools, hospitals and shops balance precariously on wooden and concrete legs as densely populated as any housing estate. The taxis all boast wooden construction with beefy outboards, a great improvement on the normality of the London Taxi as you bounce across the wakes from the other boats as the public transport systems swarms around. A few minutes downstream we caught an amazing view of the Sultan’s Palace. As the sun went down the light on the South East Asia’s biggest mosque dazzled the skyline, looking bizarre amongst all the wooden shanty houses.
From our brief stop in Brunei we bussed to KK (Kota Kinabalu for the longwinded tongues) it was a journey in itself. Check out of Brunei, check into Malaysia, drive for a bit, check out of Malaysia, check into Brunei, check out of Brunei, check into Malaysia, check into Saba Province...... two less pages in our passports we arrived in KK.
KK was a welcome change and a stunning sunset over the water set the scene for a wild night on the rather exclusive waterfront complex the tourists in this town call home. The next day was a bit of a blur for some who only squinted at the sunlight before returning to their darkened rooms. For those now poorer from the night before, a great seafood market is set up on the waterfront every evening serving some of the most reasonable and tasty fish we have found, tuna steaks for less than a dollar kept everybody happy.
But Borneo is largely about the jungle and the animals, and so after two nights in KK we headed back to the jungle and another orang-utan sanctuary in the little town of Sepilok. We caught the early morning flight from KK to Sandakan to catch the 10 am feeding. Our tickets granted us two feeding times with most folks coming back in the afternoon to watch these amazing human like primates.
Sepilok is also the jumping off point for one of the highlights of the trip to Borneo, a two night stay in a Jungle Camp deep within the Kinabatangan Jungle.
Arriving at the jungle camp was a bit of a shock to the system, definitely no WIFI here we suspected as we checked into our rough and ready accommodation. Mattresses on the floor, up to 6 people in a hut with a mosquito net for each, no door, no windows, chicken mesh for ventilation. We headed down to the evening briefing and after being served coffee and crumpets began to think that maybe this would be OK.
The briefing was great as a well spoken guide explained our program for the next 3 days and 2 nights. He also did a great job of explaining what we could expect to see and different times which may have raised the bar a bit but gave us all something to look forward to. Splitting into 2 teams, Scorpions and Tarantulas (sounds a bit like school camp) we headed off on our first night safari after a very tasty dinner.
Piling into boats we took off in opposite directions and into the jungle. 2 guides per boat, one armed with a spot light, did an amazing job of finding all manner of wildlife. Sleeping birds, water monitor lizards and some were even lucky enough to spot a Python eating a rodent.
With our appetites whetted there were no complaints about the early morning call to go for another longer trip down the river, steaming coffee and tea with bread and jam made the 6 o’clock start to the day even bearable.
Again the two teams headed in different directions and with sightings on both side closely matched it was only the fantastic glimpse of the Unicorn by team Tarantula that put them in the lead by one....
This area just seems to teem with nature and with the local guide’s uncanny ability not only to spot the birds and beasts but rattle off the Latin names was amazing making for an interesting ride again. The photos will do it all justice.
Then a cooked breakfast and a bit of a break and chill time before heading once more into the jungle by boat and then by foot. Wearing rubber boots we trudged through the undergrowth with our guide explaining all kinds of interesting plants and bugs, some folks even got to handle a scorpion and we got to do a bit of scratch and sniff nature, a small millipede that when provoked smells just like marzipan! Christmas in the jungle anyone?
We had a total of 7 jungle adventures at Uncle Tan’s as well as many very tasty meals, the guides were young but very knowledgeable, helpful and fun. On our last day after another boat safari where we managed to spot a wild orang-utan, we came back for a last breakfast of fried tasty stuff. Leaving the camp by boat with the staff playing the guitar and singing a not half bad rendition of James Blunt’s “Goodbye my friend” we were sorry to leave the jungle and crazy camp behind us.
From there we would be heading to the city of Sandakan.
No comments:
Post a Comment