After climbing Mt Kinabalu, we headed straight for Uncle Tan's guesthouse to sign up for a 3 day jungle adventure.

The first morning, before heading for the jungle conservation area, we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary for a half day tour. This is one of 3 Organutan sanctuaries that exists in the world, to rehabilitate sick and orphaned orangutans. With most of the land in Borneo (Malaysian at least) being deforested to make way for palm oil plantations, the oranguatan amongest other wildlife have become an endangered species. The centre claims that it rehabilitates the 'man of the forest' such that they can successfully return to their natural habitat and live as nature intended them to live.

Whether you fully believe in what they tell you, that all the orangutans are successfully 'rehabilitated' to fend for themselves,etc, there's no denying that there is vital work being done at the centre. Imagine what would happen to the orphaned and injured ones should there be no centre to house and care for them. It's also a great place to see the orangutan up close. We went around the morning feeding time, when the orangutans literally hang around waiting for the 'keepers'/'handlers' to arrive up on the platform with bunches of bananas. It's mostly around this time that the hords of camera happy tourist (that's me too!) get to see them up close. Though, not being a fan of Zoos, it's something that I felt a bit uncomfortable about. There's also an information centre that show's a balanced, informative and well made documentary about the orangutan crisis in Borneo and how the centre operates. In addition there's also some information on the crisis facing other wildlife, such as the rhino, in greater Sth Est Asia.
(click to continue)

After leaving the Orangutan Santuary in Sepilok, we were taken, first by van and then by boat, to Uncle Tan's itself. Situated on the edge of the Kinabatangan, this wildlife reserve, some 27k hectares, is home to an array of birds, monkeys, wild cats, insects, spiders, lizards and crocodiles.

The area is covered in a mixture of trees and swamp, making it feel much more inhospitalable and jungle-like. Much wetter than the jungles of Nepal and Thailand, it really felt that we were entering a zone where we migh not leave unscathed. But, much to our relief we were really made to feel at home and most importantly made to feel safe (enough). Lan and the guys at Uncle Tan's really know their jungle and were always able to answer our questions at put us at ease.

Even in the camp itself, many wild creatures either come an visit or just walk through. We saw a few different monitor lizards on a least two occasions. Certainly the biggest lizards I ever saw.

Then there was the Long Tailed Macaques. Very cute but aggressive vistors to the camp. After lunch one of the males actually came into the dining area and nicked, first t box of sugar and then a can of condensed milk. You could see him walking around with ithe unopened can in his mits, turning it over and over again, wondering what exactly he was going to do with it.


Then there was the nightly excursions into the jungle. On the first night we took a boat down the river to watch the wildlife from there, Armed with a high powered torch, the guide was able to showed us many animales and creatures that only emerge after dark. But it was when on foot,on the secong night, walking through the swamp, that we spotted the tarantula. A really huge specimen perched high on a tree, just above the its nest. Needless to say, Isabelle wasn't with us, on this night safari. It was just the boys.

Besided the Tarantula, one of the highlights was seeing an orangutan in the wild. A young male drinking from a coconut just a few hundred metres from the camp. We stood and watched him for a good 15 minutes. He even descended towards us enabling me to fire off a couple of shots.

Then our guide brought us to an area where bats sleep during the day. Unbelievable, he took a very large leaf and showed us a bat sleeping inside. When he had opened it up we found that it was actually not just one but two bats, a mother with baby. Never thought that I'd be goofing over a something like a bat before but it was really something.

On the last day I had the fortune to not only spot but to photograph a proboscis monkey. A shy and rare monkey only found in Borneo. The males have these huge long noses that make them look so funny. Something to do with attracting the female and alos enabling them to snorkle underwater (!!!). The photo shows a female jumping from tree to tree.

Lastly, we saw a beautiful kingfisher. Coloured in the most electric blue, red and yellow, I was fortunate to be able to capture it before the noise of the boat scared it off.

All in all, this was a really amazing an unexpected adventure into the jungle. We thought that we'd never be able to stay in such a place. Especially, Isabelle with her arachnophobia. But we couldn't recommend it highly enough. If we ever return to Borneo, this is a place that we'll come back too.