Wild Animals

Let me just say, Borneo is probably the coolest place ever. We've had such a blast here; it's crazy to think we're flying out so soon! Have to talk about Sukau Rainforest Lodge....

So after we visited the orangutans, in the wild, no cages, no barriers, we were whisked away by speedboat two hours south to Sukau, where we got to our lodge. It's called Sukau Rainforest Lodge, an eco-lodge deep in the rain forest. This is the place. Our guide, Wan, was sure to tell us that this lodge was NOT a hotel and definitely NOT a resort. No air-con, many mosquitoes, all kinds of bugs. I was a little worried. But when we showed up, we were thrilled to find an absolutely beautiful Borneo longhouse-style lodge right on the edge of the river. The atmosphere was very relaxing, with the main area open to the rain forest, no walls. They even provided us with sarongs to wear to dinner, which was really nice.

We spent the next two days going on river cruises and a jungle trek in search of wild animals, which we saw plenty of. The river cruise was us six on the tour plus Wan, our guide. We went up and down the river, and took a million pictures of long-tailed macaques and the interesting proboscis monkey. We saw SO many of those, and apparently they only live in Borneo. There were also lots of colorful and interesting birds, egrets, storks, eagles, hornbills, and kingfishers of all sorts. It was SO incredibly cool to see these animals in the wild, I couldn't believe it.

The trek was fun, but a little more nerve-racking because we were brushing leeches off each other the whole time, and making sure our leech-proof socks (provided by the lodge) were staying up. Wan showed us lots of plants used by the indigenous people for all kinds of things.

We also went on two night river cruises, which were an entirely different story. Being on a rickety little boat in the pitch dark with a spotlight felt kind of like the beginning of the pirates of the carribbean ride, except if we fell out we'd probably be eaten by crocodiles. We saw so many awesome animals those nights. Our guide, Marvin, shone a spotlight all around the banks, looking for the reflection of the animals' eyes. I was incredulous at first, but Marvin delivered. Right away we spotted a kingfisher, and got right up close to it, because apparently they're blind at night, and can't see the light or us at all. We saw a civet cat climbing a tree, and three of the largest species of kingfisher. They were huge and so colorful. Then we saw an owl, a purple heron, and a baby crocodile.

The second night cruise was even more exciting. We saw a big kingfisher and a baby crocodile again, then another civet cat, a couple of owls, and then, the most exciting, we saw TWO western tarsiers! Marvin said he'd only ever seen four of these little guys in eight years before that night. He was seriously excited about it, and so were we. I got a couple of grainy pictures of them. Not great but proof that they were there!

Now we're back in KK after a six-hour bus ride, wishing we were back at the rain forest lodge. We were sad to not see any elephants like some of the other people staying at the lodge had the week before, but those tarsiers made up for it, I think. If I could only come back to one place from this trip so far, I'd go back there definitely.