Borneo - The Kinabatangan River

I suppose I should start with the Golomontong Caves which we visited on the way to the river and which were incredibly high and very, very stinky.  This is one of the locations where bird's nests are harvested (4 times a year) and it must be crazy work!  They were not harvesting while we were there, but carried several thousand dollars worth of bird's nests off to be sold.  The white ones sell for more because they're pure bird saliva whereas the black ones are mixed with feathers.  Can't wait to try some Bird's Nest Soup . . . ummmm, maybe not.

Hauling the Nests to Market

 

I had the good fortune to travel with a wonderful group of seven people from Australia.  They laughed a lot, were great company and really appreciated all the amazing wildlife we saw.  They are off to climb Mt. Kinabalu and I wish them good luck and safe travels.  It was an all too brief pleasure!

Here are some of the creatures we were lucky enough to see thanks to our great guides, Conner and Israel.

Proboscis Monkeys

Proboscis Mama and baby

Another Proboscis Mama And Tiny Baby

                                                 



Silver Leaf Monkey (White form) - Very Rare
Only found on the Kinabatangan River in Borneo

A Silver Leaf Monkey or Silvery Langur

Hornbills Galore!  I know the top one and the two in the tree are Oriental Pied Hornbills, The one with the orange point on top is, of course, a Rhinoceros Hornbill.  I'm really not sure of the others, but they're magnificent!

Can't figure these guys out - maybe juveniles?





A Couple Crocodiles . . .

The splash in the water is from macaques throwing fruit in the water.
Ha!  Teasing the crocodile?

This guy was BIG. . . maybe 13 feet?

A close-up.

And the others:

A Fat Hawk

Egrets Are Similar Everywhere

Oriental Darter

Hawk Eagle



 



Reticulated Python

The night walk was the coolest, even though we were sweltering in our boots, long sleeves, long pants, and hats.  We saw two mouse deer (they're very small - cat size) and the following cast of characters - some sound asleep.

These two birds are sleeping and we 'let sleeping birds lie' - Ha!

 

This spider is not sleeping.

Woodpecker - obviously sleeping and do not disturb!

A Western Tarsier

How cool is it that we got to see all the amazing creatures?  Today in Sandakan, I visited Agnes Keith's home and walked around the grounds, saw a white bellied sea eagle (a very large bird), walked down the 100 stairs that is actually 264 (I counted) to a very odd Chinese Buddhist temple with enormous amounts of incense burning inside and out.  Sandakan has a lot of history and has been seized, occupied, bombed and burned to the ground over the years.  It shows despite the warmness of the people who live there.  That being said, I'm now sitting in the roof restaurant of my hotel overlooking the Sulu Sea, watching the sunset and listening to a Muslim call to prayer and it's rather surreal. I will sadly leave all of this behind but will return to Bangkok for some delicious Thai food (YAY!) and a few adventures before heading home.