Wildlife spotting on the Menanngul River

Drifting quietly on the Menanggul River
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Thursday 21st August

Celyn Resort to Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge

Today was one of the highlights of the whole trip for what Sarawak lacked in wildlife, Sabah has aplenty.

Celyn Resort is perched on a ridge which has a clear view of Mt Kinabalu. We could easily see the buildings associated with Laban Rata Guesthouse and also the distance from there to the top. It doesn’t look so far from here but all of our legs, both calves and thighs, except of course Frau G’s legs, were hurting something terrible. The lactic acid kicked into action overnight and made walking again a painful experience. One foot, then the next, on each step, was to be the way one made their way around, again, and this turned out to be the situation for the next couple of days while the lactic acid slowly dissipated.

The Proboscis Monkey really does have a big nose
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Today’s journey of 4-5 hours will take us from around 1500 metres asl to about sea level and in doing so we will be back into the heat and humidity. Along the way, at a wayside stop, I bought 30 little bananas for RM2, about 60 cents. They were deliciously sweet little morsels.

Another trusty Toyota mini bus has again done a good job. We left Baldwin at last night’s resort so he could make his way home. He was replaced by Zul who is to be with us until we leave Sabah next Sunday morning. For about half today’s drive we travelled through palm oil plantations. The oil produced ranks second to petroleum as the county’s biggest earner.

Long tailed Macaque
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Here at Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge, where we arrived in time for a late lunch, we have nice big rooms – I’m still reaping the benefits of Barry’s single supplement so have a queen-sized bed to myself. The room is big enough for another two beds if that was necessary. Poor Sarah still has to co-habit with the ever-complaining, blustery Frau G. The attached bathroom works and supplies an even and continuous supple of hot water the likes of which I have not experienced since leaving home. I wonder if it is good enough to take away some of the smells. There are louvre windows on three sides to catch a breeze no matter where it comes from and an overhead fan that can be run flat out without shaking the place to pieces or waking the dead. Ten out of ten.

Wagler's Pit Viper- great camouflage!
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Having settled into our accommodation it was time to return to the open dining room. This involved walking back along a raised boardwalk but was well worth the effort as lunch consisted of delicious spring rolls, small pieces of crispy fried chicken with mixed vegetables and the whitest rice I’ve ever seen which was served from the biggest rice cooker I’ve ever seen! There was plenty of tea or coffee and chilled water – as much as you wanted.

A little rest followed until it was time to board one of the resort’s dinghies for a cruise on the muddy brown river that flowed past the resort. We have been variously guaranteed that there is a 100-110% (!) chance of seeing proboscis monkeys. However, all afternoon the thunder clouds have been building and with only 20 minutes until departure time set at 16h00, it looks as though it is about to bucket down. Even so, I hope they don’t call off the boat ride as at worst – we’ll get wet in warm rain. I’m prepared for rain with my camera inside two zip-lock plastic bag.

Estuarine crocodile at close quarters
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Four o’clock came and went. If I’d been in Singapore it would have rained, but here, it wasn’t even a storm in a tea cup as the clouds dissipated, the sun came out and off we went.

We weren’t disappointed. What Sarawak lacked in wildlife, Sabah has aplenty. Within a couple of hundred metres of the lodge we headed off up the Menanggul River. Very shortly later we saw our first monkeys. They were Long-tailed Macaques, quite close and taking no notice of us.

During our very peaceful two hour cruise we did see proboscis monkeys, both large and small, and other troupes of Macaques. Also seen at close quarters was an Estuarine Crocodile, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Yellow-ringed Cat snake, sometimes called a Mangrove snake, a Wagler’s Pit Viper, Blue-eared kingfisher and many interesting plants including a beautiful white Hoya dangling majestically over the water from a higher tree. This two-hour cruise turned out for me to be one of the highlights of the whole trip.

Monkey eating
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When we registered on arrival at the lodge we were each given a sarong which we were told had to be worn to dinner. Now this lends itself to a pretty sight! To save any embarrassment, and as it was for dinner, the men were told they had to wear shirts and the ladies had to arrange and somehow tie their sarongs up under their armpits. No bare chests in this place!!! The tee shirt I chose was one I had bought some days earlier and which had not had an airing as yet. It is mainly white but features a cartoon-like depiction of an orang-utan hanging over my right shoulder with his hind quarters hanging down the back. A bit quirky!