Cuti-cuti Sabah: Kinabatangan River / Sukau

This is one trip that I anticipated the most, because I planned to bring my 15mo baby into the deep jungle and to cruise the longest river in Sabah, the Kinabatangan river.

At first I was not sure to tag baby along, I even planned to stay back with the boys in KK while the bunch go and enjoy themselves to be bitten by mosquitos and leech. SIL helped a lot with the decision making by getting 2 child-size life jackets for the boys. Phew!! That made me relieved.

So, Sukau... here we come! We started our journey by road, almost 6hours drive to Sukau. Thank God the kids slept during the journey.

Picked-up by the SRL boat to their premise.

Arrived at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge (SRL) at 3.30pm, we immediately geared up for the sunset river cruise, which is an hour ride in one of the smaller branch of the Kinabatangan river.

One thing I learnt throughout this trip, is to see through the jungle! That means we dont see only using our eyes, but with all our 5 senses. We listen to sound, we smell if there's any scent/odour (more like the animals' waste... eww).. errr.. I didnt use any of my taste buds this trip.. lol!

How many Proboscis monkey can you spot in this pix?

It was quite easy to spot the Proboscis Monkeys as they would stay in a group; either in a family or the all-male group; and most of the time these groups would be on trees at the river bank. Based on my observation, the family group consists of females and babies with their leader of the pact, a big-size male sitting quitely watching over his family. While the "all-male" group would be very loud and noisy. There was a scene I saw, where a few males were trying to woo a female from a family group, and the poor female was trying to run away from them, climbing higher from one tree to another.

Do you know that the Proboscis monkeys are found only in Borneo, the male has huge pendulous nose, fat beer belly and a long white tail. The male permenant erection simply enhances his bizzare appearance. The female has a smaller pointy nose, but is still bigger than any other monkeys.

Another name for it is Monyet Belanda. He does look like a man, dont you think? Click on the pix for closer view.

We saw a huge monitor lizard was climbing on a tree. Seeing this photo (in fact BIL shot many of it) gave me the goosebumps... I am not a fan of lizards.

A Macaque family monkeying around at the riverbank as if they were posing for the us. Again, I only choose this out of the rest. He looked very curious, as if trying to tell us something.

It was quite warm during this cruise, esp when the boat stopped for animal spotting / picture taking. Baby C was drained with his sweat and started to be cranky (He probably was bored, didnt understand why were we sitting in a boat and not doing much). As you can see, he needed to be pacified most of the time.

We spotted a bearded pig, this made my day because it is one of my "must-see list" in this trip. It has a prominent beard on its snout. I wonder why the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park dont have this animal.

This pig's mouth looked as if its bleeding.

We also spotted a wild orang utan, isolated himself behind tree leaves eating some fruits.

All of us enjoyed the Sunset River Cruise, and it was time for dinner. So we went back to our rooms to clean up and get ready for dinner.

No, we are not the Sarong Party Girls! hahaha. The SRL encouraged us to wear sarungs for dinner. :) And dinner was served at the Melapi restaurant, at the Jetty area.

DH & the gang decided to go for the Night River Cruise, which cruises along the main Kinabatangan River. PIL, Baby C and myself stayed at the Lodge.. sigh! I was suprised that Koko C was excited to go, knowing that he was already whining about the heat and sweat during the earlier cruise. The cruise started at 8pm, and they came back around 10.30pm; where by then, Koko C was already knocked out during the boat ride.

The nocturnal animals

Who? Who? Who? It's the Buffy Fish Owl

Kingfisher

do you see what I see (hint eyes)? I wished I saw this earlier during cruise. It is in one of my "must-see list" too. Too bad!

BIL captured many others' photos but they are way too many for me to upload.

Awooooooo!!! Remind me of Thriller by MJ.

And again, the next morning before the sunrise, as early as 5.30am; they headed to another side of the main river for Sunrise Cruise. yeah, the 2 boys and myself were still snoring when they left...

Sunrise at the wetlands

Is this a purple heron?

a wild Hornbill - is it a male?

Engret looking for breakfast!

Breakfast at the Jetty restaurant, while waiting for them to come back. And continued for the Hornbill Boardwalk at 9.30am. During breakfast, I heard some of the patrons claimed that they saw elephants a day earlier, which I actually prayed to see one!! that was my #1 in my MS list!!! ahh.. too bad!

You can read more info about the Sukau Rainforest Lodge and check their facilities/tour packages at their website. Meals are inclusive, and though the rooms are quite tight (obviously not very suitable for families with young children), I just love the place! Too bad, with a clingy baby with me, I cant do much but stay at the lounge area most of the time. I missed the Hornbill Boardwalk (thanks to the "cant-stay-put" Baby C), where a knowledgeable tour guide brought us them around the 1500ft walk, explaining about survival in the jungle and how to use/know the flora & fauna around us.. its like being in one of the National Geography documentary... the Survival Borneo Man!

I will definitely visit this place again, and next trip will be more adventurers..

We left the place by noon, and headed to Gomantong caves....and to Sandakan town to stay for another night. Next!