Sungai Kinabatangan

The mighty Sungai Kinabatangan is Borneo's longest river, a whopping 560km of winding chocolate-brown water. It is surrounded by lush rainforest (and palm plantations) teeming with animals and birds. Our guide, Gary, had been working on the river for 14 years and had a keen eye for spotting wildlife, and endless knowledge about what he could see. Our first river cruise was our most successful. We were only 5minutes into the boat ride when we spotted a male and female orang utan. This is a rare sight. The male orangutan or 'wild man of Borneo' is usually a lone traveller and leaves the female to bring up her babies on her own. 

Male Orang Utan in the Wild, Kinabatangan River  

We saw plenty of proboscis monkeys, which can only be found in Borneo.  They are named for their large protruding noses, the males in particular.  They live in large groups, with one alpha male and the rest of the group females and babies.  Their large round bellies also distinguish them from the other monkey species. 

Female Proboscis Monkey, Kinabatangan River 

 Our third lucky sighting was the pygmy elephant.  At first just a single animal, and then two whole herds!  This is Borneo's largest mammal, and yet the smallest elephant in the world!  It was absolutely captivating watching them so close to the rivers edge.  Two of the males had tracking devices attached on collars around their necks.  We were told that this was to help keep the elephants safe, as they are prone to entering the palm plantations.

Pygmy Elephants, Kinabatangan River 

We also added the following to our list of sightings:  crocodile, silver-leaf monkey, pig-tail monkey, long-tailed macaque, hornbill, various eagles, kingfishers and graceful egrets.  

The river itself produced fish for the local people, and prawn traps were carefully placed and marked by plastic bottles.  

Our night jungle walks were exilarating!  We had local village people guiding us and pointing out sleeping birds perched on low branches (including oriental dwarf kingfisher, flycatcher, spider hunter, giant pitta, bull bull and robin).  They also helped to pull leeches off our clothing and gumboots at regular intervals.  Unfortunately we couldn't seem to find the reclusive Western Tarsier).  

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

Extra Large Daddy Long Legs 

We also did a day jungle walk, trekking through thick mud.  The walk ended at a picturesque lake which was conveniently filled with tiny anchovy fish that nibbled at our feet and the bread we had taken along to feed them.  We didn't do this for too long though, after the guide told us to watch out for crocodiles.  

After two long afternoon and early morning river cruises scouting for wildlife, we ended our Kinabatangan stay by planting a native tree (Rambutan) next to the lodge we had stayed in.  Again, the local villagers guided us, and gave us a board to paint out names on.  The tree will hopefully bear it's delicious fruit in ten years time or so.  

Rambutan Seedling, Bilit Adventure Lodge