Monday 3/21. Kota Kinabalu – Sandakan – Sakau

The alarm went off at 3:34 am. At 4:30 we had breakfast and at 5:15 the buses took us to Kota Kinabalu airport where we boarded a plane for Sandakan. It was a short flight but we were still served orange juice and peanuts. New guide, Erik, and new bus to the Sepilok Orangutan Sancturary where we were to see orangutans at their feeding station. They get fed at 10am and at 3pm each day and they get a variety of fresh fruit and also sugar cane. This is the oldest rehab center for orangutans in the world and was started in 1964. Since then they have been able to release more than 400 orangutans to the wild. An orangutan stands only about 140 cm tall but if they stretch out their arms the length between the fingertips is about 2.5 meters! There are 11 – 12 thousand orangutans in Saba and there are more in Sarawak, but I don’t know how many they have there. It costs about RM180/year to adopt an orangutan – more info at http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/

We saw 2 mother orangutans with small babies and a large male. There were also many little monkeys entertaining us until the orangutans came to eat. Moms and babies first, then the big male. After all the orangutans had eaten the little monkeys were allowed to have some food.

After Sepilok we went by bus to Kinabatanga river where we boarded boats. We were going quite fast and after a long time maybe 2 hours, we arrived at Abai Jungle Lodge for lunch. Once again the food was good and we stayed there for about one hour. Then back to the boats for another 1.5 hrs while we also had some hard rain. We had to cover the sides of the boat so as not get as wet as we did yesterday! It rains every day and when you hear that they get 3 meters – around 10 FEET – of rain each year in Borneo you can understand it. The rain is good though and everything is very lush and green.

We had now arrived at Sukau where we are going to sleep tonight at Riverside Lodge. The lodge is simple but quite adequate. There are 2 beds and a shower. No A/C but fans in the ceiling. We were allowed to rest for about 45 minutes and then we went back to the dock and boarded smaller open boats for a jungle safari and see lots of Proboscis monkeys – they are the ones with long noses almost like humans. The male has the biggest honker. They live in harems with one male and several females, The male babies are kicked out when they are around 1.5 – 2 years old and the bachelors create and all boys club. The monkeys are endangered and are only found in Borneo where there are only about 7000 of them. In Saba, where we are, people do not kill these monkeys for food but they fall prey to leopards and if they fall into the river also crocodiles! They are quite good swimmers though because they have webbed feet. In Sarawak people sometimes kill them for food. We also saw a small Hornbill – a type of bird they have here. We saw lots of them in the bird park in Kuala Lumpur.

We will have dinner at 7.30pm and we are all supposed to wear sarongs the Malay way. We were given a lesson in how to put them on. They are provided us by the lodge.

Dinner was once again very good. BTW when I post all my pictures after I get back to the US you will see pictures of all the food we have been served! We are all eating well and are getting quite plump. Well, it isn’t really all the food but also the weather conditions here. It is very warm and humid and we are all getting waterlogged. Legs and feet are really swollen; the ankles have all but disappeared. At first I was worried that it was my kidney giving me problems but Ninni and most of the others also have swollen feet and ankles. 


After some singing and stimulating conversations we went to bed at a decent time. Departure tomorrow is not until 9:30, but the luggage has to be ready at 7am, so not really a sleep-in.