We woke really early for our morning river cruise hoping to spot an orangutan in the wild. Since Bruce and I retired, we generally sleep in until 8 am. This trip has not been a vacation in that sense. Rising at 5 am sometimes feels like pure torture. I wish I could say I like it but I don’t think after 66 years that’s going to change. However seeing an orangutan is worth a mild bit of torture. Plus maybe I can see a sunrise. And there it was, sort of!
Oh and I want to say I couldn’t have my prerequisite 3 cups of java since we would be out on a boat for two hours without a “happy” room. But our first sightings were watching the jungle wake up. That included a family of Probiscus monkeys.
The males remind of Jimmy Durante for those of you who remember the old character actor.
We caught a glimpse of a hornbill as well.
But the defining moment was when we saw the orangutan. Of course he was far away and way up high in a tree. We could see him well through binoculars but my lens was only a 200mm. It was the moment I regretted not having my 300. Some of our fellow travelers had great zooms but they needed tripods for the extensions. So I got what I got and it was better than nothing.
The orangutan moved around a bit in the tree but as you can see from the photos, you can see why they are so hard to find.
They do sleep in nests but don’t stay more than one night in a nest. The guide said they don’t like their own smell plus they hide from humans and other orangutans.
After lunch Bruce and I spent some time by the pool just chilling out for awhile before our afternoon adventure.
On our afternoon river cruise it started raining monsoon type rains. We all donned our rain gear and kept on going. Unfortunately no more orangutans. We saw some more pretty birds.
And some more probiscus monkeys.
And this cute little guy!
For dinner we dressed in the Bornean dress attire. We were supposed to do this the first night but it took some convincing.
On our third day we rose again at that unbelievably early hour. We almost decided to sleep in but were afraid to miss anything. As it turned out, we didn’t see any more orangutans. Just more birds.
In the afternoon we went to the Gomantong Caves. We saw a red leaf monkey on the boardwalk trail on our way to the cave.
The cave was pretty yucky. Bat poop everywhere. I prayed I wouldn’t slip and fall in it. It smelled pretty bad inside.
And there were millions of cockroaches everywhere.
And long legged centipedes. This was a place filled with creepy crawlers.
We saw the bats come out of the cave but since there were raptors, they did not stay in formation. Overall I would have passed on this but at least we saw the red leaf monkey.
Our last morning, we sat alone for breakfast by the river. All the people we had been grouped with had left before us.
We took the 2-1/2 hour boat ride back to Sandakan and had lunch with the few people on our boat. For our final afternoon, we went to the Rainforest Discovery Center and walked the canopy walkway.
It was in the heat of the day so not much wildlife to see.
Our last stop was Sandakan Memorial Park commemorating all the soldiers who died during WWII.
The park was lovely with beautiful foliage.
But the story was a very sad one.
Borneo was a wonderful place to visit. Borneo Eco Tours and Sukau Rainforest Lodge was great. We really enjoyed the trip. Bruce and I were the only ones in the final group who actually saw an orangutan in the wild. So I have to say it was a success!
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