On the Hunt

On our next day we arranged for an all day excursion on the river with the main purpose of trying to find elephants. Along the Kinabatangan there are a few hundred elephants and they usually stay in fairly large groups which makes them easy to find especially when they come to the river for a drink and bath. Unfortunately a few weeks before we arrived the larger herd split into many smaller groups of just a few individuals each, making any sightings of these big guys a lot more difficult. Our guide told us that he ahd not had any luck the past two trips when he had taken tourists in search of the elephants but we still wanted to try.

So we had planned to start our trip around sunrise to get the most out of the best wildlife viewing hours early in the morning. Unfortunately the rain (which has so far been mostly absent on our trip) foiled our plans and we did not start until about 8. At least it did not rain the whole day (as can be the norm for this time of year) and we were able to go out, even if a bit later than hoped. We began to slowly make our way downriver with Sion, our excellent driver/guide/spotter and his daughter who served as first mate. Just a little ways from our lodge we saw our first sign of elephants which was tall grasses matted down on the side of the river. Our guide told us that it was very fresh (maybe only a few hours old) and we thought we were on the right track. We continued along the river and when our guide saw that we were also interested in birds, his own speciality, he began to point out and identify many birds (many that we could not have seen on our own). We saw many birds of prey (Changeable HAwk Eagles and Brahminy Kites) and waterbirds (the endangered Storm's Stork and darters) and many hornbills just to name a few. Macaques, proboscis monkeys and silver leaf langgurs also made their presence known and we spotted orangutans number 9 and 10. We continued to make our way down the river towards the sea since our destination was the coastal city of Semporna where Sion wanted to be dropped off. After a few hours, the vegetation began to change from lowland rainforest to nipa and mangrove and we realized that our chances for elephant spotting were slim but we would try again on the way back upriver.

After dropping Sion off and taking a bit longer than expected for lunch and refueling, we headed back upstream for a bit more wildlife searching in the late afternoon and our elephants if we were lucky. It turned out that our extended stopover in town on top off our late start in the morning did not leave us much time for animal viewing in the afternoon and our elephant search had been a bust. In the early evening we reached the settlement of Albai and our guide told us that he had an obligation to speak at a workshop there so he turned us over to his brother-in-law. The plan was to take the boat out to look at the abundant fireflies in the area and also do a bit of spotlighting when it got dark. However I guess there had been a bit of miscommunication and there was no light which made it a bit hard to spotlight anything including seeing exactly where our boat was heading (oh well). We were in for a treat with the fireflies though since they gather in thousands on certain trees along the river. As we passed them it certainly looked like the trees were lit up with Christmas lights which coincided with the time of year very nicely. After cruising around for an hour or so and being priviliged to the natural light show, we decided to head back for dinner. They had prepared three dishes for us with the biggest freshwater prawns that I have ever seen (more like miny lobsters in fact). It was absolutely scrumptious and afterwards we relaxed to wait for our guide to finish at the workshop. It ended up being later than expected and after a long day of some unexpected circumstances, we decided to just stay the night and head back to the lodge the next morning. Maybe we would still get a chance to see the elephants on the way back.

The next morning was a foggy one and many of the monkeys slept in. It was funny to see the resting in the trees when they are usually so active and playful. We saw many more birds and a large male orangutan (number 11) right by the river but no elephants. We did hear a gibbon calling in the forest as well and decided to track down this magnificent creature. Gibbons are almost entirely arboreal and are the fastest flightless animal in the forest which makes them amazing to watch but they are also very shy and this on top of their speed makes them very hard to see. Each morning they do make an amazing call like that of a siren which can be heard from far away which enables you to at least figure out where they are and if you are quiet and careful you can track them down. We were lucky and did get a quick glimpse of this guy and along the way Lora got another unexpected gift from the forest. A leech actually attached itself to her eye. Luckily she was wearing her contact and when she pulled it off, the contact came off as well. No harm done but a good story.

We finished this cruise in the later morning and we decided that it was our last. Even though both of us wanted to stay a bit longer, the boat trips were expensive and we had already made reservations at our next destination. So we packed our bags and hitched a ride with the son of an oil palm plantation owner who had just dropped some other travellers off at our B&B. This guy turned out to be another really nice one who went 60 kilometers out of his way to drop us off in the town where we were headed. He also showed us around his father's oil palm plantation. We learned that the palm oil is used not only for cooking but also in many shampoo products in Western countries. He told us also that Shell was cutting down forest and opening a few plantations here to be used for biodiesel fuels (maybe biodiesel is not always the best idea). Palm oil is quite a lucrative business and it is no wonder why so many plantations are springing up especially since the Malaysian government seems to be encouraging the widescale plantation establishment and forest destrcution. I did feel a bit weird riding in this guy's truck after spending days watching wildlife that is threatened because of plantations like his, but such is life.