It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we arrived at the Kinabatangan nature lodge. It was pretty a rustic place. It comprised of a series of wood cabins dotted amongst the jungle. Slippery wooden walkways sat over the leafy and muddy forest floor connecting the cabins.
We didn’t have much time to dump our stuff before needing to gather at the reception building for an evening river cruise.
There were around six of us. We headed down a gangplank to a small wooden motorboat. After clambering aboard, the boat chugged into life and set off down the river. It was a stunning trip. I was amazed at the range of animals we saw dotted around the jungles of Malaysian Borneo: orangutans; proboscis monkeys and hornbill birds to name a few.
Apparently the river cruises would be done every day - one at dawn and another at dusk. I was not at all sad to hear that.
It was a typical “ecotourist experience”. A term that I hadn’t heard of before now, and certainly had never actually done. On the other hand some of the fellow guests were quite the eco warriors, coming prepared with hiking boots, explorer hats and those sort of lightweight trousers that you can turn into shorts with a zip at the knee. I felt a very much like the odd one out essentially having lived the last 2 months as a beach bum.
The following night we took a nighttime jungle trek. We’d been told that there had been a lot of rain recently so the trails were waterlogged. We decided to rent wellingtons, since I guessed my trusty flip flops wouldn’t quite cut it. Unfortunately it seemed that every single pair I tried leaked pretty badly, so I just tried to pick the pair that seemed to let in the least amount of water.
We set off and my boots instantly filled with water, but I still enjoyed squelching my way round the jungle, and seeing the nocturnal wildlife our guide pointed out.
Later we got back to our room and I took a shower. I was shocked to find that an opportunistic leech had attached itself to my chest. Got knows how it managed to get in there.
I couldn’t remember the thing you are meant to do with them so I grabbed it’s body and sort of flicked it’s gob to make it let go. It seemed to work. I told Cassie, who was so horrified she immediately jumped back into the shower to double check that she was not carrying any unwanted passengers too.
On the last day one of the cruises took us to see a wild herd of elephants. As we approached we could just about see them moving through the trees, chomping on leaves and trumpeting quietly. It was quite stunning to see them in the wild.
The elephants were obviously a big draw because as we approached we saw a little gang of boats full of tourists straining to get snaps where the trees were less dense. One lady on a boat in front of us was so eager, in fact, that she got out of her seat and clambered up the small muddy river bank to get a better view. It was a short lived effort, because just before the top she slipped, and with a squawk toppled down the bank landing in the shallows with a splash. She was fished out, unharmed and embarrassed. I did wonder how many leeches she’d probably have to evict from her person later.
We didn’t have much time to dump our stuff before needing to gather at the reception building for an evening river cruise.
There were around six of us. We headed down a gangplank to a small wooden motorboat. After clambering aboard, the boat chugged into life and set off down the river. It was a stunning trip. I was amazed at the range of animals we saw dotted around the jungles of Malaysian Borneo: orangutans; proboscis monkeys and hornbill birds to name a few.
Apparently the river cruises would be done every day - one at dawn and another at dusk. I was not at all sad to hear that.
It was a typical “ecotourist experience”. A term that I hadn’t heard of before now, and certainly had never actually done. On the other hand some of the fellow guests were quite the eco warriors, coming prepared with hiking boots, explorer hats and those sort of lightweight trousers that you can turn into shorts with a zip at the knee. I felt a very much like the odd one out essentially having lived the last 2 months as a beach bum.
The following night we took a nighttime jungle trek. We’d been told that there had been a lot of rain recently so the trails were waterlogged. We decided to rent wellingtons, since I guessed my trusty flip flops wouldn’t quite cut it. Unfortunately it seemed that every single pair I tried leaked pretty badly, so I just tried to pick the pair that seemed to let in the least amount of water.
We set off and my boots instantly filled with water, but I still enjoyed squelching my way round the jungle, and seeing the nocturnal wildlife our guide pointed out.
Later we got back to our room and I took a shower. I was shocked to find that an opportunistic leech had attached itself to my chest. Got knows how it managed to get in there.
I couldn’t remember the thing you are meant to do with them so I grabbed it’s body and sort of flicked it’s gob to make it let go. It seemed to work. I told Cassie, who was so horrified she immediately jumped back into the shower to double check that she was not carrying any unwanted passengers too.
On the last day one of the cruises took us to see a wild herd of elephants. As we approached we could just about see them moving through the trees, chomping on leaves and trumpeting quietly. It was quite stunning to see them in the wild.
The elephants were obviously a big draw because as we approached we saw a little gang of boats full of tourists straining to get snaps where the trees were less dense. One lady on a boat in front of us was so eager, in fact, that she got out of her seat and clambered up the small muddy river bank to get a better view. It was a short lived effort, because just before the top she slipped, and with a squawk toppled down the bank landing in the shallows with a splash. She was fished out, unharmed and embarrassed. I did wonder how many leeches she’d probably have to evict from her person later.
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