River Kinabatangan Wildlife Safari

Monday, March 07, 2011
Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia
The Kinabatangan River is Sabah's longest river and a man-made natural wonder. Intensive logging and development of palm oil plantations have left the wildlife trapped on the floodplain along the final stretch of the river as it approaches the sea. This has resulted in a large array of wildlife in a narrow strip of riverine forest, which can mainly be viewed via river cruise. There are 8 species of monkey in the area - long-tailed macaques are common but wild Proboscis monkeys and orangutans can also be seen. The river is good for birdlife and most varieties of hornbill have been spotted. Reptiles, including crocodiles, are also supposed to frequent the area. One of the prize sightings though is the Pygmy elephant, very rare and shy, endemic to Borneo, and only ~1,000 left in the wild in NE Borneo.

Friday 5 March

I'd booked a 3 day / 2 night tour to the Kinabatangan River with Nature Lodge Kinabatangan for RM535. For that, I'd get my own wooden cabin in the Civet Wing (mid-range quality between a dorm bed with shared facilities and the more upmarket Agamin Wing), en-suite, fan-cooled, with all trips and food included.

I was picked up by shuttle bus in Sandakan at 11.30am. It was then about 3 hours drive to the River Kinabatangan with a half hour stop for lunch. The scenery along the way was a depressing sea of palm oil plantations as far as the eye could see, all the primary rainforest had been chopped down. At the river, after waiting out a downpour, we crossed to the other side where our camp was located. My wooden chalet was basic but decent enough considering the location. There was (slow) WiFi at the camp too which was a bonus. The camp was surrounded on 3 sides by a 5,000V electric fence to deter elephant intrusion, and the river had crocodiles so no escape that way - I wouldn't say the river was crocodile-infested but you wouldn't have wanted to swim across!

The Lodge had a daily routine of activities and each group would be appointed a guide who would chaperone them for their stay. With my 3 day tour, I'd get to do 2 late-afternoon river cruises, 2 night walks through the forest, 2 dawn river cruises, and a morning jungle trek. All activities would take place in the morning or late afternoon / evening / night as that was when wildlife was most active.

Our first activity was a 2 hour cruise at 4pm along the Kinabatangan River. Being the first activity for our group, we spent quite a bit of time observing Long-tailed Macaques and Proboscis Monkeys which were quite easy to spot along the banks making their beds for the night. Birdlife was quite common - hornbills swooped overhead with their massive wingspans, and there were also egrets, herons, and kingfishers. We spotted a pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills and a Stork-billed Kingfisher. The atmosphere when back at the camp was somewhat dampened upon learning that the other 2 boats had gone further out from the camp and spotted the rare Pygmy elephants.

We had a 45 night walk at 8.30pm through the pitch black, deeply muddy rainforest, togged out with leech socks and gumboots. We didn't see that much - a couple of millipedes and very pleasingly for me, a Black-backed Kingfisher asleep on a branch which seemed impervious to our camera flashes.

Sunday 6 March

We had to get up early at 5.30am this morning for a river cruise. We saw the same troupes of Long-tailed Macaques and Proboscis Monkeys as they were waking up. We were very fortunate to see two crocodiles too, one swimming across the river and one on the bank, but both dipped under the water as we approached. You wouldn't want to put your hand in the water. There were plenty of birds which I was pleased about - two species of hornbill (Oriental Pied and Wrinkled), Dollarbird, Jerdon's Baza (a bird of prey), Crested Serpent-Eagle, and a beautifully-coloured Black-and-Red Broadbill.

After breakfast (hot dog sausages, eggs, hash browns and beans, toast and jam, tea and coffee), we went on a 2-3 hour jungle walk at 9am. Muddy was an understatement, it was a quagmire in parts and some of it was about knee deep. We also had to ford small streams, sometimes crossing via a felled tree. We heard lots of birds but didn't see that many - a brightly-coloured Blue-throated Bee-eater was a highlight for me, and there were a few bugs along the way. There were also leeches aplenty, sitting on the ends of leaves along the path, stretching out as you passed for a taste of your blood. I got a couple on my clothes but they were flicked off before they tasted blood.

There were no trips during the afternoon so after lunch, I had a wander round (whilst being careful of the electric fence) and saw a White-crowned Shama, and a lizard catching a hairy caterpillar.

We had another 2 hour river cruise at 4pm and were really keen to see Pygmy elephants, so we raced off further upriver, foregoing the usual wildlife such as the monkeys and birds we had already seen. We did stop for an Oriental Darter and had a much closer sighting of a Crested Serpent-Eagle than the day before. We went down a tributary and saw a few monitor lizards. It was near the end of our cruise that our guide was informed by another boat that the elephants had been seen and we sped off in the general direction. After about 15 minutes searching, we were rewarded with a family group of Pygmy elephants eating near the riverbank! The only animals we didn't see during our cruises were elusive wild orangutans but we were all really chuffed to have seen the elephants.

During the night walk at 8.30pm, we saw a Rufous-backed Kingfisher, Ashy Taylorbird, a couple of tractor millipedes mating and a stick insect.

Monday 7 March

Our final river cruise at 6am this morning. We didn't really see too much new, a crocodile was the highlight but it soon sunk below the waters. There was a group of Blue-throated Bee-eaters in a tree, more hornbills, another Broadbill and an Oriental Darter.

After breakfast, we checked out and drove the 3-odd hours back to Sandakan.

All in all, it was an excellent trip. We saw loads of mammals, including wild Proboscis monkeys and rare Pygmy elephants, and the birdwatching was excellent. The organisation of the activities was very good, our guide knowledgeable and good at spotting stuff we would never have seen, and the food excellent. Lunch and dinner comprised meat dishes (usually one Western and one Asian) with rice and chips, vegetables and a selection of fresh fruit for dessert. Cans of Tiger beer were a reasonable RM8 each. Oh, and the sunsets were beautiful too. I'll definitely be penciling this in for a future trip to Borneo!

Expenses (food was inclusive): RM575 (£115) £1=RM5
Nature Lodge Kinabatangan 3 day safari RM545
Transfer back to Sandakan RM30

Links:
http://www.naturelodgekinabatangan.com/package.php?pckg=civet3d2n

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