May 15, 2022: Sandakan, Sepilok, and Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysia (Author: J)
Finally, the morning we had been waiting for: our chance to see the famous dancing orangutans of Borneo. Just kidding. We were actually in Borneo to see proboscis monkeys, the primates that P had asked to see many moons ago as an adorable 6-year-old. Fortunately, as a 9-year-old, he is still just as interested in monkeys as he ever was, so he was pretty excited to be setting off for almost guaranteed monkey sightings.
It was a good thing that P was excited because it promised to be a long day. We were up at 4:30 thanks to our alarm and the wake-up call that the hotel had arranged. (I am always paranoid about alarms not going off, so kudos to the Shangri La for removing that stress and allowing me to sleep). We were dressed and in the lobby to grab our breakfast boxes and officially check out before 5 am. Everything went seamlessly; our driver arrived just as we completed check out and we were on our way to the airport ahead of schedule.
Because I was worried about our bags being overweight, I had paid for checked baggage. This was probably overkill as no one asked to weigh our carry-ons during any of our flights. Still, since I had paid for tickets that included checked bags, we all checked our bags. Then we found an ATM, something that proved more difficult than anticipated because some of the ATMs in the airport were out of order. Once we had our ringgits, we proceeded through security and took a seat near our gate to wait for our flight. (I was surprised that we were allowed to carry the juices in our breakfast boxes through security, but – in Malaysia – you are allowed to bring larger liquids if they are factory-sealed). I am not someone who skips meals, so I ate my pastry and fruit and drank my juice while I was waiting. D and P often skip breakfast — despite it being the most important meal of the day — and they rejected their boxes. I ate an extra croissant, put the juices in my backpack, and pitched the rest.
Boarding for our flight was confusing. Our gate area was being used by 2 flights. They announced the flight to KL in both Malay and English, but no announcement was made about the Sandakan flight as far as I could tell. Our boarding time came and went without any word. Fortunately, I decided to get up and check what was going on; at that point, I realized that there was a queue of people with tickets to Sandakan making their way through the boarding gate. I frantically gestured to D and P and we proceeded through the gate and on to our flight.
The flight to Sandakan from KK is less than 30 minutes from takeoff to landing. But Malaysia Air did not allow the short duration of the flight to get in the way of good service. Once we reached cruising altitude, the flight attendants came through the cabin to distribute orange juice and peanuts. As soon as they reached the back of the plane, they hustled to the front to collect our garbage and prepare the cabin for landing. Before we knew it, we were bouncing along the runway (literally, thanks to a bumpy landing) and deplaning in Sandakan. When we arrived at the luggage carousel, our bags were already waiting for us. We grabbed them and headed into the arrivals area where we were met by our Borneo Ecotours guide. (This is a place where the benefit of taking a few notes becomes apparent because I do not remember the names of any of our guides in Borneo; fortunately, I do know that they were all excellent).
We were the only Sukau guests arriving by plane that morning, so we had the tour bus to ourselves as we headed to Sepilok, a 20 to 30 minute drive from the airport. Given the delays in boarding our flight, I had been worried we might arrive at the orangutan rehabilitation center too late for the morning feeding. Instead, we arrived early, which gave us plenty of time to stow our bags in lockers and use the restrooms before starting our tour. When it was time to enter the rehabilitation center, our guide paid our entry fee and we paid the camera fee (which is charged only for actual cameras and not phones and was why we needed cash). The rehabilitation center cares for orangutans who have been orphaned as a result of logging and the pet trade. It abuts a protected area where some of the orangs who have been successfully rehabilitated are released. It seems like the center’s work and the work of other conservation organizations in Sabah are paying off because the number of orangs in Sabah has been increasing in recent years.
Although our guide warned us that orang sightings are not guaranteed, we caught our first glimpse of one nearly immediately. A juvenile had built a nest close to the boardwalk trail and we saw him as he woke up and made his way to the feeding platforms for breakfast. This was a situation where having a guide really paid off because a sleeping orang looks an awful lot like a pile of leaves. After snapping some photos, we made our way to the first feeding platform where the babies are fed. The center has installed seating behind a viewing window, allowing visitors to get a great view of the action without disturbing the babies too much. We arrived just as the fruit was being set out. Soon, we saw some movement in the bushes and then a little head appeared. It was a pig tailed macaque ready to take advantage of the free buffet. One of the center employees shooed him away. But as soon as the employee’s back was turned, the macaque made a beeline for the feeding platform. I have never seen a monkey stuff bananas into his face so quickly.
While our monkey friend was gorging himself, baby orangs started to arrive, using the overhead rope system to swing themselves to the feeding platform. More macaques also arrived, scampering from the bushes and shimmying onto the platform. Fortunately, there was enough fruit to go around and we enjoyed watching everyone have their breakfast. Once the orangs had swung off, our guide led us to a second feeding platform where larger orangs (and more macaques) were served their breakfast. We would highly recommend a visit to the Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation center at feeding time; it was a really neat experience.
After seeing the orangs, our guide suggested a drink break, which sounded great to us. He unlocked the bus for us and we rummaged around looking for the promised beverages. At that point, we realized that the guide expected us to have our own drinks. Fortunately, we did have the juice from our box breakfast. D ran to the lockers to grab it for us. This is an area where the tour company probably needs to rethink things; they just eliminated single use plastic and advised us to bring refillable water bottles. But since you cannot carry a refillable water bottle full of liquid through security at the airport, they should expect that most people will arrive for their tour without their own drinks.
It was then time to visit the orangs’ neighbors, the sun bears. Sun bears are the world’s smallest bears. They are threatened by bear bile farming and, due to their incredible cuteness, the pet trade. Because there is not a set feeding time at the sun bear rescue, it is a little trickier to see them than it is to see orangs. We were fortunate to see several foraging for food and delighting the crowd by walking around on their hind legs – a sight so cute that it borders on ridiculous. I understand why people might think that baby bears are appealing pets — but the harm done to the bears by being kept in captivity is also made apparent by a visit to the center. Multiple bears suffer from permanent health issues caused by their time as “pets.” Unfortunately, my camera chose this opportunity to freeze again, so I wasn’t able to get any decent pictures of the bears.
After a wonderful morning visiting the orangutans and sun bears, we headed back to Sandakan and had lunch at a local hotel. Because the buffet did not offer any vegetarian main dishes, our guide arranged for a special vegetarian noodle dish for us. I confess that I was not expecting much, but the noodles turned out to be amazing. We rounded out the meal with some fruit and desserts from the buffet. After settling the bill for our drinks (lunch was included in the tour), we had a short time to walk around Sandakan before our boat transfer. We powerwalked to several malls to look for cameras, but ultimately returned to the bus sweaty and camera-less.
It was a quick boat ride to the marina for our boat transfer to Sukau Rainforest Resort. After another opportunity to use the restroom, we boarded a speed boat and set off for the lodge. I cannot tell you much about the boat ride because the early wakeup got to me and I slept through most of the ride. When I woke up, we were already making our way up the Kinabatangan towards the lodge.
At the lodge, we were welcomed with juice and room keys and had an opportunity to rest a bit before our afternoon river cruise. At the time of our visit, Sukau had only recently reopened to international guests. While it did not detract from our trip, it was fairly apparent that Sukau had weathered the pandemic by laying off its staff and shuttering the lodge. The most obvious impact of this neglect was on the swimming pool, which was roped off because it was now a hole instead of a pool. (Post-trip research tells me that the pool collapsed at some point during the pandemic and the lodge is waiting on a replacement). In the same vein, some of the cabins at the lodge were roped off while workers got them ready for guests. The disappointment at not having use of all of the promised facilities was largely offset by the excellent service that every member of the team at Sukau provided.
After settling into our cabin (the same one that Judi Dench stayed at when she visited), we headed back to the dining area for afternoon tea. We enjoyed some tea and fried bananas and then met our guide for an afternoon cruise along the river. Just minutes into our cruise, our guide got really excited and it wasn’t hard to see why. A herd of elephants was crossing the river. We sat and watched them for quite a while, as did boats from many other lodges. Our guide told us that this packed audience represented just a fraction of the boats that would have been out in pre-covid times. He also told us a bit about Borneo’s elephants, a pygmy species endemic to the island. We were apparently in the perfect spot to see a river crossing as the elephants prefer to cross at bends in the river where the current is strong; that provides a measure of protection against crocodile attacks on the cute little baby elephants.
In addition to elephants, we saw proboscis monkeys, long tailed macaques, and a variety of hornbills. As it started to get dark, we headed back to the lodge. For those keeping count – as P was – we hadn’t even finished our first day in the jungle and had already seen 4 species of primates. Unfortunately, the environmental issues in Borneo were also readily apparent. We passed lots and lots of palm oil plantations, highlighting the extent of the deforestation on the island, frequently smelled smoke from intentionally set brush fires, and saw lots of plastic in the water. I later learned that the plastic bottles were not trash, but rather markers for fishing nets, which took some of the sting out of seeing so many of them.
We were a bit early for dinner, so we decided to make another attempt at our vacation ritual of pre-dinner drinks and cards. We were more successful this time because the bar at Sukau was open. I ordered a Sabah Sling, their tasty riff on a Singapore Sling, and we played a hand of go fish. As we were wrapping up, one of the restaurant staff let us know that dinner was served.
Meals at Sukau are buffet style. If you have special dietary needs, as we do, your main dish is delivered to your table. Our dinner the first night was my favorite of the bunch: a vegetarian beef rendang. With fruit, rice, and pumpkin from the buffet, it made for a delicious meal. (One thing we did notice is that there are apparently no desserts served at Sukau; the fried bananas at teatime were as close as it got).
After dinner, we headed back to our cabin for bedtime, dodging low-flying bats along the way. As we walked along the boardwalk, I suddenly heard a horrible screeching sound coming from my left. I screamed and ran. It turned out to be two juvenile macaques playing with one another. Fortunately, they ignored my behavior, despite screaming and flailing about being highly offensive in monkey-society. We completed our walk to our cabin without incident. An early bedtime was in order because we had another early wake up the next morning.
Travel Monkeys 