May 16, 2022: Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (Author: J)
We spent 3 nights at Sukau Rainforest Lodge. When we initially booked our trip, the itineraries for days two and three at the lodge (the two full days) were quite different from one another. Day two was to include river cruises to spot wildlife, while our day 3 was to include hiking and a visit to Gamantong caves. Unfortunately, about a month before our trip, Borneo Ecotours reached out to let us know that the cave would be closed to tourists during our trip. They proposed we do additional river cruises on day 3 to replace the hike and cave tour. (Indeed, due to staffing shortages at the time, there were no options other than river cruises). We were disappointed but agreed to the changes rather than postponing our trip yet again. As a result, our two full days at the lodge were very similar – so much so that they blur in my mind a bit – but I will do my best to keep them straight.
If you have done any wildlife watching, then you know that animals are most active early in the morning and early in the evening. Thus, staying at an eco-lodge usually involves an early wakeup. Sukau was no different. We began day 10 of the trip with an early morning boat tour to spot wildlife on the river. Our guide was delighted to spot the elephant herd almost immediately. Other animals we saw included proboscis monkeys, macaques, a monitor lizard, and hornbills.
We returned to the lodge just in time for a buffet breakfast. On this morning, it was a Malaysian style breakfast with items like rice, noodles, and curries. We received a special vegetarian option to replace the meat items on the buffet. My favorite item on the breakfast buffet each day was the house-made coconut jam for the toast. My least favorite item was the instant coffee, which I was only able to drink if it doctored it with an equal amount of milk.
After breakfast, we took a guided walk along the lodge’s boardwalks. In quick succession, we saw a pygmy squirrel and a Sunda giant squirrel. The contrast in size between the two squirrels was pretty amazing. And the pygmy squirrel had tufts of fur that stuck out to the sides of his head, making him look like a tiny, furry Einstein. Sadly, both squirrels skittered off quickly, so I wasn’t able to get any photos. We did not have any other memorable animal sightings on the walk, but we did enjoy learning about the plant and insect life at the lodge.
By this time, we were hot and sweaty, so we headed back to the room to shower and rest before lunch. Lunch was another buffet of Malaysian specialties. Although I cannot remember which items were served on which days, I do know that we always enjoyed our meals. We particularly appreciated the effort that the chefs put into ensuring that there were a variety of vegetarian options; we had no repeat dishes during our stay.
After lunch, there was supposed to be a talk about orangutans, but our guide had not given us details as to the time and location, so we missed it. Instead, we visited the gift shop to spend some of the credit to our account and relaxed in our room. Our relaxation was interrupted by a knock at one point; it was one of the guides letting us know that an orangutan was near the boardwalk trail. We hurried over and had the opportunity to watch the young juvenile eating and swinging through the trees. We were all delighted, but none more so than P, who said: “Seeing one orangutan in the wild is worth seeing a thousand in captivity.” As we watched the ape, the guide explained that you can tell when there is an orang in a tree versus a monkey because monkeys shake the trees with their jumps, while orangs cause the trees to sway as they swing. This would come in handy later. He also shared my favorite orang fact. If you are watching orangs early in the morning, they are likely to be female; the males often sleep until late morning or even early afternoon, while the females are up first thing in the morning.
After the excitement of seeing the orang, we needed a bit more rest before heading to the dining area for afternoon tea. Today’s snack selection was a battered and fried root vegetable that tasted sweeter than a white potato, but not quite as sweet as a sweet potato. Instead of tea, we ordered some cocktails and played a round of wiener dog cards. We wrapped up the afternoon with another boat cruise.
The afternoon cruise returned to the lodge just in time for dinner. In a valiant effort to use up our lodge credit, we ordered more drinks to go along with dinner. Dinner was enjoyable except for the persistent gnat like bugs that really wanted to drown in our drinks. P came up with a clever solution; he created a watery perimeter around the table using the condensation from our water glasses. Most of the bugs stopped when they reached the water pooled on the table, drowning there and never reaching our glasses.
During dinner on clear nights, staff will come around to offer a night cruise add on. D was not interested, but I agreed to go with P, who was anxious to try and spot some nocturnal wildlife. The night cruise sticks closer to the lodge than daytime cruises, slowly moving along the banks of the river while the guide uses a spotlight to look for animals. We sat in the back of the boat near the guide, which meant we had lots of company from moths attracted to the spotlight. Our first animal was a big one – another elephant. I was starting to doubt our guide’s claims that elephant-sightings were not guaranteed. But, sure enough, these elephants proved to be the last ones we saw in Borneo. Other notable sightings were a baby crocodile, lots of sleeping birds in many brilliant colors, a civet, and some sleeping monkeys.
After the night cruise, we returned to our cabin exhausted and headed right to bed.
Travel Monkeys 