Kinabatangan Wildlife Experience

Kinabatanga Wildlife Refuge is one of Borneo’s premier wildlife viewing regions.  We were lucky to find a lodge with limited visitors and a great opportunity to explore the local wildlife.  Our lodge was built out in the middle of the mangrove forest with wildlife all around us.

Riki’s thoughts…

Saying goodbye to Gunung Mulu was hard. The shy plants at the entrance seemed to wave goodbye and invite us back in the same soft movement. We climbed back in the same tiny cab that had dropped us a few days before, and took the short ride back to the airport. Somehow, seeing the same places we had driven by didn’t seem the same at all. I felt like I was driving by places familiar instead of strange. Borneo was in our blood, and we couldn’t wait for our next stop. We hopped on a plane from Mulu to Miri, then Miri to Kuching. Our Kuching taxi friend was waiting for us at the airport, and drove us to a hotel near the airport, where we hoped to get a few hours sleep before flying north from Sarawak to Sabah. The plane flew over the bay we had visited our first day in country. It was fun to see the sleeping princess from above, and to fly over Bako National Park, noticing just how untouched and wild the peninsula was.

We flew to Sandakan, where we were supposed to meet a driver to take us to the jetty. A slight mix-up was soon sorted out by my fearless adventure leader Kelly, and our driver drove up confused and apologetic a few minutes later. He drove us through Sandakan to the jetty. We climbed aboard a boat with half a dozen other tourists. The boat led us out of the bay and to the mouth of the mighty Kinabatangan River deep into the Kinabatangan wetlands and to our lovely resort on the river’s edge, aptly named the Kinabatangan Wetlands Resort.

The boat dock was connected to the resort by a lovely boardwalk. We were greeted by a charming woman with refreshments and cool washcloths. We had a lovely lunch buffet in the resort dining room, an open-air lodge built of amazing hardwoods. The entire resort was built on piers, connected by boardwalks. They kept us out of the reach of the land leaches, but not the macaques, who acted as thugs on the boardwalks, intimidating the tourists at times. I learned to hate macaques very quickly. They reminded me of miniature versions of the baboons we had seen in Chad. But since they were the only negative part of our time in Kinabatangan (aside from the ongoing jungle fever we were both fighting), we did not let nasty primates rob us of our joy.

Our bungalow was amazing!! It had a corner built of glass that afforded a perfect view of the rainforest surrounding it. There was an outdoor shower off of the large walk-in indoor shower in the bathroom. No hot water again, but we didn’t miss it. We took a deeply-needed nap before heading out on our first of four river tours.

It was late afternoon when we loaded into our boat for our first tour. Our tour guide was lively and knowledgeable, with a quick wit. The first trip was reptile and bird-heavy. We saw monitor lizards,baby crocodiles, hornbills, and many varieties of egrets and storks as we cruised the wide river through largely-untouched rainforest.

One of the strangest things we saw in the scattered riverside settlements was the local moneymaking efforts to encourage swifts to build their nests in buildings wired with sound systems that played the call of the swifts, loud and clear. The nests are harvested twice, once before eggs are laid, and once after the baby birds have matured and flown away. The birds are eaten as a delicacy in China. I never knew that traditional bird’s nest soup had actual bird’s nests in them. The type I ate in a little restaurant in Fort Collins didn’t. I couldn’t have afforded it if it had. More about edible birds’ nests

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_bird%27s_nest

After our boat ride, we enjoyed another delicious meal before heading out on a “walk through the rainforest.” This was a bit underwhelming after our walks in Gunung Mulu. Kelly found more wildlife than our guide did, and the walk was short and on boardwalks the whole way. However, we saw a gecko in each of the electric lanterns along the boardwalk, and Kelly spotted a mouse deer and several cool insects and spiders. But, the fresh air was nice after a great meal, and we slept pretty well, considering the intermittent fevers and congestion/coughing.

We were up early and on the river by 6:30 for our second boat tour. This one was maybe my favorite. We saw an amazing male orangutan feeding on hearts of palm trees at the river’s edge. We also saw a beautiful kingfisher in flight, two gorgeous snakes hanging out on palm trees, and a troop of macaques (grrr). But we also saw more proboscis monkeys, which were super cool, and some silvered langurs. But the best part was the early morning calm. The river was so still and the air was so clear that the reflection of the palms on the river was mirror-perfect. It was mesmerizing to see the double arches of the palms and their reflections. It is indescribable, but Kelly’s photos capture it pretty well.

We had a late breakfast after our river cruise, took a nap, and walked a bit before lunch and another afternoon cruise. That cruise was noteworthy because we saw ELEPHANTS in the river. They are pygmy elephants, and they were amazing. Kelly got some cool video of them. Enjoy! We also saw a spectacular sunset on the river as we were heading back to the resort for dinner and another nap before our night river tour.

My favorite things from that were the kingfishers that were roosting on the ends of branches so they could feel if a snake was approaching. They would just sit there when we shined light on them, so we saw them clearly, and their bright colors were, well, I am out of big words to use. But the were just so wow. We also saw the other deer that lives in the area, samba deer. We saw some huge crocodiles on the river, as well, and some super cool fireflies.

The next morning, we headed out early to get to Sandakan for the next leg of our Borneo adventure. I could have stayed at Kinabatangan longer. It was spectacular!

Kelly’s thoughts…

For me, Kinabatan was Borneo wildlife at its best.  How incredible to see mouse deer and samba deer, orangutan and pygmy elephants, black squirrels and monitor lizards.  

We were feeling quite ill during this time, but it was a truly fine experience.  Daily excursions along the river, beautiful air-conditioned bungalows, incredible buffet meals and the best tropical wildlife experiences. Riki summarized everything so well, I have little to add this time… she said it best.. . it was spectacular!