Sepilok was also my leaving point for a 3 day 2 night jungle adventure. I was slightly apprehensive about staying in the jungle due to the basic accommodation but everyone I met raved about what they had seen during their stay at 'Uncle Tan'.
We headed out by bus mid afternoon and then had a trip down the Kinabatangan River. There was only 6 of us so it made transport easy. I was surprised how quickly we saw wildlife- lots of Proboscis monkeys eating in a fig tree. It was a fantastic start. It was also great to see the jungle emerging from the endless Palm oil plantations which cover Sabah. The accommodation wasn't too basic- a mat on the floor with a mossie net. I thought that Nong Khiew in Laos was much worse. We did have a resident spider- the biggest I had ever seen. Thankfully he didn't do too much wandering around!
We went on 2 morning boat safari, a dusk boat safari, night boat safari, morning walk and night walk. Unfortunately we had very heavy rain on the dusk safari and had to cut it short. The variety of wildlife was great but the highlight was definitely the orangutans sitting in the tree. They were so far away that all you could see was round orange bundles but it was what I came to Borneo for- 100% wild orangutans! Other highlights were the migrating flying foxes and a tree lizard which was laying eggs just as we walked past it. I can fully understand why everyone raves about Uncle Tan's. In just 2 nights there we saw Macaques, Proboscis, orangutans, silver leaf monkeys, gibbon, hornbill, kingfishers, eagles, an owl, bats, crocodile, lizards, and squirrels (plantain, prevost and pigmy). Surprisingly not a single snake!
From the jungle I headed to Sandakan for a bit of a clean up and bag repack. There is nothing in Sandakan. It seems as though people just clutter up the pavements so I am glad to be leaving for Indonesia tomorrow.
Borneo has been fantastic but it's not the jungle I thought it would be. It also has more to offer that what time I allowed for. I would love to come back to go to Gunning Mulu National Park and also go diving off Sipidan. I have really enjoyed travelling by myself as you meet so many more people and it's great to hear what everyone else has been up to. On the flip side it's a lot harder when there is no one to talk to and share transport costs. I am looking forward to meeting up with Roberta, Lesley and Ben in Jakarta tomorrow for a bit of temples and beaches in Indonesia for 3 weeks providing that the volcano on Java doesn't violently erupt and spoil our travel plans!
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