Day 324- Borneo, Malaysia

TURTLE ISLANDS, SEPILOK ORANG UTAN REHABILITATION CENTRE AND THE KINABATANGAN RIVER (21/11/09)

To our relief the night before had been a success- we had spotted four adult Turtles and countless hatchlings. The hatcheries on these islands have made a huge impact in increasing Turtle numbers in this area and we were glad that at least some of the money we had paid for the visit would go towards keeping them going. Here is one of the three hatcheries on our island. Each protective green mesh surrounds the buried eggs from one nest, including the 84 we saw the night before.

On the beach we saw this large Monitor Lizard stalking around. His large size and fat belly suggest that he does fairly well on eggs and hatchlings that the Rangers do not manage to collect.

As we waited on the beach for our boat back to the mainland we saw this hatchling on it's way to the sea. It had obviously got left behind the night before.

It made fast and enthusiastic progress once it was nearly at the sea, it's specialised flippers clumsy and awkward on the land.

Finally, probably to it's great relief, it reached the sea.

Out in the water it was far more at home and we quickly lost sight of it. Of course there is always the chance that this one might be one of the tiny proportion that make it to adulthood. Unfortunately the reality is that it is far more likely that it got eaten by a sea bird about five minutes after this picture was taken.

Back on the boat we waved goodbye to Selingaan and another exciting chapter of our journey.

So now it was off to the jungle. We had to change guides and were to meet our new one in the car park of the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. Lucky for us (unlucky for the people who had paid and were waiting patiently inside) there were three Orang Utans clambering around on the roof of the ticket office as we waited.

We were delighted with our free show and braved the rain to watch them.

No waterproof jacket for her! Despite the fact that she must be very used to the Monsoon rain, it still can't be all that pleasant having all that fur soaked right through.

With the arrival of our guide we set off on the three hour drive to Sukau, a tiny village on the banks of the mighty Kinabatangan River. On the way we stopped to buy a selection of tropical fruit. Rambutans (front) and Mangosteens (round and purple) we had come across before. New to us was the Langsat, a beige coloured fruit slightly larger than a grape. When the thin skin is removed five small segments are revealed. The taste is like a very mild, very sweet grapefruit- delicious!

The Kinabatangan River is sometimes called the Borneo Amazon. The parallels are obvious, it is one of the longest rivers in Borneo and the banks are thick jungle teeming with wildlife. Our jungle trek started with a short boat ride to the other side of the river. This was the start of the trail- we were glad to have a guide!

The warnings about leeches turned out to be justified, almost immediately we spotted this large specimen. We had heeded the advice and were well covered with both clothing and Deet. As a result we almost (Elinor got one on her arm) completely avoided being bitten.

A Pill Millipede, it rolled into a ball for protection as soon as we got near it.

Frustratingly we had only been walking a few minutes when the torrential Monsoon rain started once again. This meant that not only did we get soaked to the skin but any wildlife that was around sought shelter and disappeared.

The rain did not ease off again until late in the afternoon. In a small motorboat we patrolled the banks of the river searching for animals. We quickly found a troop of Long-tailed Macaques.

Next we found a troop of Proboscis Monkeys. You can see on this large male how they get their name.

High in the trees we spotted this adolescent Orang Utan making it's bed for the night.

Just before dusk we sat and watched a troop of Pig-tailed Macaques (named for their short, curly tails) crossing the river. They are competent swimmers but the National Park authorities were worried that too many were being hit by river boats. As a solution to the problem they built several 'monkey bridges' like this one. Simply made of two parallel chains or ropes the Macaques seemed more than happy to use them- probably it's far preferable to getting cold, wet and dirty in the river below.