After an early morning flight to Sandakan, I headed down to the lower Kinabantangan river to a Jungle lodge. Besides loads of birds there are also plenty of wild Orangutans, Proboscis monkeys and a few groups of pygmy elephants in the area. Trails around the lodge were fairly rudimentary and filled with mud wallows dug out by the elephants so we were primarily stuck to river runs twice daily. The trails were such a maze due to the elephant grazing damage my guide got disoriented, thanks to my trusty garmin we made it back with zero stress. Well the guide was a bit embarrassed but hey... next time landmark or buy a gps LOL.
First trip on the river we ran into a group of four Orangutans, including a mother and a baby and a male building a nest to sleep in. This was fantastic, finally I see one in the wild. Huge check off the to do list., my favorite primate up close and personal without getting feces flung at me. Priceless. We cam upon a troop of Proboscis monkeys as well. Proboscis monkeys are endemic to Borneo so it was another huge sighting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinabatangan_River
