A Discovery day!

Borneo is 5° north of the Equator. Anne you will be pleased as l have again lost half my body weight in sweat! OMG! But this beautiful hotel in Sabah has a pool. It's like walking into a hot bath but who cares! It's wet!
First stop was the orang-utans rehab centre. We walked on raised platforms to the nursery then to the orang-utans  feeding platforms. Superb creatures.

After that it was across the road to the sun bears centre. The world's smallest bear. Only 70cm high. They are black with a snu aura like a necklace under their chins. I got the money shot here. They were 20 feet below but this one bear crawled up a tree trunk almost at eye level & plonked himself down. 
After lunch we went to the Rainforest Discovery centre & explored remaining tropical forest by walking a canopy walkway 630m off the ground.  Much higher than WA Rutts. Palm oil is hugely contentious and has destroyed most of the vegetation & hence endangered the wildlife. I did my famous or infamous Sth African rare tit warbler cry. The guide was impressed. He thought a bird answered me. It was breathtaking on the walkway. Thunder crashed over us. Sweat poured off us  sticking every piece of clothing to our bodies! Ughhhh! 
Dinner at a tea plantation place. It's a full on itinerary! But loving it!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Islands in the Stream

After my usual breakfast of fried noodles, omelette & muesli it was time to board a fast boat to Manukan Island, where we snorkelled & swam in warm waters to our hearts content. By afternoon it was time to head back to the shores of KK. A few of us braved the humidity & went shopping downtown. Shoes were bought for $5:00, kids T-shirts at $3.50. We went out for dinner , all 23 of us plus our guide, to the jetty, rice, seafood , fish, beef, curry & vegetables. Most days we eat this for lunch & dinner.
Read more

Borneo or Bust!

Image
We had a smooth flight on Malaysian Airlines into Kuala Lumpur. The airport is vast & poorly signed. We were wandering lost for ages, no one around at 6:00am to ask but needed to be on a bus to take us to the other domestic airport miles away. I kept looking at people as if they had Tripadeal tattooed on their forehead. Many smiled back. Yes they were Trippa people. They were my tribe! Arrived in Sandakan. Incredibly hot & humid. A great group of 23 people from NZ & Oz. Our leader decided that prior to checking in at our plush hotel, that it was best to take us to the Sandakan War memorial garden. There we told a tragic tale from WW2 of the death march where 1,800 Aussi soldiers were kept in this POW camp by Japanese soldiers & put to work under appalling conditions. Only 6 survived as they managed to escape. Officials from Aus & Britain tried keeping this under wraps.
Read more