Something to Declare

Post No. 9. If it’s Sunday, it must be Sepilok to Sukau. Monkeys and hornbills and bears, Oh My!

Friday, March 24. We drove to Labuk Bay, the mangrove forest that covers about 400 acres for Proboscis monkeys. Truly one of the most peculiar looking animals ever. They are exclusively found in Borneo; they are arborial and are remarkable for having an unusually large nose, reddish brown skin color and a long tail. At the risk of being risqué, the males are very easy to spot (enough said):

The males assert dominance by pounding, slamming, fighting and other aggressive displays.

During lunch we were treated to our first full-fledged tropical downpour:

Saturday, March 25. Today we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Clinic. Apparently “orangutang” is a misnomer. The word “Orang” means “man,” and “Utan” means “forest”), hence “Man of the Forest.” Walked along a boardwalk through the lowland rain forest and an elevated canopy trail to the platforms where they bring fruit and other goodies to the Orangs. The red-haired apes arrived by swinging from the trees and ropes,

and chowed down. The group included a mom and baby:

Then to the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Center. The sun bear is the smallest bear in the world, but we were warned to keep our distance, since one swipe from one of their paws can be lethal.

Later Saturday afternoon, we bade adieu to the Sandakan metro area, and zipped up the Kinabatangan River (pronounce it, I dare you) for a 2+ hour speedboat ride to the award-winning Sukau Rainforest Lodge, where we were greeted by staff in native dress, as well as by Gamelan music (traditional Southeast Asian percussion instruments).

We retired immediately after dinner because…..

Sunday, March 26. Up at 5:30 for a morning river cruise, farther up the Kinabatangan.

Along the way, our guide pointed out lots of the local wildlife, including primates (more macaques, orangs), birds (white-breasted water hen, egret, purple heron, Malayan blue flycatcher, storm stork, Asian black hornbill, and hill mynah bird). A lot of these sightings were far away in tree-tops, so it’s difficult to show them to you in photos, like the hornbill at the tippy-top of a tree,

A pair of egrets was closer and more photogenic:

The trip ended at the Kelenanap ox-bow lake (a former river meander that got cut off from the river), through a narrow passage where we ran aground a couple of times, to a large expanse of water hyacinth (which make really nice hat decorations but which, unfortunately, are choking the river):

We returned to a hearty breakfast and a lecture on hornbills. Then, after lunch, a lecture by the house naturalist on orangutans. Learned a lot of interesting facts: Humans and orangutans share approximately 97% of their DNA. Keenly observant of humans, orangutans are known to copy our behavior, as shown here (a video of an orangutan who purloined a golfcart):

Tonight we look forward to an evening cruise to see the nocturnal wildlife, and then a good night’s sleep.

Oh, yeah, the Sukau Forest Lodge is kind enough to present us with his ‘n’ hers sarongs, which clearly establishes that “two sarongs make a right” (thanks to Neil Cohn for this pun).