Wildlife Spotting in Sabah, Borneo

It was the night of Halloween and although we wanted things to be spooky, little did we know that we were about to have the scariest Halloween of our lives. It began in Semporna as we walked through the markets desperately trying to find a bus to take us towards Sepilock. We found one leaving in an hour that would drop us just outside the little village, lucky right? This bus was actually going somewhere else and as we were pushed out in the middle of nowhere at 1am, we realised we'd been scammed. We were 50km away from our hotel with an abandoned petrol station our only sign of salvation. However when we got there we realised this petrol station belonged to some angry feral dogs which we had to sprint away from. It was terrifying and I will admit I did have a cry thinking we'd be in danger all night. By some kind of miracle a bus appeared, but again it would only take us so far. This time we were stranded on a junction looking down a dark jungle road which was between us and our hotel. To add to the deserted spooky vibes we saw two huge fruit bags flying above us in the trees as we were searching around an abandoned hostel for signs of life. We were about to admit defeat when the only car we'd seen all night stopped and a local stepped out to ask if he could help us. He took us to our hotel and told us it's unbelievably dangerous to be out at night here due to the wild dogs. We made it to our little room and both had the biggest sigh of relief. What a Halloween!!! 

We woke up the next morning happy to be alive and in a gorgeous part of the Bornean jungle. Our hotel was weirdly fancy, we even had a pool! There was one place in Sepilock we were ridiculously excited to visit and that was the Sun Bear Conservation Centre. It is the only place like it in the world and the founder is so passionate about the plight of these bears who are losing their habitat at an alarming rate. They rescue and rehabilitate injured or orphaned bears in a large, natural part of the jungle and release them to another area when they are ready. As visitors we are allowed to walk along a suspended walkway in a small section of the centre to see if we can spot the bears. There are strict rules about being quiet and you are quite lucky to spot them as their area to roam is so vast. We saw this sleepy baby having a snooze in one of the trees with the help of a telescope and the keen eye of one of the volunteers. This place is one of a kind and it was refreshing for the animals interest and happiness to be at the forefront of their work. We also visited the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre which is equally as wonderful. Set in miles of protected jungle the Orangutans here are similarly rescued and rehabilitated to be released into the wild. There is a feeding platform you can visit, from a distance, where they provide basic rations to any orangutans adapting to their release. The orangutans are free to roam as far as they like, many never return but some linger close to the safety of the centre. It is a safe haven in a sea of palm plantations which threaten this species' survival, did you know that orangutans can only have one baby every 8 years which highlights their plight! 

Our next stop was to the Kinabatangan River which is home to a huge variety of species including Pygmy Elephants, Proboscis Monkeys and lots of rare birds. After a bumpy ride to the edge of the river and some delicious fried banana, we began our first boat cruise. We had a fantastic local guide who could spot baby crocodiles in the water from 20m away. It was great fun being able to see the Gibbons, Macaques and Eagles from our little boat. There was a hilarious moment as we were all enjoying watching a family of Proboscis Monkeys sitting in the trees and the male of the group decided to show us a little more than we expected (which you can see in the photo below!) Apparently this regular "show" is due to them eating leaves with certain chemicals in but it left us all in fits of laughter. We also went on two jungle treks, one at night and one in the day, which were full of surprises. On our night time exploration we found a sleeping Kingfisher on a branch which once settled for the night, won't move an inch until morning. There were also a lot of unwanted visitors around known as Tiger Leeches which we'd see wiggling around on leaves desperate to attach to our legs.

We saw the spectacular Mount Kinabalu (which we'd love to climb!) on our journey to KK as we swung around the corners in our bus which was playing Fast and Furious 8 on TV. We decided due to our limited number of days here to stay close by and take a trip to Sapi Island. Unfortunately it was very crowded with lots of foreign tourists trampling all over the coral near the shore because they couldn't swim or care less. To avoid the crowds we trekked through the jungle to find the secret beach which was beautiful. We shared it with a monitor lizard and a clan of hermit crabs as we sat down to our delicious packed lunch and relished the peace and quiet. It was a nice end to our quick trip to Borneo! 

The last thing we want to talk about are Palm Plantations. When you look out of the bus window the terrifying extent of the plantations goes on for miles and miles. They have destroyed over 3.7 million hectares to sustain the demand for palm. This is why animals such as the Orangutan, Elephant, Rhino and Tiger are either critically endangered or already extinct; their homes are gone. Our time in Malaysia and Indonesia has been difficult to bare when travelling through the destroyed rainforest as these countries provide 80% of the global supply. It's a tough situation as big corporations demand the palm oil for use in food, toiletries, bio diesel and over half of all packaged products in supermarkets. The country also makes money from this export and the locals have a stable employment opportunity. There are small things we can do as consumers like making a conscious choice not to buy products which contain palm and voicing your opinion. There is also the problem that if palm isn't used another crop will take up the supply so it's a vicious circle. We need to educate and promote the importance of the forest on an environmental and tourist level to corporations, governments and locals whilst managing sustainable farming carefully with the hope this will make a difference.