The 5am wake up gong is sounded and The Kinabatangan Nature Lodge guests with sleepy eyes start to make their way to the small jetty for the first of the days river cruises along the great Kinabatangan river in hope of spotting some of Borneo’s most famous primates and the other inhabitants of this amazing, but fragile eco system.
Following on from our post Borneo Part 1, wildlife was never really in the itinerary, until we came to Borneo that is.
If you had said to us we would be sitting in a boat in the pouring rain for 2 hours trying to get get a glimpse of a Proboscis monkey or the smallest elephant in the world, the Pygmy Elephant, I would have said “nah, we’ll meet you at the bar”, but this is what happened and we both loved it!
We arrived from Sepilock in a minibus with 14 other visitors, down a rough dirt track we stopped with our luggage being unloaded, with nothing around us we all looked at each other a bit confused.
We were directed to a jetty and instructed to get in a boat to cross the river which would take us to The Kinabatangan Nature Lodge.
We checked into our cabin for the next two nights and met up with the rest of the group to find out what was in store for us. Hot on everyones lips was the Pygmey Elephant who only lives near the shore of the Kinabangtan River, constantly moving from the mouth of the river to the deepest depths of the rainforest and back again.
We were soon told that the elephants had been through the camp 2 weeks earlier and would not be back for at least 3 months. So unfortunately, that ended those hopes!
The gong would sound whenever it was meal time, coffee break or when one of the many activities was about to start.
Not being one for ‘organised fun’ we were both skeptical and at first felt like we were at some sort of summer camp however, having everything organised for you was actually a refreshing change!
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Pea and Moss: Borneo Part 2
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