Sukau Rainforest Lodge

American author Agnes Keith and husband Harry lived in Sabah (North Borneo) for 18 years while Harry served as the chief conservator of Forests. Three of those years were spent in Japanese P.o.w. Camps. It was her writing based on her Borneo experiences that led to her fame.

The Keith house is high on a hill overlooking Sandakan. The nice breeze made the stinking hot climb up the stairs worth it. The house was destroyed during WWII. What stands here today is their rebuild which, by 1990's, had been abandoned and had fallen into a state of disrepair. According to a large poster at the door,  "Squatters moved in, drug addicts, gays (!) and ladies of the night were known to have regular rendezvous here." Well, one of those things is not like the other! :-P  They have done a nice restoration. There's beatiful hardwood floors, high ceilings and lots of windows to allow for cross breezes. Agnes didn't fit in with the colonials here and got to know the locals instead - much more interesting writing material! I have to hunt down the movie that was made in the 50's based on Three Came Home - stars Claudette Colbert.

Next door the ever popular eatery in every former British holding, the English Tea Garden.

A quick visit to the central market for leech socks, spaghetti bolognaise at chichi land hotel and then a two hour speed boat ride to Sakau Rainforest Lodge on the Kinabatangan river, which the National Geographic has designated  as one of the world's most unique lodges. There are only 20 rooms, each named after a famous researcher. David Attenborough has stayed here so there's a room named for him - I have to read up on my room's namesake...Dr. Dionysius 

Enroute we spotted some proboscis monkeys and even more on our late afternoon cruise along with monitor lizards, orang mother and child, cheeky macaques, killer wasps in a killer nest, and colourful kingfishers. After passing the wasp nest we heard several blood curdling screams. Turning around you could see a lot of commotion in another tour boat and then, more screams. I thought the worst of course - our guide had just finished telling us how the sting could kill you within  eight hours. The boat seemed to have the situation in hand and later when they passed us I *think* that had the same number of people...

Lodge is nice and woodsie - everything in common areas is open air. Rooms are enclosed with private bath and ceiling fans. The gift shop is air conditioned and has an ice cream freezer. Mmmm... Dinner was fine - seasoned for white people though with no really good complimentary hot sauce in sight. There was Tabasco and a blandish Malay ketchup. Dinner is open air down at the water - rainforest river banks as far as the eye can see. Walkways were lined with kerosene lamps - great Myst-like atmosphere.

Even though we are close to the monster red full moon the sky is dark - haze from Sumatra forest burn off is blotting out the celestial bodies both day and night. Primary rainforest is being destroyed and replanted with the oil palm monoculture that isn't particularly suited to the land that is being cleared. A quick buck for some is destroying an irreplaceable rich, bio diverse environment.

Our night cruise yielded mostly birds - an owl, a pair of water hens, colourful kingfishers. At one point we headed down and extremely narrow channel and all I could think of was the pit vipers hanging out in the trees from the night before! Will check my knapsack carefully before bed!!!