I always love when a hike briefing starts with "Due to a guest being killed by a male bull elephant..." The outcome of the incidence is that now we can takes pics if we spot elephants but then have to hoof it back to the vehicle. Our vehicle is an open air truck which bears a striking resemblance to the one I barfed in in Burma at the Golden Rock, but I digress. I've left the Kinabatangan river area and am in Tabin wildlife reserve now.
Yesterday I had a day off but at 9:30 I got a tap at my door. I was Suhali with news of a male Orangutan near the boardwalk. So the better part of my day was spent hanging out on the boardwalk listening to birds, watching Orangutan sleep and the macaques get into trouble. An afternoon river cruise took in swiftlet nests (made with minimum spit,) a swimming monitor lizard, macaques and tree lurking pit vipers. A number of rope (and repurposed fire hoses) bridges crisscross the tributary rivers to help Orangutans extend their range. The orangs rarely come down to the ground and can't swim so with the reserve land basically hugging the Kinabatangan river, the bridges can really help...it just seemed that the macaques used them more!
At dinner I sat with a Swiss couple who had just come from eleven days of diving at Lankayan island. One of the eastern off-bounds-to-Canadians coastal islands that I had wanted to dive. They said the visibility was terrible which made me feel even better about sticking the west side at Gaya island.
This morning the day started with a lovely breakfast on the river front deck at Sukau.
I said "selamat tinggal" to the staff, one of whom was a young woman from Montreal doing a placement for her hotel and hospitality studies, and was off in a boat then a van.
A short while later while I was wearing a face mask, leech socks, hat and my jacket and was standing next to a dung heap of festering bat guano in a dark cave swarming with cock roaches and poisonous centipedes, I realized that I had truly arrived at the last place on earth where Sherree would want to be. The Gomantong caves is the home to a whole whack of bats and colonies of swiftlets who provide the "spit nests" for that extreeeemly spendy delicacy, bird's nest soup. Great dramatic lighting if you can stand the pee-pee soaked heck hole smell, (apologies to Kent Brockman for stealing his line yet again.)
White nests retail for about $2000/kg USD - collection is done is narrow rope ladders. This ladder bundle gives a sense of how high nests are:
The nests are indeed made of pure bird spit, dissolved in broth and consumed by wealthy people in China, Hong kong and San Fransisco There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that it is "good for the skin" but it does contain vitamins and minerals found in bananas...hmmm, I'll take the banana please!
The road to Tabin resort was billed as "gravel" but is in fact was a dirt road embedded with numerous large rocks. The van took a beating but very surprisingly, did not blow a tire. As we neared the gate of the reserve heaps of poop appeared on the road and then heaps of elephants! Yes there were a good dozen of the endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant having a graze through the edge of a palm oil plantation. They are adorable miniatures but not to be messed with as evidenced by our hike guide's opening remarks.
My guide is Maui, my cottage is cosy. I face a small river and have my own balcony the door to which must be kept closed due to the mischievous macaques. Maui led us on a sweaty 2 km hike through the secondary rainforest to a mud volcano that acts as a salt lick for various critters.
Saw some some sun bear claw marks, wild boar digs and some barking deers barked for us. Our perch in a nearby observation tower did not yield any sightings but on the truck ride back some pig-tailed macaques got into a dust up at the side of the road.
The night safari was...interesting. Our group was in the barf-mobile truck and I was on the back bench which had no back and no tailgate but did have a steel bar...that I could slip under. The two guides were at the front behind the cab dressed in camouflage pants with bandanas on their heads and faces as the bugs are attracted to the spot lights they were brandishing. Felt a little like a scene out of Apocalypse Now as they started driving along flashing the lights though the thick growth. And there I was in the back with a moonlit road and buzzing cicadas all around. Saw a couple of civet cats, an owl blind in one eye, a raptor eating a snake.
Life is good!
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