From KK to Sepilok

Recently I drove from KK to Sepilok with some friends who were in Sabah on holiday.  They only had a few days, so we went straight from the airport to Kundasang.  And Mt Kinabalu offered some beautiful views, both in the evening and the next morning!

On the way to the east coast, we went on a rafflesia hunt and were lucky enough to be able to see one.  Although I have seen quite a few now, it is always interesting to see the flies buzzing around the centre, as well as the texture of the leaves, the interesting nodules hanging around the inside of the lip and the large cabbage-like buds - which take 9 months to develop.

Our next stop was Sepilok and the orangutans.  As we were walking to the feeding platform, a fairly large orangutan came down from a tree and started moving quickly among us.  We were alternately told to stop and move, stop and move - not sure what the right thing to do was, so maybe both.  We saw a mother and child, I think.  They are so surprisingly gentle, frightened even of the marauding macaques.

Not to be missed in Sepilok is the Rainforest Discovery Centre.  Great information, wonderful walks, a very strong canopy walkway and a great flower garden.

I am constantly photographing orchids too - their beauty is not that easy to catch - but their colours are gorgeous.

From Sepilok, we went to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary - another 'must see' in this area.  The guides there are very informative and you can get very close to the proboscis monkeys themselves.  The males are very strong and have lovely coats - the females and young have incredibly cute, little up-turned noses!

An added attraction at Labuk Bay are the silver leaf langurs.  They are generally around - although I've been a couple of times when they seemed to be taking a break from all the tourists.  We were especially lucky to see the baby ones - who are orange in colour at first and then gradually get darker over the months.

If you're into photography at all, you'll know that you go through stages of being interested in certain things - and it's the same with me (except for Mt Kinabalu which is a passion!).  So here are some pics of heliconia.  They are fantastic because of their colour, their variety and their sculptural quality.

Sabah offers such variety.  I never tire of travelling to each different part - and taking photos. 

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.  I'd love to hear from you:  jude@astsabah.com

Sandakan in July: Part 2 - Kylie Crawley

Continues Kylie's story, adapting her travelogue:


On our third day in Sandakan, we got up at 7:30am, had breakfast and were collected at 9am for our 9:30am boat ride to Turtle Island, Selingan. The ride out was pretty rough indeed but thankfully we didn't need any sea sickness bags. Upon arrival we had a bit of a rest and then went for the buffet lunch.


Turtle laying eggs

 In the evening we visited the aging display upstairs before patiently waiting for the turtles to 'land' and lay their eggs. It was quite difficult to see the turtles coming in and you weren't allowed to shine torches at them (quite rightly) so by the end of the night I didn't know if I was looking at moving turtles or trees that weren't actually going anywhere. Later in the night we were taken on a tour where we saw a green turtle who had just laid her eggs; we then saw those eggs reburied in the nursery to hatch about six weeks later and finally we saw some hatchlings released into the water. Apparently only 2% of them make it to adulthood. Those aren't great odds.


Kylie & Dave

As we had an early departure from the island we had to get up at 5:30am for a 6am breakfast. Jude collected us from the pier and drove us to Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. We saw about 50 proboscis monkeys who came in for feeding time at Platform A. The monkeys were very entertaining and also a little scary if one monkey started to do the wrong thing to another monkey in their group.



Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary



Before we entered Platform B of the sanctuary, we watched a DVD detailing how two brothers had brought up a lot of land to grow oil palm but once they saw they were inadvertently killing off the monkeys in the process they decided to set up the sanctuary. Not only are there proboscis monkeys but silver leaf langurs also walk around inside and outside. There is an otter and a number of hornbills who fly in to feed each other pieces of banana. Jonathon, one of the handlers, has obviously trained them well. The place has become something of a reserve for injured and orphaned wildlife and the tourists love it.



Buffalo working on an oil palm plantation

On the way out of the monkey sanctuary we saw a water buffalo being used in the traditional way of pulling a sledge to carry out the palm oil nuts that were growing all around us. It was a gentle reminder that even though modern farming methds are instituted, the old way of doing things still works pretty well.

We also visited the home of the American author Agnes Keith who wrote books such as Three Came Home which detailed life in the prisoner of war and civilian camps and living under the years of Japanese occupation in Borneo. The house was beautiful but I can only imagine how hot it got in the middle of summer.



At the English Tea House

 We had a drink at the English Tea House and Restaurant where we watched a couple play a game of croquet (it even looked like they knew the rules) and then Jude drove us to the airport in time for our 18:50 flight to Kuala Lumpur. It had certainly been a very informative tour as Jude has learnt a lot about the history of the area and she knew all the places to visit.

Photos in these two blogs about Kylie's trip were taken by Dave and Jude.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.  I'd love to hear from you at:  jude@astsabah.com