Malaysia: Borneo (Sabah) – Cruising the Kinabatangan River

The plan for the late afternoon was to head out on a river cruise. This is the best time for seeing monkeys as they group in the trees down by the river banks to roost for the night. We joined our 6 fellow explorers and guides on a much smaller boat than we arrived in and followed the channel out onto the main river. The evening was rapidly closing in and it was not long before we saw our first troop of proboscis monkeys leaping athletically from tree limb to tree limb. A troop is led by a dominant male, which is identified by its larger nose, looking similar to Gonzo from the Muppets schnoz. Travelling further we came across more monkeys, not only proboscis but long and pig-tailed macaques and silver and red leaf (or maroon) langurs. It was fascinating to watch these troops of monkeys making ready for a night of hopefully peaceful rest in the trees by the river bank. Beyond monkeys, we saw many birds, more storks of course, but also brightly coloured kingfishers.

Just as we were about to return back to KWR we noticed several other boats with tourists moored up at the river banks. Anyone who has been out looking for wildlife knows that is always a good sign. So, over we went to find that there was a small herd of pygmy elephants travelling through the dense jungle. We almost peed our pants with excitement! The boat driver pulled the boat right up to the bank and we all scrambled forward to seeing these incredible animals. The forest was very thick but they were close and we were able to make them out as they passed by – amazing!

Now it really was time to head back to KWR as the evening was drawing in rapidly and we had travelled some distance down the river. Also, there was a powerful thunderstorm hovering in the distance, which concerned us but our guides nonchalantly said “no worries”, but that still did not completely assuage our fear. We did get to see an amazing sunset, but in the tropics, night falls quickly and soon it was pitch black. Out there in the jungle, there is no background luminance from a city to give some respite to our poor night vision. Things became more vexing when the boat driver could not get his lampworking. Instead, he had to borrow a little flashlight from one of the guides to light the way. The river is pretty wide by my fear was that there were plenty of thing floating in the river that could capsize our tiny vessel, and our driver didn’t seem to moderate his speed. Also, the inlet to KWR was tiny, about 20 feet across, in the midst of an incredibly dense forest. How on earth was the driver going to find it in the by now intense darkness? Anyway, he did and we were all relieved to arrive back at the resort.