We had an early start that, meeting at 7am to stay y or journey onwards. Overnight I’d been woken by an insect at the top of my duvet!
Our journey today will be about 5 hours in a small bus with an interior which is far too bright for early in the morning!
We’re following a similar route to that made by the asked forces during the war, Sandakan to Ranau, on the death march, forced by the Japanese.
After a short drive we stopped to see the Rafflesia flower, the largest flower in the world.
After another 20 minutes or so we stopped at the Sabah tea plantation for breakfast, which included some good coffee!
We drove on and soon we passing miles upon miles of Palm oil plantations. The plantations are not made by deforesting rainforests, but by using areas which have already been cut down for timber. They also provide the second largest income for Malaysia after oil.
At around 1400 we arrived at the river where we caught a boat across the water to our hotel for the night. The accommodation is in lodges set in the jungle with the dining area and small sitting area as the main part.
We had a welcome drink and then a buffet meal was served. We checked into our rooms and had about an hour free time before we met at 4 for a river cruise and wildlife spotting. We both took the opportunity to have a tiger overlooking the river.
The cruise lasted about 2 and a half hours and we were able to spot loads of monkeys (macaques) a crocodile and even an orangutan. We arrived back at 6.30 and then had tea at 7.
After tea we met for a night walk which meant that we needed to hire Wellington boots and leech socks. We spent an hour or so wandering around the jungle in the dark and did manage to spot a couple of different types of civet along with loads of insects.
As we have an early start for another river wildlife spotting trip at 6am, we just had one more beer and then headed to bed for 10pm to sort some photos, have a showerb to wash the grime of the day off and get some sleep!
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