In the jungle – the mighty jungle…

With Mount Kinabalu disappearing in the distance, we are heading east towards some of the highlights of Borneo, trekking in rainforest and watching primates in their natural environment.

Our first stop on the tour was Sandakan on the east coast, where the Sepilok Orang-Utan sanctuary is situated. It is a fascinating place, where orphan Orang-Utans (mother killed by logging or poaching) are given a second chance by being adopted by humans and raised in a small piece of rainforest. Eventually, they will be set free in the wild when becoming adults. We did a small tour of the place and watched a mother Orang-Utan and her baby eating breakfast and playing in the trees. It is truly amazing how these monkeys resemble humans in every way!

The trip continued south towards Sukau to a cruise on the Sukau River. We were staying overnight in a lodge right on the brink of the river (can only get there by boat) and enjoyed a fantastic cruise up the river. Before the trip started, we heard that there had been sights of the Borneo Pygme Elephant up the river and we were therefore very excited when we got into the boat. We found the elephants by the river and stayed there for a while to watch the family of giants. Even though they are way smaller then the African elephant, they are still huge :-).

Suddenly, it started to rain and when it rains in Borneo, it pours! So before we knew it, we were sitting in a boat on the river, soaking wet. However, when it is above 30 degrees, rain is not such a bad thing, so we continued to spot animals along the river banks and before we returned to the lodge, we saw Gibbon monkeys, a lone Orang-Utan, Proboscis monkeys, the one with the big nose, and a wide range of beautiful birds.

Satisfied with an eventful river cruise, it was now time to do some trekking in the rainforest and we had booked a stay at one of the most remote places you are able to experience as a tourist on Borneo, namely the Danum Valley. To get there, we had to drive 3 hours on tar road to Lahad Datu and from there an additional 2 ½ hours on gravel road through nothing but amazing rainforest.

We were staying at a first class bungalow with views over the Danum River and rainforest, fantastic. During our three days stay we had our own dedicated guide, who took us on treks through the rainforest to spot wildlife, visit ancient burial sites and swim in waterfall pools. The guide had actually been the guide for a BBC nature program film crew and the Swedish and Danish royal family when they visited the lodge. This is without doubt one of the most amazing experiences we have tried; we actually felt that we were deep, deep in the jungle. During the treks and night drives, we saw Orang-Utans, red leaf monkeys, flying squirrels (who actually flew while we watched), poisonous frogs and much, much more. We followed a male Orang-Utan go to bed in the tree tops and got up at 5:30 the next morning in order to watch him for 1 ½ hours while we woke up, ate a little breakfast and started swinging in the lianas. Wow, what an experience!

All good things have to come to an end and so did the Borneo tour. We said goodbye to the incredible friendly people at the lodge and set off towards Sandakan Airport from where we are taking a flight to Kuala Lumpur. We are going to suck in a little metropolitan life for a day before heading to Thailand for two more weeks of vacation. This is also where we are meeting up with the rest of the Vinther family.

Borneo is a wild and inspiring place and can be highly recommended to everyone. The only sad thing we experienced on our visit was the large, large area of rainforest that had been cleared to make room for palm oil plantations. Sometimes we drove for hours and saw nothing but plantations in an area where there not many years ago had been beautiful rainforest.

We are now in the airport about to board the plane and as everywhere else on this trip, we are asked if we are on honeymoon, what kind of vibes are we sending? Maybe we should start to exploit it to get upgrades and free stuff…

Take care back home!

Danielle and Carsten