Uncle Tan's
Hello,
When I wrote last we had just been to visit the orangutans. The next day we went to the jungle on an Uncle Tan's tour. it was two ish days and two nights. the first day started at base near Sandakan where we were greeted by a very friendly guy (sorry I forget his name). We were fed lunch and registered then we waited and chatted to a few people that had just come back from a tour. We then met Jon and Tanya who had been at the orangutans the previous day also.
About 2pm we were loaded into a mini bus (bas mini) and we were off. After a short stop to pick up eggs we drove for an hour and a bit to the river. We then went for a leisurely cruise on a boat towards camp. Along the way the driver would stop and point out wildlife. We saw, birds, proboscis monkeys (orange with a big nose)
and a small monitor lizard (1 m). When we arrived at camp we were again greeted by lots of friendly guys, we were given a hut and then we hung out for a while listening to Lan (camp leader) play the guitar and try to sing western songs adding in lots of la la's when he forgot the words. We had a snack, then our briefing, "program 1 swap with program 5 ok" (personal joke) then tea.
At about 9pm we went on our first program, night boat safari. We went cruising around the lakes with a big spotlight we didn't really see too much but Remy our guide spotted a sleeping kingfisher from about 30m away. We proceeded to approach the bird and stopped just next to it. Remy took our cameras and photographed the bird really close up.
. After the safari it was back to camp, just before bed someone found a civit cat (leopard spots, longish nose, size of a domestic cat) which kindly posed for our cameras.
The next morning we were woken at 6 am for our 6:30 morning boat safari. It was quite misty over the lakes which set the scene nicely. This time our guide was Lan he had noticed I was keen on getting good pictures and he made sure I was ready for a good shot when there was one to be had. The highlight of the safari was the proboscis monkeys jumping from the trees into the water. They do this when the next tree is too far but I am sure they also do it for fun. We also spotted lots of birds and long tail Macaque (monkeys). Back to camp for breakfast and after a short break it was onto our jungle trek, well jungle stroll. We just wandered around and looked at trees and insects and wished we could find an Orang Utan. The coolest thing we saw was a tractor millipede about 10cm long with flat armour plating jutting out over its legs, when you rub it it jets out a liquid that smells like almonds, really, just like marzipan.
After the walk we had lunch and then a rest. I got a sore throat all of a sudden and started to lose my voice. I had a sleep in a hammok and was woken by Tanya saying they had found Orang Utans and I should come and see. I was a bit disorientated and my throat hurt so I passed on that and went to bed. Later as I rested Katie went out on the afternoon boat safari.
After tea (yes really all we did was eat) we went on our night jungle walk which was really cool. We saw heaps of frogs, they were all posing in a very comic frog way on tree trunks and branches
lots of Tractor millipedes some wolf spiders a 15cm scorpion which Remy picked up and let walk all over his arms.
(He said they don't kill you but the one time he got stung he was really sick for 3 days till he got an anti-venom shot and then got better). The scorpion kept arking up ready to sting but Remy was cool as a cucumber. The highlight, sort of, was getting to see a Tarantula, its abdomen part of its body (which is most of it) was about the size of a golf ball and its legs would have been about 10cm each, thick and hairy (no I am not exaggurating) I think I got a picture of it but it ran back into its nest. I was quite calm watching it but thinking about it now makes my skin crawl.
Just before bed someone found a reticluated python anout 4m long right next to camp. we all gathered around it to get our pictures, in the excitment of the moment I went right up to its head to get a close up shot then Lan said "careful Dylan" and I realised I was really close and thats probably not a good idea. Soon enough it slithered away, much faster than we realised it could go.
The next morning once again we were up at 6 for a boat trip. We had to go to a different boat landing because the water had dropped by more than a meter since the previous afternoon. We didn't really see too much but I think I got a series of pictures of a proboscis monkey leaping our of a tree flying and landing I will have to wait to develop the film to see.
That was about the end of our jungle experience. We said goodbye to all the guides and got on the boat. On the way back to the bus we got to see several Crocodiles, not really big but 2-3m which was a nice finale. We said goodbye to Jon and Tanya and got on our bus back to Sandakan. All in all it was a great trip and not something either of us will forget quickly. I am sure I can say that it will remain as one of the highlights of all my travels.
Dylan
When I wrote last we had just been to visit the orangutans. The next day we went to the jungle on an Uncle Tan's tour. it was two ish days and two nights. the first day started at base near Sandakan where we were greeted by a very friendly guy (sorry I forget his name). We were fed lunch and registered then we waited and chatted to a few people that had just come back from a tour. We then met Jon and Tanya who had been at the orangutans the previous day also.
About 2pm we were loaded into a mini bus (bas mini) and we were off. After a short stop to pick up eggs we drove for an hour and a bit to the river. We then went for a leisurely cruise on a boat towards camp. Along the way the driver would stop and point out wildlife. We saw, birds, proboscis monkeys (orange with a big nose)
and a small monitor lizard (1 m). When we arrived at camp we were again greeted by lots of friendly guys, we were given a hut and then we hung out for a while listening to Lan (camp leader) play the guitar and try to sing western songs adding in lots of la la's when he forgot the words. We had a snack, then our briefing, "program 1 swap with program 5 ok" (personal joke) then tea.At about 9pm we went on our first program, night boat safari. We went cruising around the lakes with a big spotlight we didn't really see too much but Remy our guide spotted a sleeping kingfisher from about 30m away. We proceeded to approach the bird and stopped just next to it. Remy took our cameras and photographed the bird really close up.
. After the safari it was back to camp, just before bed someone found a civit cat (leopard spots, longish nose, size of a domestic cat) which kindly posed for our cameras.The next morning we were woken at 6 am for our 6:30 morning boat safari. It was quite misty over the lakes which set the scene nicely. This time our guide was Lan he had noticed I was keen on getting good pictures and he made sure I was ready for a good shot when there was one to be had. The highlight of the safari was the proboscis monkeys jumping from the trees into the water. They do this when the next tree is too far but I am sure they also do it for fun. We also spotted lots of birds and long tail Macaque (monkeys). Back to camp for breakfast and after a short break it was onto our jungle trek, well jungle stroll. We just wandered around and looked at trees and insects and wished we could find an Orang Utan. The coolest thing we saw was a tractor millipede about 10cm long with flat armour plating jutting out over its legs, when you rub it it jets out a liquid that smells like almonds, really, just like marzipan.
After the walk we had lunch and then a rest. I got a sore throat all of a sudden and started to lose my voice. I had a sleep in a hammok and was woken by Tanya saying they had found Orang Utans and I should come and see. I was a bit disorientated and my throat hurt so I passed on that and went to bed. Later as I rested Katie went out on the afternoon boat safari.
After tea (yes really all we did was eat) we went on our night jungle walk which was really cool. We saw heaps of frogs, they were all posing in a very comic frog way on tree trunks and branches
lots of Tractor millipedes some wolf spiders a 15cm scorpion which Remy picked up and let walk all over his arms.
(He said they don't kill you but the one time he got stung he was really sick for 3 days till he got an anti-venom shot and then got better). The scorpion kept arking up ready to sting but Remy was cool as a cucumber. The highlight, sort of, was getting to see a Tarantula, its abdomen part of its body (which is most of it) was about the size of a golf ball and its legs would have been about 10cm each, thick and hairy (no I am not exaggurating) I think I got a picture of it but it ran back into its nest. I was quite calm watching it but thinking about it now makes my skin crawl.
Just before bed someone found a reticluated python anout 4m long right next to camp. we all gathered around it to get our pictures, in the excitment of the moment I went right up to its head to get a close up shot then Lan said "careful Dylan" and I realised I was really close and thats probably not a good idea. Soon enough it slithered away, much faster than we realised it could go.
The next morning once again we were up at 6 for a boat trip. We had to go to a different boat landing because the water had dropped by more than a meter since the previous afternoon. We didn't really see too much but I think I got a series of pictures of a proboscis monkey leaping our of a tree flying and landing I will have to wait to develop the film to see.
That was about the end of our jungle experience. We said goodbye to all the guides and got on the boat. On the way back to the bus we got to see several Crocodiles, not really big but 2-3m which was a nice finale. We said goodbye to Jon and Tanya and got on our bus back to Sandakan. All in all it was a great trip and not something either of us will forget quickly. I am sure I can say that it will remain as one of the highlights of all my travels.
Dylan
posted by Dylan at 6:01 PM
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