Next stop after seeing the 'Men of the Jungle' was to head there myself and I was initially very sceptical about how the next 3 days would pan out when I found myself on a bus with just me and 12 Dutch guys that seemed to have an average height of about 6ft 6". I thought it was going to be a total nightmare if there weren't other people at the Nature Resort that I was staying at not being able to understand anything that was being said. That thought was dismissed straight away when I was welcomed into their group and they only spoke English so that I could understand everything. Once we arrived at the river we had to change into a boat as our place could only be accessed by boat which is always quite good and when we got there it did feel very far away from civilization.

There were a few others staying there as well at the time and as soon as we arrived we went for our first river trip along the Kinebatangan river which is a bit of a tricky one to say at first. The rain came down not long after we set off but we got to see a fair few pig-tailed and long-tailed Macaques up in the trees and a few more that were just playing on the riverside and eating some leaves. Saw some fairly rare hornbills that can only be found in Borneo although seeing them didn't do too much for me. It's a great place for nature spotters though with loads of other birds like stalks and eagles and we also saw a really small viper which apparently was very poisonous.

We were supposed to be going for a late night trek in the jungle but the weather intervened and it poured down so we just stayed in the lodge. The next morning most of us were up before 6am to go on another boat trip along the river and it was a great start to the day out in the fresh air crusing past all the mangroves and looking for the various forms of wildlife up in the trees. The only thing that was a big shame about the area was just how many thousands of acres of jungle were destroyed years ago now to make way for all the palm oil producing palm trees. It caused massive amounts of animals to die and lose the place in which they lived but new laws like those I had learned about in Sepilok have meant that for the most part the deforestation has come to an end in this part of Borneo.

After breakfast we all set out for a 3 hour trek through the jungle and almost as soon as we left the heavens opened and we got drenched but we persevered and with the river flooding because of all the rain there had been we were wading through foot deep mud at times which only just stayed below the wellies. I had heard about all the tiger leeches in the jungle and sure enough 5 minutes in we all started spotting them on the leaves as the disgusting slimy creatures try and reach up to attach themselves to you. Once attached they are almost impossible to pull off because their suction is so strong and you have to wait for them to double over and then you can flick them off. They go for hot areas so you have to make sure access to your underwear is sealed off! Instead of looking for wildlife on our trek we were mainly just concerned with removing the constant flow of leeches that were trying to feast on our blood but it was still good fun even if a bit pointless as we just got wet, dirty and infested with leeches!

The other 3 that had been staying at the lodge left in the afternoon and there was a new arrival which ended up being an american girl that had been staying at the same hostel in KK. Even though it was pouring with rain we decided that we would still go out for the next boat trip and the ten of us that went had a great laugh in the boat and when the rain cleared a bit saw some more monkeys etc. The probiscus monkeys, another only found in Borneo are particularly funny. They are really strange looking and the male with the biggest nose gets all the females and I mean all of them so you get one male with his harem of females in one group and then another group made up of jealous bachelors. The bachelors wait for a time when the head male is distracted and one will go for the females and try and mate with as many as he can in as short a time as possible leaping from branch to branch for another quickie before being discovered! We also went looking for the viper again that had been on an overhanging branch and ended up finding a much bigger one. Our funny driver Kai thought it would be amusing to put the boat right under the branch with the snake on causing all these Dutch guys to leap up terrified and almost capsize the boat into crocodile infested water! The one that had the nickname 'Strong Man' ended up cowering behind me which sent everyone into hysterics.

We didn't make the night trek that night either with the prospect of more leeches not appealing so we just had a good laugh instead with the Dutch sharing all their alcohol with myself and Liz. We ended up playing a big game which got very competitive between the teams with an argument almost breaking out with another one shouting that they should argue in English so we could understand! It didn't last long because all of a sudden Strong Man's chairlegs buckled under the weight and he was sent crashing to the floor. The laughter didn't cease for about 10 minutes and he was left very red faced! We stayed up long after all the staff had gone to bed and I was surprised when anyone made it up for the next mornings river trip at 6am but 4 of us did and although we didn't see much except hornbills it was a good wake up tonic.

We all left after breakfast leaving poor Liz all on her own with only the staff for company. The Dutch were heading to Langkawi on Malaysia Peninsula and I was heading to Semporna. It had been a great laugh in the jungle even if I didn't see what I wanted to see most in Pygmy Elephants or wild Orangutans. The place we had stayed as was great with good food and very welcoming staff and purely the fact it is not in Lonely Planet means that it can get very quiet at times which is a shame. The boss man called Papa Bear had loads of stories to tell and I hope more people find out about his awesome Lodge.