Still buzzing from our wild Orang-Utan encounter the day before we arrived in the riverside village of Sukau, excited at the prospect of what lay ahead...

'Will we see any crocs' I asked our guide Jo.

'I don't think so' Jo replied 'Frankie (the local croc) will be sleeping for a week'

'Why is that?' we asked

'He ate a dog 2 days ago' Jo quipped joyfully back at us in his best English.

It materialised that Jo had heard a noise nearby the lodge jetty. He rushed out to see Frankie pluck a dog from the riverbank in it's mighty jaws and disappear back into the muddy waters!

'How big is Frankie' we asked,

Jo pointed at a picture of a large crocodile on the wall of the lodge, perfectly photographed with it's immense jaws wide open.

'Ah Big then!' that answered that question.

The Orang-Utan sighting had left us hungry for more wild animals, ideally large primates but if not, anything different would do. To give us every possible opportunity we had booked an overnight stay at a riverside lodge, including an evening and morning river tour on the wildlife rich Kinabatangan River.

The Kinabatangan river flows 560km through Borneo, finally reaching the Sulu Sea on the North East coast of the island. Due to mans intervention, some of Borneo's diverse wildlife has effectively been penned into the narrow area of jungle remaining between the new palm oil plantations and the river. The muddy coffee coloured waterway and surrounding banks are as good a place as any to see an abundant mix of wildlife. The 2hr boat trips are best taken at 4pm or 6.30am when, outside the heat of the day, animals are drawn from the jungle to the lure of the river.

Our evening trip got off to the perfect start, as within a few metres of the lodge we found a tree heavily laden with playful Proboscis monkeys. Such strange looking barrel chested creatures with huge protruding noses, and in the males case not the only part of their body that is permanently protruding! When sat in a tree their posture is ballet like. Perfectly straight backs hold their round body upright with powerful 'thunder' thighs dangling from the branches. As with most other smaller monkeys, or my brother, they are never content to sit still. However unlike Steve, they are entertaining to watch, as they are constantly swinging or jumping from branch to branch or gay-fully chasing each other in the trees whilst cackling boisterously.

Almost immediately after leaving the Proboscis monkeys, we spotted a small crocodile looking shape on the riverbank. Closer inspection revealed it was in fact a monitor lizard. These slow moving prehistoric looking creatures can grow to around 2 metres in length. They are surprisingly timid for such a fierce-some looking beast as we found out on the little island of Mamutik, just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. They are common across Asia, but having only previously seen them from a distance, stumbling upon one on Mamutik prompted an initial 'what the f*** is that' as we quickly ran away. This was followed by curiosity and the urge to get a good photograph. As the island exploration continued, we managed to find another 4 or 5 of the beasts, including a particularly massive one.

Our disappointment of the riverbank reptile not being a crocodile didn't last very long, as we soon spotted 2 menacing looking eyes poking out above the water. Looking down a long pointy nose at us, it was unmistakably a croc and Jo confirmed it was indeed Franky! We just had enough time to get a snap (excuse the pun) before he disappeared below, a few bubbles allowing us to track his movement away. We even managed to find one of Frankie's babies on a muddy beach just around the corner who although less immense was more accommodating for photographs.

The next day we actually saw children swimming 300-400 yards from where Frankie had dined just a couple of days earlier. Jo said confidently 'too noisy for the crocs up here'...they are certainly braver or more foolish men than I!

Following our meeting with Frankie and family Jo informed us 'you are very lucky today'.

It was time to push this luck further and we put in a request for a snake or two.

'they are difficult to find' Jo responded.

Clearly not that hard though, as just after entering one of the narrower river tributaries a sharp jolt of the boat signified we had braked and Jo or the driver had spotted something. Coiled up in a dense green tree overhanging the water was a large shiny black snake with bright yellow rings. Jo informed us it was a 'Gold Ringed Cat Snake' and that 'if you get bitten you would need treatment in 4-5 hours'..at this point the driver pushed the boat virtually underneath the colourful snake! Unlike the motionless one we saw in Brunei this snake was happy to poke it's head up and even move along the branch a little for the camera. Another good find, as if they had placed it there earlier or more likely that they do this everyday!

As we continued along the narrow inlet the overhanging green jungle against the dirty waters was simply spectacular. The kind of scenery I would expect to see on the Amazon river and hopefully will see in a few months time! We didn't need a guide to tell us there would be a rich supply of jungle wildlife in this area and our eyes were transfixed on the forest trees.

This was the pattern for the remainder of the trip with regular stops to witness different varieties of monkeys or birds until the sun was very low in the sky and we were nearing a return to the lodge. We made one last pass at a fruit tree on the waters edge where Jo had seen Orang-Utan the day before. Were we lucky enough?

Oh yes we were! It really must have been our day as sat up in the tree were not just one but a family of Orang-Utan. Jo informed us that it is rare to see a mother, father and baby together as the father doesn't normally 'hang' (sorry) about with mother & baby as he is not allowed into the nest. But here they were in the tree up above us happily moving from branch to branch and feeding on the ample berry fruits on offer. With it's parents content to let it fend for itself the youngster moved about the tree with a little more caution. Clearly lacking tree climbing experience and confidence it lost it's balance on occasion and clumsily scrambled around the tree. So, for the second day on the spin we were fortunate enough to be witnessing these human like creatures living in the wild amongst the trees. It was another truly special moment and had we have not been on a tour we would probably still be there! This unbeatable moment was accompanied by another picturesque river sunset- one that we were happy to ignore for neck tweaking tree watching, except of for the obligatory pic of course!

As the boat docked we were still pumped with adrenaline and stunned by what we had seen..

'You are very lucky' Jo reminded us!

With a boat trip remaining the following morning what else did we have left to see? Oh yes a herd of elephant had been spotted upriver where we would be venturing at first light. The 6am start immediately became an exciting prospect!

We awoke to thick mist and an eerie calm on the river. As the sun brightened the sky, trees slowly came into view as we headed upstream. We left the boat at an oxbow lake to trek through the jungle to the riverbank where the boat was waiting. Immediately we had to avoid stepping in a large pile of elephant dung but unfortunately this and some trampled trees were as close as we got to seeing wild elephants. Jo's cousin had actually seen the herd that left this mess the day before.

We didn't get to see any pythons or crocs that inhabit this area only Mosquitos. Jo had plastered himself, his jeans and his Arsenal shirt in insect repellant such was his dislike to mosquito. He told us he gets through 3 bottles of the roll on every month but enjoys the daily trek. Sally did find a small leach attached to her leg which left a nice red blood mark when removed. I mentioned that Chinese people pay good money for treatments by leach....it didn't help!

The spectacular boat ride in the mist didn't deliver any of the larger animals that we sought but there were plenty more monkeys and rare birds on display. The distinctive pelican looking Hornbill birds were easy to spot with their odd shaped bills on their colourful heads. Jo was particularly excited to see a 'red helmeted hornbill'..

'you are lucky' he again quipped 'I didn't see one since July'...of course we actually saw 2!

We had indeed had a fantastic 2 days in the wild and below is a complete list of the wildlife we saw on the Kinabatangan River:

Orang-Utan
Proboscis Monkey
Silvered Leaf Monkey
Long Tailed Macaque Monkey
Pig Tailed Macaque Monkey
Crocodile
Monitor Lizard
Gold Ringed Cat Snake (black with yellow bands)

Birds:
White Belied Sea Eagle
Egret
Broadbill (various)
Red Helmeted Hornbill (rarely seen)
Oriental Pied Hornbill
Rhinoceros Hornbill
White Crested Hornbill
Crows
Swifts

Mountains, tropical beaches, rivers, lakes and dense jungle, Borneo has it all but without doubt the highlight for us was the diverse and fascinating wildlife. Easy to get around, relaxed and hassle free, this underrated island has turned out to be one of our favourite Asian destinations...I have a sneaky feeling we will return to this paradise again one day! For now we will be taking the ferry back to Brunei, making sure we stock up on booze at the duty free Malaysian island of Labuan en route. After all, Ian & Takako have been busy moving house since we left and we have a housewarming party to attend on arrival in Brunei....superb!