So as a birthday treat, I had a lay in till 7am!! A final opportunity to have a shower in our own bathroom, then pack and ready to leave by 9am. Today has mostly been a travel day, with a long drive past endless miles of palm oil plantations as far as the eye can see, along bone jarring made and unmade roads. A quick stop for lunch (you guessed it rice and chicken) then on and upwards towards the hills for our overnight stay in a longhouse at the Sabah Tea Planta...

After an action packed and very long previous day, it was with a groan that the alarm went off at 5.30 for a 6 am boat trip before breakfast. Although I wasn't quite awake I did enjoy being out for the sunrise over the misty river. We also saw some rare silver lipped macacs and lots of birds (kingfishers, hornbills, storm storks, egrets and bee eaters). Returning to camp for breakfast at 7.30, we had the option of another boat trip to a lake at 9.30. However, the...

An action packed and early start on Christmas day for us. Up at 4.30 to shower and pack and leave the hotel by 5.30 am for our 7 o'clock flight from KK to Sandakan. En route we had our first fearsome view of Mount Kinabalu out of the left side of the plane. After our short 50 minute flight we were meg by our comfy air con bus and whisked along to our main highlight of the day - Sepilok Orang-Utan sanctuary. After a brief video about the programme, we headed down ...

A late start today and had the luxury of sleeping in and reading my book for the first time - check out wasnt till 10.30 - what luxury. The main problem we have is that our trainers are still wet from being in the river 3 days ago and frankly they now hum so much I think they will be able to walk to kota Kinabalu all by themselves. Our little twin prop plane took us the short hop via Miri, then on to KK. A snazzy new airport awaited us and KK seems a lively and ...

Our stay in camp 5 came to an end tray and we set off around 8 am, back along the headhunters trail for the 9 mm hike back to the boats. We made good time, despite the slippery and muddy conditions and also a couple of fallen trees blocking the path following the storms of the previous day. Only one leech incident for me (on my hand) and for Jon (just caught one trying to sneak into his boot). Arrived at the boat area by 10.30 and headed back to the luxury of the...