We both get up loaded with the cold. Grab our free breakfast. scrambled egg, toast and plenty of fruit. Start making plans for the national park.
Sepilok is the first place I've seen with great hospitality. The staff at the B&B couldn't be more helpful. We had heard that Uncle Tans was a Sabah institution, where we might be able to book tickets/transport but after the walk there we find out the one in Sepilok is the only one. Again very helpful staff that much of Sabah could learn from. We see the Dutch family again, all smiles as they pass by in their air con car. Hiring a car is a better way to do the country.
After spending a few hours trying to book flights between Sanikan and Mulu / Miri, we get confirmation that the park has spaces for our trek tomorrow. Its too neat and we book to Kota Kinabulu to arrange from there. We are picked up for the jungle trek. Get a boat to the lodge after an hours drive. We are the only guests and dump our bags heading straight to the river cruise. There are some advantages to travelling in the hotter months, one being empty dorms sometimes and the other being we have our own private river cruise(LT).
We head down the chocolate coloured river, jungle on both sides. It would be nice to see an Orangutan but apparently highly unlikely. Along the riverside we see Macaco monkeys feeding on the long grass. This is followed by more in the tree with proboscis and big tailed macaco monkeys. Maybe no Orangs but finally some wildlife on land. Our guide points to many storks and a tom tom. We pass a couple of tour boats, all full which causes us to smile at our fortune. We enter a narrow tributary to the right of the river and spot a river monitor lizard. His keen eye hones in on a Kingfisher and we watch it catch a fish. We pass a small crocodile, eyes spying from the water next to a Palm Oil factory. One of the workers had been fishing and was eaten by a 7 metre croc.
We turn with the sun beginning its decent,
Proboscis monkeys come to the riverside at night to avoid leopards and pythons.
The food is laid out in front of us, enough to feed a dozen. A mound of prawns, chicken pieces and a cabbage vegetable mix to go with our rice. A bat flies into the fan and drops dead which seems to be the beginning of an unwelcome nature show. Attracted to the lights, there are bugs everywhere falling on the table and floor stunned by the fans. I try and not dwell on it, but there is a hell of a lot of them. Welcome to the Jungle. Hearing a mosquito fly by your ear is nothing compared to 4 guitar strings twang past your ear. Bugs are falling on my plate. I speed up eating. We're in a warzone and the bullets are bugs, Craig mentions. The final straw is a large bug that plops in my water. We go back to get changed for the night walk. A bat tries to land on my head. I jump and quickly open the door. After changing into our beekeeper outfits, we ditch the head nets. We meet our guide who is there in shorts and T-shirt. b***** that, he never saw my ice cube. We initially see a buffy owl which is a good start. He shows us a large scorpion and Craig yelps. I'm about to tell him to man up when I yelp. Our guide tells us not to stand still too long due to fireants. They have a considerable bite for something so small, through socks and trouser. We are sweating, but have a fun walk spotting nesting birds, spiders, frogs. Taking pictures is a fast process, both due to sweat build up and attracting loads of insects. Every so often I get a flyby from a bug that sounds like a tractor with wings. Gives me the heebies every time. The walk finishes through a fireant nest, and I am stung several more times. Sure he did that on purpose. Back at the hostel. The TV is on and the newscaster has a moustache a Mexican would be proud of, made of bugs. Time to call it a night. Enough bugs.