We had a good night's sleep and this morning the sun is still shining so we are very lucky. After a quick breakfast we met at 8 am with our guide and one other couple to go tubing on the Danum River. After all the previous warnings about long trousers, leech socks, walking sticks etc we set off, as instructed, on this walk to the river in shorts and flip flops! We were told to walk fast and no stopping otherwise the leeches would get us. No need to be told twice. The path through the forest was muddy and slippery and quite difficult to negotiate in places with so many lianas, ficus and tree roots to trip you up, not to mention a very narrow bridge over a stream, hampered as we were by the large inner tubes we were carrying! Nevertheless we all walked as fast as we could in order to avoid the dreaded leeches which we had all had close encounters with the previous day. A quick leech check when we reached the river bank showed that we were all, thankfully, leech-free.

We waded into the river, flopped into our tubes and off we went on a most amazing 30 minute journey floating through the forest all the way back to the Lodge. We had such fun!! It really was the most fantastic experience. Sorry no photos but the camera is most definitely not waterproof! Never mind, the memories are all in our heads. Such a leisurely journey, interrupted by a few mini rapids where we were tossed and turned a little bit and had to push off from the rocks or bank. Despite the leisurely pace but somewhat unsurprisingly Simon managed to fall out at one point! Along the way we stopped to look at two silver leaf monkeys in the trees by the bank and we also saw a wild boar which had come to the river bank to drink. Just as we reached the Lodge we saw a large Great Heron fly low across the water. Just beautiful.

Back to the room to dry off and enjoy a relaxing dip in the sunshine in our outside spa pool on the balcony over-looking the same river where we had just had our fantastic tubing adventure.

After lunch we met up with Mike for our afternoon walk. Our group size has dwindled to just the two of us and we set off for a leisurely search along the main track to see what we could see. At the spot where we had seen the orang-utans yesterday we found a group of three or possibly four red leaf monkeys playing among the branches. These little guys eat unripe fruit whereas the orang-utans like ripe fruit to eat so they are not competitors and are happy to co-exist. We watched for at least 10 minutes as they swung here and there among the branches before we moved on in search of our next sighting. On the other side of the track along the Hornbill trail we came across our two orang-utans from yesterday, the mother and baby, high up in the branches. We caught glimpses here and there but they were well hidden and quite difficult to spot so we soon moved on.

We strolled along the track and, as dusk was falling, we came to the Canopy Walkway and decided to go across and enjoy the view before turning back. It is still very wobbly but I am getting used to it and find it much easier to walk out and across in a relaxed way without worrying too much.

As we were turning back we heard the call of a large male orang-utan somewhere in the vicinity warning other males to keep away. Not sure we would like to run into him as apparently they can be quite aggressive and I’m not sure we could run fast enough!

On our way back to the Lodge, as it was beginning to get dark, Mike treated us to a potted history of the island of Borneo, the ancient tribes, and how it came to be three separate countries. Fascinating stuff and, now we have been here, it certainly left us wanting to know more.

After a brief session in the bar making use of the rather intermittent but nonetheless very welcome wi-fi it was soon 6.45 pm and time for another night safari. Once again we were sitting in the open back of that bone rattling truck which set off in search of whatever the night had to offer. At least there was no rain this time which was a blessing. In fact the sky was so clear that we could see a myriad of stars which seemed to glow extra brightly in the dark night sky.

Our first stop was to gaze up at a large tarantula half way up a tall, straight tree. Quite amazing the spotter noticed it, even in the beam of his powerful spotlight. Next we came across a flying squirrel, in fact, amazingly enough, there were three of them on one branch. We could see them quite clearly, reddish brown little creatures with long bushy tails clambering around from one branch to another but despite the spotter’s best efforts they could not be persuaded to glide. We moved on and came across two more flying squirrels in two separate trees but neither of them could be coaxed into gliding either so we eventually gave up. We were pleased that we had seen a flying squirrel glide on our first night at the Lodge, a fascinating sight.

Nearly back at the Lodge, much to our delight, we came across a large Sambar deer munching away at the side of the road. In spite of the bright light shining directly in its face it wasn’t the slightest bit bothered and just carried on eating. That was a reminder. Dinner time for us too!

The end of another memorable day in this fabulous place. No rain for two days in a row now. How long can it last?