We woke to another glorious sunny day ready to enjoy our last full day here at Borneo Rainforest Lodge. We met our guide, Mike, at 8 am and set off to follow a trail along the side of the river. However, it was not long before Mike's radio beeped and we were diverted to the other side of the river where there had been a sighting of another mother and baby orang-utan pair. We searched around for a few minutes before we spotted them high in the trees. Mike told us that this pair were called Sena and baby Danum and we could see that Danum was bigger than baby Kate from previous days. As we were watching them high up they suddenly started to descend and were coming towards us and moving alongside us quite low down. Mike warned us not to get underneath an orang-utan as they will most likely urinate on you and we were glad to take his advice as we soon saw a hot, heavy 'rain' shower pouring down which luckily missed us! We watched enthralled as the mother gingerly crossed a narrow branch directly in front of us with the baby clinging to her chest. This was certainly the best view we had on the trip so far and we felt really privileged to see such wonderful creatures so near to us.

We watched for a while before moving back across the river where there had been yet another orang-utan sighting. This one was a young juvenile high up in the trees and not so easily visible. This one also descended much closer to us and once again we were able to avoid an unwelcome shower. At one point he/she was on a tree with a very narrow and flexible trunk and the weight of the ape was making the tree bend so far from side to side that we thought it might snap but luckily did not.

After watching for a while we moved back the way we had come and stood on the bridge for a while watching the river. By the elephant ear rock we saw a soft shelled turtle poking its head out of the water and a monitor lizard taking a swim. Back on the riverside trail, as we picked our way amongst the roots and trailing ficus, Mike had his magnifying glass in hand in search of tiny things of interest. Even without it we saw many kinds of beautiful fungi, millipedes on the path, and patches of disturbed earth where wild boar had been rooting to find giant earth worms.

As we returned to the main track we heard a noise a looked up to see a Giant Hornbill flying overhead. As we reached the Lodge we saw a Rhinoceros Hornbill in a tree and watched it fly away beating its large black wings. A very successful morning but the highlight was definitely the sight of Sena and Danum, those two orang-utans, up close in the forest.

After a good lunch we met again at 3 pm for our afternoon walk. We set off deep into the rainforest in search of Hornbills and soon heard the distinctive sound of beating of wings as a Hornbill flew overhead. However, before we could go in search of a sighting we were diverted once more. The ranger had spotted a large, male orang-utan close to the road and we made our way there as fast as we could as this was something not to be missed. We arrived at the spot where the ranger was waiting and, to our amazement, could clearly see the big guy dangling lazily by one arm from a branch above our heads. We watched in awe as he hung there above us watching us as much as we were watching him. We sat down by the side of the road and watched him for about half an hour as he moved from branch to branch, sat for a while, swung here and there and generally amused himself. He eventually moved away from us, swinging from tree to tree, crashing through the branches into a deeper part of the forest and Mike explained that he would be off to make his nest for the night. What a wonderful sight and a fantastic experience for us! Mike said that a male orang-utan is not something you see every day or even every week so again we feel very priviledged. We were thrilled to have seen even one orang-utan as there are no guarantees, but now we have seen it all: mother and baby, juvenile and also an adult male. What more could we ask!

We continued up the path and returned to our trail but in reverse, going all the way down to the river beneath the canopy walkway. It was a fascinating walk through dense rainforest eventually leading back, as always, to the Lodge just as the sun went down. We returned to the room to drink a couple of beers while washing off in our personal balcony pool before dinner.

We met Mike at 8 pm for our second and final night walk. He said that we would go looking for owls, and first we had a leisurely stroll along by the stream looking at frogs. We turned into the forest along a narrow path where it was quite dark and eerie. All of a sudden there was the usual beep on Mike's radio and the next thing we were off careering through the forest at break neck speed in the pitch dark with no light except for our torches. Apparently there had been a rare sighting of a Bear Cat and we were on our way! Jumping ditches, fighting through the undergrowth, in and out between the trees and no thought for staying on the path. Uphill and more uphill we did our best to keep Mike in sight. We arrived at the spot just in time to get a brief glimpse of a small, brown furry creature scurrying along a branch and out of sight. Oh well, a glimpse is still a glimpse and the fun is all in the chase!

We were really hot after all the running and there was no further mention of owls so we started to make our way back. The excitement wasn’t over yet though as we came across some others gazing into the forest at what turned out to be the very bright eyes of a tiny Mouse Deer. We watched his eyes for a while but he couldn’t be persuaded to show himself further. Even so, an eye is an eye after all, so an interesting end to a very successful and memorable day.