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We have certainly missed Borneo, Paul has been dreaming of hearing the sounds of the rainforest once more. We are staying in Kuching in Sarawak. It is a charming Chinese influenced riverside town, but it has developed even further since we were last here with more suburban developments and yet more soulless malls. Malaysia has a wonderful mix of cultures and Kuching has moslim Malay, Indian, Chinese and tribal people here. This makes for such a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We are here again to visit the national parks and see the biodiversity of the rainforest. The weather is a very hot 30 degrees and humidity is very high. We look a right sweaty mess most of the time. Our first day trip was to Semmangoh Wildlife centre. It is set in a protected area of the forest which is home to rehabilitated Orang utans. Around 4 orang utans are now completely wild and no longer visit the centre, about 50% of the remaining semi-wild ones have been born in the forest to rehabilitated parents. There are feeding sessions between 9 and 10 am and between 3 and 4pm every day. The semi-wild orang utans use these sessions to supplement their diet. We arrived on the public bus from Kuching in time for a serious thunderstorm. A guy in a van offered to take around 10 of us along the park road to the centre for 1 ringget each 20p, which saved us a 20 minute walk in the rain. Today would be disappointing as no orang utans came to feed, I wouldn't bother to get out of bed and swing for 2kms in the rain for a bunch of bananas either. The entrance fee was only 10 ringgits £2, so no great loss. Next day we returned to Kubah national park - the place Paul has been dreaming about. We breakfasted at Kim Joo's in China town - I asked what was in the noodle special - "Pigs intestines" was the enticing answer. I ordered it anyway - liver, heart and stomach lining were among the identifiable bits floating in the bowl. It was tasty though. We trekked for one kilometre in the 26 degree morning heat and suffocating humidity, finally we reached the bus stop! A lovely air conditioned ride for 4 ringgits each (80p) soon sorted us out. We decided to do the waterfall trail around an hour walk followed by a climb along the Selang trail to the viewpoint (1hr). We took our time and enjoyed the sights and sounds. The insect noises were so loud (take a look at the video). Paul was eagle-eyed and spotted beetles and a long millipede. The only mammals in Kubah are mouse deer, which are nocturnal, unfortunately. The waterfall was just as I remembered it, but as it was still the rainy season it was difficult to get close to it. We made it to the viewpoint in time to see clearly across the land and winding rivers to the sea before the rain clouds gathered and we had to shelter from a shower before heading back. The public bus wasn't due for over an hour, so we were glad when four Austrians joined us to share a cheap minivan back to Kuching (£1 each). We returned to Semanggoh another day and headed out to catch the morning feeding session - if none turned up we would stay until the later session. A couple of hundred people had turned up for the morning session, many as part of tour groups - it was a no show! We were the only ones who stayed behind - the staff pretty much shut the place down between sessions so we did one of the trails in the park. Clearly no-one usually bothers with these trails, they were fairly overgrown with logs and branches across them - no wildlife either. It was a long wait - three hours - until the afternoon session. Finally 3pm arrived, the park guide gathered us and explained that it was still the fruiting season, so there was less chance of a visit. The weather was dry though, so we were hopeful. He soon announced that one orang utan was responding to the tarzan calls. It was the dominant male Richie, he would travel on the ground rather than through the trees, so we had to stay in the safety of the waiting area until they knew which way he would be coming. After about 10 minutes we (around 100 people) headed along the 200m path to the forest feeding area. We were about 20m behind a fence from the feeding area. One of the park wardens was on the feeding platform with his bag of fruit. Soon he pointed out a young orang utan making her way along the vines towards the platform, she performed some upside down cartwheels along the rope. She then played a game of trying to raid the warden's bag when he wasn't looking. The calls continued and the warden was radioing his colleague some distance away trying the call in the big fella'. The warden explained that there were four others on their way, but the presence of Richie, the dominant male was holding them back. Soon, another orang utan showed up - a mother with her baby gripped tightly to her. I was concerned that the warden might run out of fruit before Richie turned up, plus our bus was at 4pm and it was now 3.20. Three young adolescent males then arrived for feeding, but where was Richie? Next we saw the trees move in the distance, he was travelling on the ground, but he still made everything around him move. The warden set out some fruit on the platform and kept his distance. Wow, Richie was a great looking fella. He had huge cheek pads which make his calls louder and deeper to frighten off rivals. His hair was really long too. Paul had just enough time to take some shots before we had to dash off for the last bus, what a great trip this had been! Our last adventure would be to Bako national park, home to the shy proboscis monkey. We had done two day trips here in 2011, but this time we were going to stay in the park for 2 nights. The number 1 bus from Kuching takes you to the boat dock for 3.5 Ringgets (70p) then you pay the park entrance fees (20 MYR each - £4), then you charter a boat (20 MYR each also). The weather was sunny on the boat ride in. It feels like you are headed off to Jurassic Park. The tide was low, so it was shoes off and a paddle to the shore carrying backpacks and rucksacks. Check-in to our accommodation was not until 2pm, so we stored our bags and headed out on the Pandan kecil trail - 1.5 hour walk. We had seen proboscis on this walk before. Boy was it hot and incredibly humid, we were drenched within minutes. The trail is up through a forest path, then along a white sand path with pitcher plants (cup-like fly eaters) lining the way. We stopped in one of the shelters whilst a shower played out then continued to the beach viewpoint on a clifftop. We remembered being able to climb down to the beach last time, but they must have changed the trail. The sun was out again and we got great views of the distant clouded island mountains and the sandy beach below. On the way back through the forest path we heard rustling and a few monkey noises, so we stopped to see three proboscis moving past and feeding. Paul caught some shots. We arrived back to the park HQ feeling smug. We checked in to the accommodation lodge - only £10 per night but it was a bit grim. Swarms of mosquitos, brown, cold running water for our shower, no towels provided and nowhere to hang up our mosquito net. A quick cold shower and we headed to get some lunch at the park canteen. Annoyingly, our smugness soon ended as we noticed a proboscis monkey feeding on a tree right next to the canteen. We also saw the bearded pigs snuffling in the grass. After our evening meal we watched the stunning sunset from the beach. At 8pm, we paid 10 MYR - £2, to do a 90 minute night walk. We had two guides shining torches up into the trees to spot the eyes of the nocturnal animals. We saw scorpions, spiders, crickets, stick insects, tree frogs, a green snake and the eyes of a mouse deer (a long legged mouse-type creature). I have to admit that I was a little bit distracted by the sky. Every now and then we caught a glimpse of the sky through the canopy, the brightness of the stars had been turned up to number 11 - wow it was amazing. After our walk, we went to the beach in front of the park HQ to stare up at the stars. Sodium light pollution is a real curse to urban dwellers like us; the view of the milky way is breathtaking. It had been a magical day. On day two we wanted to follow the monkey trail - Paku, which takes you up along a rocky forest path and down to a beach. It is supposed to be a good route to spot feeding proboscis. As the route was busy with tour groups including four Japanese hikers having a blazing row (probably about the difficult climb) there was absolutely no chance that the monkeys were going to hang around. I managed to fall yet again and hurt my other ankle - it wasn't even on a difficult bit either. Anyway, the beach was lovely and relaxing once the majority of the tour groups had headed back. On the wooden walkway near the park HQ we saw a group of macaques, several mothers with babies, I also spotted a silver leaf langur, but Paul was busy photographing the macaques to catch it. More proboscis were feeding in the trees on the beach too. So essentially, we needn't have trekked anywhere, hanging around the park HQ affords you enough opportunities to see the wildlife. Another beautiful sunset that evening and some birdwatching from the wooden walkways when the tide came into the mangroves. On the last morning, we were bitten to pieces by mosquitos on the walk from the lodge to the canteen for breakfast. We stopped to watch a flying lemur settling down to sleep in a tree after his night-time adventures - see photos. I got my breakfast and went to sit down when I felt a huge bite on my back, I shook my top and a two inch long centipede fell onto the floor (see photo). Ouch it hurt - one of the cafe boys came along and inspected the bug - I'm not sure how qualified he was but he didn't seem too concerned with my bite. It did ache and my imagination was causing me to feel the poison spread to my muscles and down my arm. Next I had pains in my heart - what a hypochondriac! So I settled down to eat my breakfast then I spotted two macaques (one carrying a baby) on the move. They took us in a pincer movement, distraction techniques, next a grubby little hand landed in the middle of my noodles, while the macaque gave me the fiercest of scowls. The cafe staff came running to scare them off - it was too late - my breakfast was over. Paul's ginger cake and coffee remained unscathed. After breakfast one of the tour guides advised us that a troupe of silver leaf langurs were feeding on the beach so we headed out to get some photos. Before our boat back, we relaxed in one of the beach shelters and peacefully watched a group of proboscis feeding, there were two babies in the group too. We watched them for a full half hour, until a tour guide tipped off a group of tourists who arrived on the scene calling and waving at the monkeys, within one minute they had all scattered. It had been a great couple of days, we looked like a couple of drenched homeless people but we were happy with our adventure.
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