Kinabatangan River and Sepilok, Borneo, Malaysia – May 22nd – 24th, 2017

Thoroughly hungover, we made our way off Pom Pom island (which was considerably faster this time thanks to a functioning motor). Back in Semporna, we did some laundry (at an alarmingly modern and clean laundromat) while waiting for our bus towards the Kinabatangan River. Besides having a massive stomach ache, it was smooth sailing to Osman’s Homestay along the river. When we finally arrived around dusk, we also arrived at the brutal reality that Osman himself was a complete irrational ass. As you will soon read, he made our stay both uncomfortable and unforgettable (in a positive and negative way).

When we sat down to dinner about 10 minutes after we arrived, we were welcomed by a stern rant about how it is disrespectful to have noisy sex in his house… as if that needed to be uncomfortably explained. He went into great detail about how a previous American couple (at which point he firmly stared us down) had partaken in loud, house rocking sex, which left his children asking questions. Although that couple was obviously completely out of line, you would think that he would be able to make the distinction that WE are not that couple by country association. Regardless, we went to bed early and attempted to shake off his outburst, instead looking forward to the river cruises the next day to view the famed Borneo wildlife.

We rose early the next morning and were on a small fiberglass boat before the sun was up. The start of the cruise was incredible! We saw wild oriental hornbill toucans, long tail macaque monkeys, proboscis monkeys, monitor lizards, birds of prey, orangutans, and egrets. Then, Osman got wind of some wild elephants in the jungle and bent the rules to bring the small group of us off the boat to see them. Side note: wild elephants are seriously, seriously dangerous! Before we left the boat, he told us that we needed to be quiet, stay close together, and be ready to run if needed. After saying this, he turned and starting sprinting barefoot through the dense muddy jungle. It was literally impossible to stay up with him. We kept getting snagged on vines and stuck in the thick stinky mud. By the time we stopped, near the terrifyingly close, elephant noises (think the noise before the black smoke comes to kill people in the show “Lost”), Osman’s bi-polar personality was out to play. Here is the word for word dialogue:

Osman: “Are you okay to run.”
Group answer: “Yes”
Osman: “I cannot trust you! You do not do what I say! I tell you to be quiet and you speak! I tell you to stay close and you are behind (after which, he takes off running again through the muddy jungle).”

After 20 more minutes of pee wetting terror and being berated by a crazy man for speaking after spoken to, we thankfully abandoned the plight to see/provoke the murderous elephants and went back to the boat to return to the house for lunch.

Listen to the elephant noises! Scary! 

The Kinabatangan River. Osman's homestay is in the bottom-right and the fresh fish he cooked up for dinner is in the top-right.

Animals and bugs along the river. The proboscis monkeys (top-right) are the ones with the big noses and white butts/tails.   

A few hours later, we left for the afternoon river cruise. From start to finish, the wildlife was unreal! We saw herds of pygmy elephants (not actually small, but endangered) 3 separate times! The first time, the herd was on the move along the water. There were about 40 big males, females, and BABIES! We watched from the boat (where it was safe) only about 15 feet away for about 30 minutes before moving on. We took so many animal photos earlier in the day and stupidly didn’t bring a spare battery,  so our camera battery died while watching the elephants. Unaware of what was to come I actually said, “Oh well, at least we got some good shots of the elephants.” However, almost instantly after turning onto a smaller feeder river, we saw a separate herd of elephants (about 40 in this herd too) crossing the river! It was unbelievable!!! Now smiling ear to ear, we moved on and saw more wildlife! – proboscis monkeys, long tail macaque monkeys, 2 flying hornbill toucans, a mom and juvenile orangutan, and then… on our way back in the pouring rain, MORE ELEPHANTS! This time the first elephant herd was playing in the water and crossing the main river. It was an unforgettable 4 hours!

Pygmy elephants! 

Elephant crossing!

Another elephant crossing!

Now back at the house and drenched to the bone, it was time for our happiness to turn to discomfort, anger, and panic. Not only had Osman not let go of the morning incident, but he now began attacking us for changing our plans to take an earlier bus. The night before, we had made arrangements to take a taxi with two other travelers to our next destination. However, we were unable to contact our next hotel to confirm that reception would be open for us to arrive late, and were forced to change plans to get on an earlier bus. As a caveat, it is never, ever a problem to change buses in Asia, you just call them and ask to change. Regardless, Osman took it upon himself to yell at us, stating, “So you know, in life, it’s better to not be a liar.” This attack went on for over 20 minutes. Every time we attempted to defend ourselves, he interrupted, and continued his personal onslaught. Needless to say, we left the table as soon as we had finished eating and had locked ourselves in our room by 7pm. The man was a raving, control-freak, lunatic and we were thrilled to be leaving early the next morning. He somehow was able to destroy an absolutely amazing experience. We are still so scarred that we have yet to write an honest review out of fear that he will jump through the computer and attack us again.    

Even though the house was already overrun by cats, more kittens were born at the homestay while we were there! They were so small, they looked like rats more than kittens.

Enough about Osman though, the wildlife was amazing! Still, the in your face reality is that the rainforest is being destroyed at an astounding rate to be replaced by palm oil plantations. The law in Borneo states that the palm oil plantations must start at least 10 meters from the edge of the river – so, even if the plantations actually abided by the law (which they don’t) that leaves the animals a whopping 32 feet to survive – 32 feet!!! Although this maximizes the eco-tourists’ chances to see the wildlife, the animal population is suffering massive casualties. Sadly, Borneo is not what it used to be… The more we travel, the more we have come to realize the heartbreaking short-sightedness of mankind to make money at the expense of our planet. If things continue at this rate, our children (not necessarily ours, children cry and suck all your money) will not have the opportunity to experience the natural wonders that mankind is quickly destroying (at least they’ll have excessive amounts of oil to eat though, so there’s that…).

Free from the controlling grip of Osman at last, we took an overpriced short bus to Sepilok, home of a sun bear and orangutan rehabilitation and wildlife sanctuary. Since we had been to a similar sun bear rescue in Laos, we decided to visit the orangutan sanctuary instead. Sadly, most orangutans come to the rehabilitation center either injured or orphaned due to poachers and/or the destruction of their natural habitat. The Sumatran orangutan is considered critically endangered, with only about 14,500 remaining in the wild (half of which live outside of protected areas in forests owned by timber, palm oil, and mining companies). At the sanctuary, young orangutans are nursed and slowly re-integrated into a pseudo-natural environment where they can hunt and survive on their own or choose to eat the less-tasty food supplied by the center. Many of the orangutans that come to the center are reintroduced to the wild after approximately 7 years.  Not only was it important for us to see the successful efforts of an organization committed to preserving this incredible species, but we also thoroughly enjoyed watching them up-close and personal. The similarities between human and orangutan behavior is astounding, although granted the orangutan is less money driven and considerably more flexible.

Orangutans at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary.

Macaque monkeys that had also made their home the Orangutan sanctuary. The top-left pic is rated X for monkey porn. 

Leaving Sepilok proved difficult since we realized that we had no money left. The closest ATM was 6 miles away, so we were forced to start walking until we were finally able to flag down a taxi that charged a reasonable(ish) amount to drive us to the ATM and then back to road where the bus to Kinabalu National Park was supposed to pick us up. He was even nice enough to stop and let us run into a bakery for some food since the restaurant at the wildlife sanctuary was not accepting imaginary currency (rude). We arrived back on the side of the road about 2 hours early and settled into a piece of concrete to wait for the bus (it was about 100 degrees, 99% humidity, and the roadside resembled a landfill more than a bus stop so we were having a great time by this point). Luckily, a different bus operated by the same company drove by about 15 minutes later and picked us up.