Day 10... a childhood wish come true

 

Day 10 was one of those days when you have to get from A to B, but in this case I was also managing to squeeze in a visit to a place I always wanted to go ever since I read a book about it when I was younger.... but more of that later.

It was at the ridiculously, eye blearingly early time of 0545, that I stumbled to the parking lot to meet Mr Wong who was taking me to the bus station for my early bus to Sandakan. The bus I had booked for was the bus to Kota Kinabalu and therefore didn't go all the way to Sandakan but dropped people off at the junction known as mile 32. From there Shavez had arranged for me to be picked up by Sam who would take me first to Sandakan for a quick stop and then back down the road to Sepilok, my home for the next few nights. The itinery was a bit squished and since I have been in country I discovered that there are much better ways to organise the next few days but as I'd booked the b and B, so it was to be. That's the way it goes sometimes when you don't know the country you are visiting. Until you connect with the local people, you have no. clue 😂

Once you know how the country works, have made a few friends amongst the local people, then you find out other things to do or better places to go. However this was a short holiday and I felt it was better to go with more of a plan than usual. 

As I stumbled out of my room in tawau, I tripped over a cap left on the floor. A text from shavez had said that he had left it as a present for me. Really nice of him. It had a logo of the helmeted hornbill on the front and was a really nice memento of our day hornbill watching.

Mr Wong was as chatty as he was on the way out and very informative. The journey to th bus station passed quickly and I found myself waiting to board, already sweating in the sun. 

The journey from Tawau to Sandakan, mile 32 takes 5 to 6 hours. The roads are tarmac all the way, with a few potholes but generally in better condition than the roads into Tadley! 

The journey passes quick enough, staring out of the window at mile upon mile of palm oil plantations. A sadness swept over me. Mr Wong had told me that 40 years ago, this was all jungle. Now it has been reduced to a few enclaves of sanctuary, which must be protected at all costs. 1 STOP borneo and other organisations are doing all they can and to be fair the government Wildlife department has placed protections on the remaining areas. It reminds me of Costa Rica, only a bit behind on using wildlife tourism as a money spinner for the economy. Hopefully over the next years more and more will be done to protect the species and the rainforest here and unlock wildlife tourism to a level where it is more profitable to protect than destroy.

These thoughts occupied me as I travelled north towards one of the more touristy areas. After the quiet and isolation of Tawau, this was going to be a bit of shock. In my favour it was low season here so there are considerably less tourists than July and August. 

5 hours later, mile 32 came into view and the bus stopped and I got off, grateful for the sunshine after the freezing air con on the coach. 

In a short time Sam pulled up and we began the fairly short journey to Sandakan before doubling back to Sepilok. Sam was a mine of information and the journey passed quickly. Up we pulled to the memorial garden.

When I was younger I read many warbooks from my Dad's extensive collection. He occasionally stopped me reading one or two deemed to be left until I was older but on the whole I was allowed to read whichever I wanted. One of these books was From Hell to Eternity, a true story detailing the harrowing conditions of Australian POW under the Japanese in a camp in Sandakan.

They had been sent there to build a landing strip. Around 2500 prisoners were captives there. 6 men escaped. They were the only ones to survive the camp. 

The rest of the men were taken on a forced march, a death march, from Sandakan to Ranau. A march that none survived. 

This story gripped me when I was young and Sandakan seemed like such a faraway, unaccessible place. Over the years I have always harboured the thought of visiting the site of the camp to pay my respects and commemorate the men who had suffered and died there. And now I was here! It was a wierd feeling, akin to standing under the arbeit macht frei gates of Auschwitz.

The memorial garden was well done. A place of peace where once there was terror. Tropical plants towered high above the ground on which many had died. The memorial itself standing in solemnity in a clearing. The beginning of the road, where they had marched out of the gates, never to be seen again. It was a sobering place but I felt some satisfaction that I had made it here and made the effort to stand and remember for a few minutes after the intervening years since reading the book.

Duty done, I hopped back into the taxi and Sam drove me back up the road we had come into the jungle. 

Sepilok is a small village existing only it seems to cater for the thousands of tourists that flock here every year to see the orangutans. It is famous for its rehabilitation centre where young or injured orangutans are brought in, cared for and taught the skills to survive in the wild. There is also a rainforest centre where you can hope to see the wild orangutans and other animals, famous for its canopy walk. My b and B was literally 400m from the rainforest centre and perhaps a mile from the orangutan and sun bear centres. Perfect positioning. 

The b and B provided me with a large and comfy room and confirmed that they had booked me in for a night walk tonight. Trying to fit everything in, in my limited time here.

I knew that the orangutan sanctuary and sun bear sanctuary would not take long to go around and so I was tempted when an option for a day trip was offered. Kinabantanang river cruise was offered at a price of 300 ringiit, which isn't bad and included dinner. I asked them to see if they had any spaces for the next day and then proceeded to take it a bit easy until the night walk time. 

At 5:30 I wandered down to the rainforest, paid my night walk fee and waited to start. Predictably, there  were quite a few people there, mostly British and all the chat was about what people had seen, where they had been. Most people here were on extended trips encompassing much of south east Asia, travelling for many months.

It was unfortunate that I now had to mix with people after I had been spoilt by Tawau but that the way it went, although I had a plan for another night but more of that later 😉

We set off, up to the canopy walk, which was a good 50m if not more above ground. But don't worry... it has been there for years 😂

We stopped facing some of the taller trees and some nest boxes that had been placed there for the flying squirrels... and waited. 

As the light fell, a squirrel poked his head out of the box... and then back in teasing us. Head out again... cameras at the ready! 

He scrambled out and a bit up the tree... and then took a leap of faith, spreading out his arms, buzz lightyear style. Falling with style across to the next tree. It was quite a sight. But too difficult to capture on camera it seems as basically all I got were trees. Oh well! 

We stood and watched for any more but no dice so moved on, the guides lights scanning the trees for signs of life. 

I had my torch but we were not allowed to light up anything but the path ahead so I was mainly good, occasionally directing the light to the bushes at the side of the trail. Where is the fun of you are not doing the searching yourself? 

Regardless, the animals kept popping up in the beams... Tarsia, frogs, stick. insects, spiders and then to my delight the guide shone his torch high above and picked out a small fluffy creature moving slowly through the trees. The Loris! A nocturnal animal that I hadn't seen yet. I even managed a half decent picture. 

Then a rustling and another shout from eh guide... a striped civet. Now I had seen Ken of those in Tawau but not very well and certainly no decent pictures. This civet was more obliging and kept in view long enough to grab a few quick pictures.. fantastic! 

More frogs, insects... but no pit viper. Hey ho. I had come in hoep more than expectation but it had been a successful night otherwise. The groups moved towards the entrance and then the guide pointed upwards with his torch. We all struggled to see what he was pointing out and then I saw the white form high up in the tree... the underside of a pit viper, milky white. And that's all I could see. But wow! Found one. 

It is typical of human nature to always want more right... now that I had seen a pit viper... I now wanted to see one closer to be able to take a better picture... but no more tonight.

Back to the B and B. The lady I had spoken to about the river trip tomorrow said they weren't running a trip tomorrow so if I wanted to go they would oblige for an extra 85 ringiit. I mulled it over... too much. I went back to her and asked if they could accommodate me on saturday for the 300. She said she would get back to me so I re formulated my plans for tomorrow in my mind in case Saturday was my river trip day. 

Another busy day tomorrow then!

For photos please go to www.facebook.com/OneChallengeAtATime