Day 11... too close for comfort

 

My first full day in Sepilok and I had a mission. My request to join tomorrow's day excursion to Kinabatangan River had been accommodated and so I had today to get as much accomplished in Sepilok as possible.

First up was a morning visit to the orangutan and sun bear sanctuaries. They both are centres for rehabilitating wildlife back to the wild and as such did really important work. 

The orangutans were first up as I knew that the feeding time was 10am and I wanted to look around, see that and then move on to the sun bears. I figured this would be the busiest place I would encounter and so set off early for the 15 minute stroll from my b and B. It was a warm morning and pretty soon I was sweating buckets. I arrived at the sanctuary just before opening time and pretty soon went in and followed the walkway. Visitors were not allowed in the indoor nursery bit where young, abandoned and orphaned orangutans were brought. Here they were given medical care if necessary, watched round the clock and gradually introduced to other orangutans.

The walkway led to the outdoor nursery where the orangutans were introduced to the wild in stages, the reliance on the humans to feed them reduced and where the younger ones practiced the skills that they would need to know to survive. Helped by older apes they would learn nest building and how to interact within a group. They were fed twice a day but foods that they were not so keen in to encourage foraging in the surrounding forest. It was a good system.  

The walkway led to a building, thank fully air conditioned, where an already large group of people were gathered, staring out of the large viewing windows. It was like a zoo, only in this case, the people were the ones confined and the orangutans were able to come and go from the forest as they wished. Despite that it still felt very zoo like... orangutans on tap to see whenever you wanted. Also everyone was very noisy, unable to sit there and watch in silent appreciation. A shout from one of the guards reminded all that the orangutans could hear us and therefore to be quieter but to little avail.

I sat and watched as several orangutans swung along the ropes, some with babies clinging to the, others young themselves. The food arrived and was placed on a feeding platform and I sat there and watched with delight as they searched through the food for the best bits. One of the mums offered some corn to their baby who tried to snatch it off her much to the mums chagrin. 

I soon tired of watching however. It was artificial and I had come here to see the animals in the wild properly. Whilst I acknowledge that they do really important work in saving orangutans and other animals, this place was not for me. My visit had been more about the money donated from my entrance fee, rather than seeing these great apes. I went to the 2nd feeding platform to eb followed by a hundred or so. people, to see the second feeding, taking place further in the forest. 

Here a mother and baby waited, the mum seeming to show off her baby to the gathering crowd. 99.3% human and ape DNA is shared... and it showed.

Another one swang in, waiting for the food to arrive. It was duly tipped out onto the platform but this time the keeper stayed, peeling out the corn and handing it to one of the babies. A slightly older, more rambunctious one swang in, grabbed handfuls of food and then proceeded to swing away to the middle of a rope where he hung by one hand whilst stuffing his face. 

At one point another female with a baby swung in from further out in the forest, a graduate perhaps. She looked wary of the keeper, who had remained on the platform, and stayed away until he left. As soon as he did, she swung down, causing the other mother to back away a bit, whilst the wilder one grabbed some food and then retreated to. a safe distance. I had heard that the wild orangutans had a darker colour of fur than the sanctuary ones, due to different diet and this new one did look darker than the rest. 

Again, I soon found my irritation with the humans behaviour rise to the surface. There was no glass here separating human from ape and people cannot seem to sit and watch quietly. So I left, walking down the platform back to the entrance, with a hope to see one wild in the forest rather than quasi wild as they were here. It's a lot less fun when you haven't had to search for them. 

I had a feeling that the sun bear sanctuary would be similar and almost considered not going, but appreciation for the work they do let me to pay the seemingly exorbitant fee of 50 ringiit and go in. 

The bars had a large space to roam but we're caged with electric fences and my the first one I saw was pacing up and down the fence as they do in zoos. I whizzed round here, eager to get back to the real wild. These sanctuaries are a necessity in a Borneo where the forest has been disappearing at a rate of knots, with animals being caught between the rock and a hard space of human living areas and the palm oil plantations. It was with some relief that I left and headed back up the road and to my b and B to prepare for the afternoon forest adventure.

Whilst the national forest in Sepilok does have dedicated trails and a canopy skywalk, the animals there are not fenced in and you do have to search for them... they are truly wild. I had a good few hours to spend there before the night walk and my plan B. Given that I had limited time here as I was going on the day trip tomorrow, I had decided to splash out tonight on a guide just for myself. Good as the night walk was the previous night, I wanted to basically search for the pit viper and any other snakes and for that I needed my own guide. This would also. allow me to take part in the search myself, rather than my torchlight beam be directed at the ground in front of me. I paid for the afternoon entry and booked the guide for later. All set! 

As I went into the park, a large group of Chinese tourists headed towards the skywalk and so I turned in a different direction. and stayed on the trails. on the ground, determined to stay as far away as possible from the crowds and giving me a better chance of spotting some wild orangutans.

The forest was pretty quiet with not much making sounds. I walked along the trails, enjoying being in the tranquility again. I passed the odd person but I seemed to have picked the right area to hang out. I headed to the furthest point of the trails, the birding section. Here there was a building which you walked through onto a walkway. I heard a noise in front of me and there at the end of that section of walkway, in the trees was a mother and young. orangutan, who. was clearly learning his independence. I crept along to get a little closer and stopped at a distance I thought wouldn't disturb them. I then made. myself at home and settled down to watch their antics. The young one was swinging around happily whilst his slightly bored mother kept one eye on him. He strayed further and further from his mum. until she was forced into moving a bit closer to him.

They stayed here for quite a while, me standing as still as a statue in order not to frighten them away. Then the mum made her way to a nearby tower, followed by her son. They sat on the platform and I couldn't see them as well, so I edged closer, ever so quietly, taking care over each footsteps. Once again I was in a slightly better position. I watched as the young one stamped his foot on the platform, seemingly delighted with the noise he made. The mum was lying there trying to get much needed rest only to be thwarted by her son who kept trying to get her attention. 99.3% felt much more like 99.9% at that point. So. much of human behaviour could be recognised with their interactions. At one point the mum put her face close up to her son's and they just sat there heads touching.... until he got bored! It was a sweet moment.

A slight noise behind me and mum grabbed baby and moved off the platform into the trees. Another couple had appeared but to their credit they were moving slowly and quietly and made their way round to me. We all stood watching them for another 15 minutes or so...

then mum appeared to really notice us for the first time and started making grunting noises. She sounded a bit annoyed so the three of us agreed it was probably time to leave them alone and quietly made our way to the walkway exit.

Orangutans in the wild! What a treat 😊😁

I continued on walking the trails which were at times muddy and at times very steep, and in the heat it was pretty tiring. I stood for a minute at the top of one hill to catch my breath and in the distance saw a large male macaques head down the trail towards me. I assumed he would head off into the bush but he didn't and came very close. To say I was nervous was a bit of an understatement. Macaques are not to be underestimated and this was a large pig tailed male macaques, not known for their friendly nature. I stood very still and took care not to look him in the eye. He came closer and then a bit further away. He seemed not to have noticed me. Then a female came down the trail and captured his interest for the brief few seconds that it took him to have his way with her. She didn't seem too pleased and it didn't last long. 

I was too close and tried to back away a bit but that caught his attention and he came closer.... 

He turned towards me and bared his teeth... not good. I backed away further... he kept coming. He did not look friendly for sure. I backed away enough that the threat died down and he once again started to move away and then headed into the brush. I have to say, I was sweating a little more now.

A guy came up the trail and I warned him about the male macaque. He grabbed a stick! I did tell him I didn't think that was necessary... perhaps just avoid the area and go back the other way. But he seemed determined so I left him to take his chances and went back the way I had come. It had definately been too close for comfort.

I decided that I had pretty much seen everything I had wanted to see.... wild orangutans were now ticked off my list... so I headed back to my b and B and got stuff ready for the night walk. Last chance to see a pit viper up close. 

I searching for snakes, you generally prepare yourself not to see any.... thats often the way. Miles of patient searching, of shining your light on a million different bits of tree and bush to no avail. I knew there were snakes here, we had seen one put viper up high but would we be lucky enough to find one close enough for a decent photo?? 

I made my way to the park. at the allotted time and after 5 minutes of waiting with the others, met my guide for the night. Jaity was eager to go look and we set off a bounce in my step. We headed towards where I had seen the orangutans earlier in the day... slowly, step by step scouring all the leaves and branches for something that looked slightly out of place. I didn't think I would find it, they are too well camouflaged. On top of that, the pit viper is an ambush hunter so stays still in one place rather than moving around to find food. This lessened my chances of spotting one by almost 100%😂 But I was enjoying the searching process for sure. 

Jaity, however, I had faith in him. His torch scoured the trees and brush far quicker than. mine, his eyes used to picking out shapes of things of interest.

We were coming up short, with several places where he had seen snakes before, now bare of any sign. Patience is the key to this game. Quite often, the heart has just given up on finding anything when suddenly something pops into the beam. It was the case here. We had just agreed to separate onto different trails when Jaity shouted for me... he had found one. It was just off from the platform where I had observed the orangutans today and I have no idea how the hell he spotted it! There sitting as still as a rock, not even tongue flicking was a pale green borneo kneeled pit viper. The head was kinda pointing away from us but it was close enough to get a pretty good picture.

The pale green merged into the white undersides and it had a few whiter spots along it's flank. The head was a slightly darker green. It was really beautiful and perfectly merged with the colours around it. 

Stoked! High fives all round and admiration that Jaity had spotted it. 

Onwards we went. Task for the night accomplished. Anything else was a bonus. 

Due to to the large amount of rainfall and a few subsequent landslide several of the further out trails in the park had been closed off. Jaity proposed that we take one of these. I agreed readily. If no people had been down there for a bit then maybe we would find more stuff. And so we went down this narrow trail, muddy and slippery. It was slow progress, but snake hunting is not about speed, it is about being as thorough as possible and covering as much as possible with your beam of light. A nice spider popped into mine... a type of huntsman apparently. Then another shout from Jaity... I slipped and slided over to him. There clinging to a tree trunk, about 1 inch off the ground was a Tarsia. They are such cute little things with big eyes. They move slowly on the trees so it surprised me to learn that they can actually move at around 28km/hr if they need to. That's kinda like imagining a sloth suddenly springing to the ground and taking off at a rate of knots... incomprehensible! 

We reached the end of the trail... ahead nothing but water... flooded. I assumed we were going to turn round but Jaity plunged into the water, so I shrugged and followed. The water was calf high at its deepest and there were little fish swimming around. That's why the trail had been closed. We waded along the 'trail' finding a few more larger spiders, frogs and a sleeping lizard. Then another shout... not a pit viper this time. Curled up half under a leaf was a small cute little snake. It had a brown stripe down it's body and a yellowish one next to that. It looked non venemous but I looked to Jaity for confirmation. He informed me that it was a striped kukri snake. Whilst not venemous, they can give a nasty bite due to their long curved rear teeth which are shaped like the ghurka knife which give these snakes their name.

Species number 2 for tonight. This was going very well! 

We eventually got out of the flooded part and continued along, part of me wondering whether my shoes would dry in time for my bus ride tomorrow (spoiler alert, they did not!) 

A tarantula, motionless, waiting for prey and 2 wierd worms. Called the Hammerhead worm as their head has the same shape as a hammerhead shark. 

After a bit more searching, Jaoty said he had one more place to try. We had already taken more than our allotted 2 hour time and so headed back near to the entrance. Around the cafe, Jaoty started shining his torch onto a few small bushes. He looked despondent... I prepared to end the walk when suddenly he pointed. I couldn't see what he was looking at. He started scrabling/slipping down the muddy slope. I followed struggling to get any purchase and almost took him down with me when my foot slipped out from. underneath me. I regained my balance, found a firmer foothold and looked where he was pointing. Just a foot away, in the bush, was an absolutely stunning pit viper. This one was a much darker green and the stripe under the eye could be clearly seen. It also had vertical stripes down the length of its body... wow. What a snake.. and so close. 

Jaoty carefully moved away a twig so as to get better pictures and it started moving a little. Some video was taken and more pictures. I couldn't take my eyes off it. 

We stood there for about 10 minutes, whilst balancing precariously on the slope. When I had finished taking pictures we looked at each other with the same thought and burst out laughing... how the hell would we get back up the slope? 

Sense dictated that continuing down would be easier so we slid down the slope and ducked under the cafe supports to get back. out on the path. Job done! 

Jaity still seemed a little despondent so I asked him. what was up. He wasn't happy because we hadn't found more... he had wanted to find the long nosed pit viper as well. I reassured him that I was over the moon with our finds and invited him to dinner, my treat, as a thank you. 

We headed out of the park, over to a nearby restaurant, ordered food and toasted our success... or rather Jaity's success as he had found all the snakes with very little input from me! 

He told me that no one had ever taken. him. out for food after a walk, indeed he often ended up with complaints because they hadn't found much. Some people! Don't they realise that this is the wild and the animals don't appear on cue? If they want to have a 100% chance of finding stuff, they should go visit a zoo! 

We had a nice dinner, although I didn't get to eat any of the pieces of chicken that came with my noodles as I took pity on a stray dog that looked at me pleadingly and gave it all the chicken, which it quickly scoffed down. 

I headed back to my room... tomorrow the river and a chance of seeing pygmy elephants and crocodiles.! Fingers crossed for good weather.