Tidak hujan lagi!!!!!

It is dry in Sabah!!!! I can’t believe how different the weather is from just below the equator to just above. For the just over a week that I have been here, it has rained only 3 or 4 times, and they have been short rains (if during the day) or at night! So nothing really has needed to be cancelled due to rain which is such a wonderful thing!

My first day in Sabah (in the town called Sandakan) consisted of so much shopping! There is this mall in Sandakan which is 5 floors that has everything, so I had great fun buying t-shirts and new shoes to replace my wellies and tops that needed to be replaced after a hard time in La bundo bundo. And then snacks for the next 2 weeks and I somehow ended up with a kilo of rambutan and a kilo of mangis which was amazing! I haven’t had rambutan since panama and I’ve never had mangis but I’ve heard so much about it that I couldn’t wait, but then had to until I could figure out how I was meant to eat it – it was a bit of a mess! I also got a new watch and found some more tiger balm, which I have become addicted too!

The following morning we headed out to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. We got there just as the feeding was beginning and there was even an orang walking on the boardwalk where all the people were. There are some amazing opportunites to see orangs up close there, but it is a weird experience - around 50 people of all shapes and sizes and ages are crowded around this platform and following around the orang (which is walking around on the platform) like a herd of sheep. Then, as if on que (which i guess they actually are), orangutans come from all corners onto this platform half way up a tree which is full of bananas. Something about primates eating bananas bugs me - i'm not sure if it is because it is the stereotypical thing that primates eat, which makes me automatically dislike it, but whatever it is, it bugs me. i have even see wild macaques eat bananas...i dunno. anyways, the orangs come and eat, seemingly posing for cameras for about 30 minutes to an hour. then the area is closed and we were forced to go! despite all that, i still do like the place, and i think it really makes you appreciate orangs once you actually get a chance to see them in the proper wild.

Back on the Kinabatangan river, i felt at home. i love this river. i think our saying from last years trip is very suiting: monkey magic. but not just monkeys, i love the birds too. unfortunately, the progress i was making with birding in sulawesi was false - turns out the only reason i was getting good at it was because the bird expert was walking next to me and telling me what everything was! lol! So out of the 10-15 species of bird i am seeing on the river, i usually can tell what 3 of them are. Back to monkeys: My first proboscis monkey sighting this year ended up being a red morph silver leaf monkey! i just blame it on being away for a year. but it was the longest and one of the best views i've gotten of a red morph so it was still a good thing!

Made it to the field site in good time, dropped our bags off and went searching for elephants!! Last year they left the area just days before us arriving and i was convinced they would do the same again this year. They had been hanging around and AT the site for the last 2 months and they were "slowly" moving on again a few days before we were arriving. but we drove and drove in the boat and could see the path of destruction from the elephants - basically just grass trampled going into and coming out of the river, so we could tell that we hadn't passed them yet, but we were getting pretty far from where they were last seen that we almost turned around. but then there they were - i counted 43 of them and we could hear more trumpeting in the forest behind. There were a couple of tiny little ones, less than a year old, the big adult male who apparently stays with the group all year long, not just when he is in musk, like most male elephants, and a bunch of younger males and females. They were so peaceful to watch - all flapping their ears and eating and splashing water. i definately prefer them to african elephants. maybe its their small size...

I'm going try to add more tomorrow about the rest of the time here - it is almost over though, just 4 more sleeps left!

PLEASE send me emails about what is going on in your life!!! I want to hear from you!!

Love, Danica