Kinabatangan River Safari

This is a long post. It covers the remainder of Nov 18, then also Nov 19. I’ve included information and photos from other sources. I hope the length doesn’t scare you off, fascinating stuff in here.

After visiting the Orangutan center and then having lunch at a wonderful little riverside place we climbed into one of the river boats for the ride to our safari lodge on the river.

The Kinabatangan River is a river in Sandakan Division, in northeastern Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of 560 km from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its outlet at the Sulu Sea, east of Sandakan. It is the home of 10 species of primates, including some that do not live anywhere else. There are a number of species of birds and animals unique to Borneo. We saw many of them. I tried to keep track, but I didn’t really. I also didn’t really get good pictures. I saw amazing things, especially with binoculars. Here are pics I took and below that I snagged some better pictures to share what I learned about some of the species. We stayed at this incredible lodge on the river and the photos are from the afternoon river safari the first day, then the morning and afternoon river safaris the second day. We also took a night walk in the jungle and a morning walk in the jungle.

First picture a crocodile, last picture the horn bill (last pic in this gallery.) It’s quite exciting to see these for bird watchers. We saw several along with a number of other birds that made the more knowledgeable folks gasp and sigh. I’m not good at birds, but I appreciated their enthusiasm.

We saw one Orangutan in the wild. Didn’t get a picture. Got many pictures of the long-tail and pig-tail macaque, the silver langur, pictured here (see the video, too, those guys can JUMP) and the proboscis which are pictured here but you can barely tell. Below this I’m going to post a bit about them. Also some better pictures of the hornbill. Last, don’t miss the videos of the silver langurs jumping.

Some shots of the river lodge and the night and morning walks. That first picture is of a somewhat tame civet cat (they are not cats) that comes up for dinner scraps in the evening. This creature is treasured for something I have not decided to try in Bali. Apparently coffee made from coffee beans consumed and pooped out by these guys is a cherished treat. Both of my travel companions have tried this. They say it doesn’t taste any better than the already great coffee on Bali so… not sure I’m going to slug down the poop-coffee. But we’ll see. You can see our table where we had our meals and there is one picture on the morning walk with Sevvy, our wonderful and knowledgeable guide on this adventure.

Please enjoy also the picture of Paul and I dressed in our rubber boots and leech socks for the night walk.

The proboscis monkey are kind of the horn-dogs of the jungle. The males have these gigantic noses, the bigger the better to attract the females. As a species, the males must work to attract and keep females who will move on if they are not satisfied. The males hang around with a giant—well, our guide referred to it as their chili pepper. Apparently they must always be ready and also demonstrating that they are ready. Here is from a more knowledgeable web site, “One Earth,” including a few of their pictures.

Proboscis monkeys are only found in the jungles on the island of Borneo. Leaping from tree limb to tree limb, they have frequently been spotted hitting the water with an entertaining belly flop. Considered the ‘primate world’s most prolific swimmers’, they’ve even evolved webbed feet and hands. Their potbellies are also a result of their ability to adapt to this remote part of the planet. In these dense mangroves, the leaves are tough and full of toxins. The protruding stomachs have several filled bacteria chambers designed to break down the toxic leaves. 

Males can grow up to 30 inches in length and weigh up to 50 pounds, while females only grow to a maximum height of 25 inches and weigh 15 to 26 pounds. The most prominent feature that differentiates the genders, however, is the nose or proboscis. In males, it can exceed 4 inches in length and hangs lower than the mouth. Females and young males still have a unique look though, with nostrils that turn up at the end and remind one of Dr. Suess’s Whos.  

Living in organized harem groups consisting of a dominant male, several females, and their offspring. Due to how long it takes a female to fully mature (five years) and even more so to the rampant clearing of their habitat for timber and oil palm plantations, their population has plummeted. Currently, proboscis monkeys are protected from hunting or capture in Borneo and efforts are being made to further conserve their habitat and educate locals.

In Indonesia, they are called monyet belanda ("Dutch monkey") or orang belanda ("Dutchman") as Indigenous peoples thought the Dutch who colonized the area often had similarly large bellies and noses. 

Hornbills photos that I did not take.

Langurs of Borneo-we saw the silver and we did see some with their little orange babies. This is a picture from inaturalist. Below, a couple videos I made.

Silver Langur jumping.