Kinabatanga River 2

I just got home but I will try to get this blog done before I have to properly re-enter the world on Monday when I go back to work. 

Back to the lodge and Kinabatanga River for our second day.  

We had an early wake up the next morning for a 6 am river cruise, even before breakfast was served.  But this time the rain had stopped and the sky was clear(ish).  Much better start than the previous day.  

Probiscus monkeys followed by a very big crocodile.

A lovely little troop of long-tailed macaques that can tear your face off which I was acutely aware of as we crashed into their tree.  

We went up a side river that has an 'orangutan tree'.  A big tree that they nest in directly across from a giant mango tree on the other side of the river.  So someone had strung two thick ropes between these two trees so the orangutans, probiscus and other monkeys (and probably non-monkeys) could cross easily.

Sitting in the mango tree was the most beautiful Red Langur.  You know you have a good sighting when the guides get excited. They kept saying how lucky we were.  Apparently it had been a couple of years since they saw these. They call them Red Leaf Monkeys. We only got a good view of the one by the rope but we could hear the rest of the troop making their way there.  

He just watched us for a while and then took off to his troop.  We were heading back so we couldn't wait around for them to use the ropes. 

We saw a couple of new birds with the absolute worst photos!

Stork billed kingfisher

White bellied Fish Eagle

Rhinoceros Hornbill

We went back to this area after breakfast for the jungle walk.  This part of the river got narrower and shallower as we went along.  Plus the flooding meant we had to do some bushwhacking.  And by 'we' I mean our boat driver.  

White crowned Sharmar?  I wrote it down but haven't 
put it in my book yet.

Our end goal on this river was Oxbow lake to do a jungle hike and plant a tree.  Of course, this was going to be leech time. Walking muddy trails in a jungle after heavy rains.  You may remember my leech sock search. They were over $100 on Amazon!  So I did not buy them. But they were for sale at the lodge so I bought a pair for under $10.  I crammed by chubby calfs into them so I was ready! 

I am wearing my lounge pants because my regular pants were still drying. 
The leech sock/rubber boot combo doesn't look too bad!

After we planted the trees, we headed up the path behind Joe. That was not even close to the muddiest bit!  At one point, the mud kept my boot while my foot kept going.  One very filthy wet leech sock! 

I was not enjoying this walk one iota.  We saw elephant foot prints and poop!  We were close!  But I guess we were too close. Our guide said he could tell there was a bull elephant near and they are dangerous so we had to turn around. I was not sorry.  But no elephant sighting. 

In the end, no one had a leech on them.  But we didn't go that far. 

Back along the river to the lodge. 

This might be a silver langur.  I know we
saw one somewhere...?

Lunch and a rest. And a THIRD load of laundry in 24 hours to get the mud out of this set of clothes.  Fortunately, my other pants were mostly dry by the next boat tour.  This time we were going to be serious about finding Borneo elephants. They are the smallest elephant species in the world. No stopping for every macaque and probiscus we see.  

But first we spotted another orangutang!  We stopped for that.  I guess an orangutang in the hand is worth two elephants in the bush. She posed on a tree branch for a while, with her hands on the top of her head, and then wandered away. No baby but much better lighting.  

Back to the elephant hunt!  There were many boats looking for the herd. They had been spotted earlier in the day.  We had learned about boat driver hand signals since it was so hard to talk over the water and no one seemed to have walkie-talkies.  A 'biting' hand means crocodile, a hand in the armpit means orangutan.  And two open hands on the sides of the head means elephant.  

We went down that same side river with the ropes. They had been spotted down there but four of the elephants had headed away.  We decided to follow the direction of the splinter group. We came back out of the side river and saw a boat driver give the elephant signal and point upriver!  We were off!    There was lots of back and forthing and scanning the jungle until we eventually found a bunch of boats who had already found the a herd.  

They were hard to see at first, they were behind tall grass and trees.  And when they moved into view, we had to jockey for position.  But they were magnificent to see along the river edge.  With a whole family, including at least two babies. 

We had taken so long to find them and then we hung around as long as we could but it was time to head back. It was getting dark and, ominously, it was starting to rain.  Since I knew I had not other pant options, I wrapped my legs in yet another flimsy plastic poncho.  That plus a lighter rain meant I had pants to wear the next day for our next destination.  

By this point, post-leech socks and plastic poncho pants, I had really no pride left.  My hair was also completely out of control.  On the first morning, one of the other guests mentioned helpfully, upon seeing my wet hair at breakfast, that the rooms have hair dryers.  I laughed.  She also had curly hair and her hair was even more 'jungle-wild' within a few days than mine.  I realized something. If I don't try to control my hair, my hair can't control me. So, I just look bedraggled or frizzy the whole time. Sort of like the average workday, really.    

I am trying to follow my 'don't go to bed before 8 pm rule' to try to lessen the jet lag from the 16 hour time difference.  But I am tired. We were two days coming home.  So, again, I leave this off after just one day.  Tomorrow, I will try to get this all done.