Kinabatanga River

 The trip is actually over.  I wrote most of this post already but I can't load the draft post because I wrote it on my phone and I think the photos don't compress that way?  Anyway, I am starting again from my hotel room in Kota Kinabalu.  I will probably miss some of the finer details but the pictures will be the highlight anyway.

I think we last left off going to bed at the home stay, the last place where I had wifi with any dependability.  

It was only a couple of hours drive to the resort on the river.  To see the deforestation and the palm tree farms was disheartening to say the least.  I knew it was happening but to see it in real time.  

Flooded road

Borneo Natural Sukau Bilit Resort.  The river was so flooded that we weren't able to drive up, we had to take a short boat ride for the last bit of the journey.  All very exciting!  

They would take our picture before each boat ride, 
I assume to identify us if we sank?

Our rooms were luxury after the home stay but wifi, iffy at best, was only available in the dining room.  

completely flooded

View from the dining room

I think we had lunch, had a bit of a rest, and then we were to meet on the dock at 4 pm for our first river cruise.  It was raining a bit as lunch ended.  And then more rain, and then so much rain, torrential, apocalyptic, build an arc and gather the animals two by two, raining.  We waited.  And waited.  Finally at 4:30, it stopped, mostly.  We got in the boat and off we went. 

Within minutes, we saw some other boats 'parked' along the side of the river.  If you see a bunch of tourists looking up, look up!  

It's a wild orangutan!!!

Not a great view of the orangutan but better light

Then she turned around and she had a very tiny baby!!  But she was on the move.  She swung right over our heads so photos were difficult.  But the baby was right there for all to see. 

BABY!!!

Well, that was a thrilling first sighting.  We had been warned of course that we might never see a wild orangutan so this was a total bonus, and the baby, that was winning the lottery!  

The big five of Borneo are Orangutan, crocodile, elephant, rhinoceros hornbill, and probiscus monkey.  

Next up, some long tail macaques.  And then Probiscus Monkeys.  I never really saw them very well, even with binoculars.  I will have to see if any of these photos can be cropped but for now, here is some far away monkeys and some river shots.

And then is was getting dark so it was time to head back to the resort.  I had worn my rain coat and I had wrapped by day pack in a very thin plastic rain cover so I was good, right?  Wrong.  The skies opened.  I mean OPENED!  My pants were soaked through in seconds, front and back.  My raincoat was waterproof, or it would have been if I hadn't left one for the underarm vents open a bit.  I could feel the rain pouring in and down my side.  I was trying to protect my camera (under my coat) and my bird book (in my inadequately covered day pack).  We were at least 10 more minutes to the resort and it did not let up.  I was beyond drenched!  

I had already done one load of laundry that morning.  One can't pass up a two night stay and the full day of drying time.  When I, drowned rat that I was, got back to my room, I did a second load.  Everything I was wearing had already basically been through the first cycle of a wash anyway.  And took a shower while I gave my non-clothing time to sit under the fan to hopefully dry out.  My bag was soaked through but everything inside was still ok.  

Dinner and chitchat and the day was done.  

I prefer to try to do two days per post but I think I will post this with just the one day to get something up.  I want to get out of the hotel and I'm not sure when I can finish the river part so here you are.