Sunday, January 22, 2017

Safe and Healthy Travel: 3 days in the Kota Kinabatangan Jungle, Borneo


Being on the island of Borneo – Malaysia I wanted to go to the jungle of course! For me that is a given!!

I want to explore all kinds of local activities and when you go search for activities on Sabah, part of Borneo, you find a lot of jungle trips! I got in contact with Tanjung Bulat Jungle Camp and they offered a 3 day and 2 night River Cruise trip on the Kinabatangan River that really was my kind of deal!!


Tanjung Bulat Jungle Camp
Oxbow Lake – Kinabatangan River
Kota Kinabatangan – Sabah – Borneo – Malaysia

The camp is situated next to Oxbow Lake in the middle of the jungle. It is a basic camp with all the necessities like toilets, cold shower, dorm room and private rooms and a great view during breakfast/lunch/dinner over Oxbow Lake!!

At the moment of my booking I was the only one so I got a private tour! Afiq, my guide, picked me up at my hotel in Sepilok and brought me to the camp by car and the last part of course by boat. What a luxury! And it was the last luxury for the upcoming days because we were heading for the Jungle!!

While cruising that first time over the river Kinabatangan to the camp I was eager to see some wildlife.


1st sight within half an hour
The Famous Proboscis Monkey

It didn’t took long before the first Proboscis monkey was visible high in the treetops! First I saw something moving…then they saw us too and they started to jump from tree to tree!! I loved seeing them jumping, without fear up high in those trees!

Mostly you’ll see one…and another one…and another.. That’s because they live together as a family! And that was the case this first sight also. They were jumping all over the place!! I made a short clip of them!

After a while we went on to go to the camp. Getting there I got my private room and as a welcome they had made Pisang Goreng and coffee!!

There was a short briefing on what to expect of this trip, what to do and see. How things work in the camp and what they expected of me.. Just to enjoy myself.


River Cruises – River Kinabatangan

That first afternoon we had a cruise and we went again for some monkeys and looking for birds along the river. We saw a lot of Proboscis again. I love seeing them so I didn’t mind stopping for them again and again. Trying to get some good shots… It is hard to get them on the picture when they are sitting high in the trees. And they are not posing for the picture of course.

We saw a lot birds too! I especially liked the Stork Billed Kingfisher!! I saw it flying all over the place and couldn’t get it on the picture. They are just too quick…and they disappeared in the jungle. Not as the common kingfisher sitting on the riverside, above water and showing themself in full colour.

We also saw those sweet leave monkeys, Langurs. They are very shy and so hard to spot. I can not find a picture of them. I’m sure I tried… but missed them appearently. These were grey and you can spot some other colours of them too!

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