Dr Livingstone I presume?

Bruised, bitten, burnt and bleeding and tanked up on Immodium Instants, we emerged from the jungle. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Here is what we've been up to....





First stop was the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

This cares for rehomed pets and other rescued orangs. They are fed and cared for until they are independant again and are then released. There are 150-200 there at any one time.





The feeding station is a short, and baking hot, walk into the jungle.


At feeding time, there were three orangs who had come to eat fruit and milk, show off and fight each other.

They didn't approach the viewing platform this day, but have been known to hug or even strip naked unsuspecting tourists. They are still wild and there are no fences or cages.



From here we travelled to the jetty at Sandakan water village.

The fishermens' houses are built on stilts above the sea to enable easy access to boats, but still have all mod cons, internet, satellite TV etc.








We then boarded a speedboat for a bone jarring two hour crossing of the Sulu Sea and up the Kinabatangan River - the longest river in Sabah.










This is the Old Ben Kinabatangan Lodge, where we were based overnight, in a simple but adequate wooden hut (no AC but a huge cockroach running around Richard's bed!)

In the afternoon/early evening we took a small boat up the river looking for wildlife. We were told that if we were very, very, very lucky we might see a pygmy elephant - one of the rarest creatures spotted.




Here are said elephants. There are only 1500 or so of this species remaining, and North East Borneo is the only place in the world they are found.

A whole herd were coming down to the river to drink and bathe.







This young one was snorkelling right alongside our boat.











This was how close we could get, they seemed not at all bothered by our presence. Richard never thought he'd need a wideangle lens to photograph a wild elephant. They were almost in touching distance.

We also spotted Long Tailed Macaques, Proboscis Monkeys (the males have huge noses and permenant erections), Hornbills, Snakebirds, Egrets, a Kite and a Fish Eagle. However dusk was falling and they were up in the trees so difficult to photograph well.

We then returned to the lodge and collapsed into bed, and slept suprisingly well. Early start the next morning heading for Turtle Island.

However, now, in our luxury hotel with big beds, bath and AC, room service is about to arrive with dinner so we'll tell you about the Turtles tomorrow.