Kinabatangan River

Sabah'S Longest River, Where Orangutans, Pygmy Elephants And Proboscis Monkeys Concentrate In A Thin Strip Of Forest Because There Is Nowhere Else Left To Go · Sukau, Sabah

THE KINABATANGAN IS THE BEST PLACE IN BORNEO TO SEE WILD ANIMALS FROM A BOAT, AND THE REASON IS NOT A HAPPY ONE. The forest along the river is A NARROW CORRIDOR, hemmed in on both sides by oil palm, and the density of wildlife people photograph from the water is PARTLY A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ANIMALS HAVING NOWHERE ELSE TO BE. Knowing that does not make the mornings less extraordinary. BORNEAN ORANGUTAN building night nests in the riverside trees. PROBOSCIS MONKEYS, found on this island and nowhere else, crashing through the branches at dusk. BORNEAN PYGMY ELEPHANTS - the smallest elephants alive, genetically distinct, perhaps fifteen hundred left - moving along the bank in herds. ALL EIGHT BORNEAN HORNBILL SPECIES. Crocodiles. Dawn and dusk cruises from Sukau and Bilit, and the GOMANTONG CAVES nearby, which are not for the squeamish. Cruises run at dawn and dusk because that is when anything moves, the guide makes the difference more than the lodge does, and nobody sees everything on the list.

Kinabatangan River, Sukau and Bilit, Sabah, Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia

REACHED BY ROAD FROM SANDAKAN, roughly TWO TO THREE HOURS to SUKAU or BILIT, where the lodges are - most visitors buy a TWO OR THREE NIGHT PACKAGE including transfers, meals and boat cruises, which is the sensible way to do it. CRUISES RUN AT DAWN AND AT DUSK, which is when animals move; the middle of the day is for resting or a forest walk. NIGHT CRUISES AND NIGHT WALKS are usually included. GOMANTONG CAVES are visited on the way in or out, charge separately, and are famous for EDIBLE BIRDS' NESTS AND A FLOOR OF COCKROACHES AND GUANO - the smell is considerable. THE RIVER FLOODS, sometimes badly, and lodges can be cut off. MALARIA ADVICE APPLIES AND LEECHES ARE ROUTINE on walks. Do not expect to see everything; nobody does.

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