Right after the diving experience, I have been picked up and transported to an area near Kinabatangan River for the jungle safari.
Kinabatangan River
Kinabatangan River is the second longest river in Malaysia. It is known for its remarkable wildlife and fascinating habitats. The World Wildlife Fund states that the Kinabatangan River is one of only two known places on Earth where ten primate species can be found. This includes the Bornean Orang Utan, the Proboscis Monkey, Macaques, Maroon Langur and Bornean Gibbon, most of which are endemic to Borneo.
In other words, the river area is a perfect base to spot wild animals. The main attraction is the orangutan though you can also see kingfishers, elephants, long-nosed monkeys, crocodiles, and different birds.
Safari
I have used the same company that I used for diving. They are called River Junkies. They picked me up at the diving site in Semporna and at the end of stay drove me to the airport. I could have tried to get to Kota Kinabatangan myself, but I was too lazy 😀
I have picked up the three days/two nights package, with a private room, which ended up being 810 RMB.
When I arrived in the afternoon, I ate dinner right away and went straight to a river cruise. It was so fun to try to spot all the animals! To be honest, I found out if I will ever get lost in the jungle, I will probably die in couple minutes:D I sucked balls at spotting animals! I didn’t even notice elephants at first!! Elephants!! And they are kind of big 😀 It took me a couple of minutes, after the guide pointed, to locate whatever he was looking at 😀
In the evening we were supposed to do a night jungle walk but we couldn’t as the elephants crossed over the river and decided that our lodge is a cool place to be. The guides concluded it is too dangerous to take us for a walk ;(
Next morning we went to cruise at 6.00 am as different animals are active during those hours. We were super lucky and spotted an orangutan with a baby!! I am not even mentioning other monkeys, crocodiles, and different birds.
After the cruise, we were supposed to do a walk around the lodge but again, elephants, so they took as for a hike in the jungle at the nearby hill. Though in this weather it felt as I was hiking a mountain 😀
After the hike, we went for the cruise again and waited for info about night walk. But when it came to that, we were still not lucky, and elephants continued to hang around.
In the morning we had another cruise, and then they dropped us off at the next destination.
Overall, the experience was amazing! I have never seen so many animals roaming free. I was super impressed by my guide abilities; he spotted a baby crocodile in total darkness!! My jaw dropped.
The only thing I would do differently would be to take a better lens for my camera:D I lacked zoom so much!!!
One tip: rent the binoculars!! Some animals are quite far away, hiding in the trees, so my binoculars were super needed to see them.
