Kinabatangan River and Jungle Trip

The "jungle mafia" were everywhere but others characters were more elusive and sightings of them were perhaps more rewarding. Journeying along the Kinabatangan River, we thoroughly enjoyed spotting a range of wildlife. We were informed early that we would not be stopping the boat for the common maquaque monkeys (referred to as jungle mafia) or the Egret (white birds) that were interesting to watch but ever present.

"Jungle Mafia"

Gibbon's were not easy to capture on film

Our group was privileged to have had fleeting visits with gibbons, orang utans (especially Gary the first orang utan named by Kat), and even crocodiles. Our excellent guide Teo was very knowledgeable and managed to steer the boat to optimum position whilst providing information on scientific classifications, interesting facts and, at night, shedding some light on the situation while simultaneously looking up birds in his book.

Stork-billed Kingfisher

Gary the Orang Utan

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Male proboscis monkeys prefer to hide 

As we set out on Uncle Tan's 3-day, 2-night itinerary, Kat was most excited about seeing the proboscis monkeys and Rob was keen to view an orang utan (outside the sanctuary). We were both surprised how much we enjoyed spotting a range of native birds. This was especially amazing during our pitch-black night trek through mangroves when we got up close with sleeping birds that didn't bat an eyelid. Rob also found a partridge everyone else had missed (no sign of a pear tree) over his head at one point.

One of our more drizzly boat outings 

One of the sleeping birds 

Rob's partridge

Proboscis Group & Teo

It took us a little while before we really introduced ourselves to our co-travellers and guides on the jungle tour.  We were a motley group of Swedes, Chinese, Germans, English, Americans, a Canadian, Danes, Australians and a Malaysian.  Broken into two groups (the Proboscis Monkeys and the Crocodiles) we also took on this arrangement for meal times (which was totally un-necessary, but seemed to just develop on its own).  In our group (Proboscis), we had Gloria, May, Goodwin (from Qingdao, China), Anna & Simon (from Sweden).  `

TEAM PROBOSCIS!

Our wonderful guide Teo

We were lucky enough to have Teo as our guide for each of the trips river cruises and jungle treks, while the Crocodile group had Dis (AKA “Jungle Dis-co”) .  He was incredibly knowledgeable and never seemed to display a boredom of describing the same animals and plants over and over again, or searching for them on the banks of the Kinabatangan.  He could spot a tiny kingfisher from 200m away and knew the tree that the dollarbirds loved to frequent. Nothing better describes his sincerity for the subject matter than this photo of him as he tells us about a dead cotton spider.

Although he has a serious face in every photo we have, he was a very jolly bloke, easy to laugh, quick to make a joke and entertained us each night with endless rounds of karaoke as he played along on the guitar.

Program Activities

Kat spotted a few frogs

During our stay in the jungle we took part in two night boat safari’s, two morning boat safari’s, and afternoon jungle trek and a night trek. Each one was rewarding in different ways. The first night boat trip was easily the most exhilarating. We discussed how neither of us would ever feel that good about directing a speed boat on a river through pitch-blackness with only the aid of a torch. Once we decided it was unlikely we would end up on the river bank on our next turn since Teo had probably done this a million times, we quite enjoyed the ride. The stillness and serentiy of the morning boat trip contrasted with the excitement of a jungle coming alive after dark on our night trek. Initially Kat did not enjoy the night trek due to the abundance of mosquitos and spiders however she was soon absorbed in spotting an array of frogs, insect and birds.

Red jungle millipede on mossy log

The Accommodation

For 2 nights we lived on mattresses under mosquito nets in huts built on mangroves.  It was a little muggy but not without some luxuries, such as electricity from 7-midnight (from a generator), sit down toilets and if you wanted, you could have enjoyed a cold bucket shower (although as the water was quite brown on account of coming from the Kinabatangan, we opted to wait for our return to Sandakan).  Items such as wet ones, deodorant, and anything with a fruit smell had to be stored in sealed plastic tubs to protect them from ransacking by rats or maquaques.  If you are a 5-star hotel gold member (and live by that), you might not enjoy this experience but we really loved it. 

We shared our hut with Gloria, May and Goodwin – who were lovely company.  Gloria’s English was very good (so good in fact that she could translate our complex Uno rules for May) and made up for my lack of anything but “xie-xie” and Kat’s primary school-level Mandarin, it was also a pleasant surprise to find that they also were staying at the same hostel on our return to Sandakan.  Gloria generously extended an invite to stay with her should we pass through Qingdao when we get to China. Anna and Simon did the same for Sweden.
 

As the website says "It is a Wildlife Camp you are visiting
 - NOT A RESORT & SPA"

Sunset on the Kinabatangan River

Highly Recommended

We really enjoyed the secluded location of Uncle Tan’s and would highly recommend it as probably the best thing we have done in Sabah. (Thanks to Scott and Bianca for recommending it to us!) Within our whole trip it was just us 15 visitors, the staff and the wildlife. Very occasionally we also saw people from the local village but no other tour groups.

A great place to visit in Sabah

Booking and Prices

Uncle Tan’s can be booked online (no deposit required) and all the necessary information is on their website. Payment is cash only (don’t be the people who need to take a special additional taxi ride back to Sandakan for more cash) and RM420 per person plus a RM10 conservation fee. It includes accommodation, all meals, tea/coffee and activities. The staff operate a co-op that sells water, soft drink and beer, sometimes chocolate, at reasonable prices. (We spent RM15.)