Borneo No 3

Hi Family, Friends, Davenanters, Dancers and Bloggers,

This morning we had packed our cases, had breakfast and were on our way by 7.30am. Our first stop was at Sandakan War Memorial. During World War II the Japanese invaded Borneo and took many British and Australian Prisoners of War (POW). In the small Museum, at the Memorial, the harrowing story of the War is explained. How the thousands of British and Australian men lost their lives in the Death March was particularly well explained.

Here is the Memorial to all the British and Australian troups that lost their lives:

After the War Memorial we had a two hour drive to the Gomantong Cave System.

These Caves are famous in Borneo because they are the place for collecting the ingredients for the Chinese delicacy called Birds Nest Soup. 

"To the Bat Cave Robin", "OK Batman".

Swifts and bats live in the caves. During the day the Swifts are flying in and out and during the night the Bats are flying in and out. The Swifts build their nests in the roof of the caves using their own saliva and when the nests have been used and are empty they are collected and sold for many thousands of pounds. The photo below is the packaged outcome:

There is a detailed and dangerous system for collecting the nests which involves  rope ladders, ropes and a pulley system.

The Pink Crested Silly Bat inspecting the rope ladders!

The entrance to the Caves:

Inside the Caves - can you see the face?

The entrance:

On our way back from the Caves the inevitable happened. One of our party got Leeched! He didn't have his trousers tucked into his socks and the leech climbed up his leg and sucked his blood. When the Leech was discovered the Rep got it off and my services, as expert on everything to do with leeches, were not needed!!

After the excitement of the Leech attack we had another short journey to the Proboscis Monkey Lodge in Sakua on the River Kinabatanga. We will be staying at this Lodge for two nights.

Here are all the Sargarians together on a boat going to the Lodge:

Here is a selfie of Sue and I on the boat going to the Lodge:

After settling into our rooms at the Lodge we were taken on a boat trip in search of wildlife. We set off at 4.00 pm and we got back just as it was getting dark at 6.00 pm and it was the most wonderful experience.  The skipper of the boat was an expert at spotting wildlife and he knew exactly what everything was called. We had several sightings of the Proboscis Monkey, which was the one thing we really wanted to see. We also saw a Macaque Monkey, a Kingfisher, an Oriental Data, a pigmy squirrel and a Hawksbill. When something of interest was spotted the skipper would manoeuvre the boat into the best position for viewing it and then we would all try and capture it on our cameras. We all had the most brilliant time.

Here are some of our best photos:

A Macaque Monkey:

A Kingfisher:

Male Prosboscis Monkey:

Female Proboscis Monkey with baby:

Best photograph of Male Proboscis Monkey - his nose is clearly visible!:

The Oriental Data:

We arrived back at the lodge extremely happy because we had been lucky and seen lots of different wildlife. Long may our luck continue!