Man of the forest

Coming back from the river it would have been remiss to pass up the chance to stop in Sepilok at the orangutan rehabilitation centre. Walking the forest trail and coming up close and personal with an orangutan and then watching them feed was pretty amazing.

A small selection of photos;

hanging out

Feeding time at platform A

Considering life

still hanging

suspicious

crazy legs

and a couple of fighting monkeys for good measure

fighting macaques

Cruising on the Kinabatangen River

Sunset on the Kinabatagen river

So expedition over and back on the road, jetting across to the other side of Sabah to spend a couple of nights by the Kinabatagen river.

Monkey

Morning and evening boat cruises allowed us to see a variety of different monkeys as they sleep in the open trees by the river bank.

Oriental pied hornbill

Proboscis monkey

We were also fortunate to see a wild orangutan who was covering his head with leaves to keep the rain off.

Orangutan

Ruddy kingfisher

There were a number of kingfishers, but far bigger than your common British ones. The highlight of the trip was the night walk where a civet cat came prowling to within a couple of metres of us.

Bornean civet cat

End of expedition

Time for a couple of days of staff time to finish up the expedition.  After some cleaning, report writing and an awards night our final night was spent on the island of Pulau Tiga, setting for the first season of the US reality t.v. show survivor.

Arriving on Pulau Tiga

Pulau Tiga beach

crab

Highlights included a mud bath

getting muddy

getting clean

and the fact we seemed to have the island to ourselves, an idylic setting for a few sunset drinks

sunset drinks

Mount Kinabalu

Into the last week of expedition and to celebrate 10 years of permanent Raleigh presence in Sabah we all got to climb a mountain, which was a massive bonus as it saved me trying to organise it for later & I got to climb it with a huge number of friends as we more or less took over the whole mountain.

4,095m makes Mount Kinabalu number 20 on the list of highest peaks check out this link if you want to know how you measure the highest mountains in the world : wikipedia link

Starting around 1,900m we walked up for about 4 hours passing a number of different types of vegetation and variety of steps (all of which we'd get to walk down the next day)

A few steps on the way up the mountain

Tree on Mt Kinabalu

Mountain raspberry

 We stopped for the evening at 3,300m at Laban Rata for hot soup, dinner & a mattress on the floor.

Sunset from Laban Rata

 It was up at 2am for a first breakfast we were delayed by rain so couldn't start climbing on safety grounds but at 3.30 we got the green light and were off, clambering along in the dark.  Nearing the summit the sun was starting to rise & I slowed down to take plenty of photos (as a handy excuse for having a regular rests)

Sunrise on Kinabalu

Sunrise on Kinabalu

Low's peak with Dan

The donkey ears

We then turned round and headed back down the mountain, stopping along the way for a second breakfast. The way down was pretty hard on the knees so it was good to see the bottom & know we were going no further that night.  This was the night of the official closing ceremony on expedition and included some great entertainment with local dances and a special fire show that literally nearly brought the house down.

Local entertainment

Fireating

Dive Island

After the excursions of trekking it was time to hit the island of Mamutik for a few days of sunrises, sunsets and a PADI Open Water diving course.

Alpha 6 on dive island
jamie, matt, hong kai, joe, kenly, jake,
nat, dionne, annie, laura, kate, simon 

First up a day in the classroom of KK as we learnt the theory and then over to one of the islands of Tunku Abel Rahman National Park. Not much to add other than it was incredible to be diving and seeing a whole new world opening up.  We were treated to incredible sunrises and sunsets (when sally wasn't visiting) and made the most of not carrying rations with some cooking rivalry between the chef teams each night from fish cakes & doughnuts to garlic bread & cake

Mamutik pier

Sulug Island at sunset

Flower on Mamutik

Mount Kinabalu from Mamutik beach

Wildlife of Mamutik

Mount Kinabalu at sunrise from Mamutik

Crab on Mamutik

under the sea

Trekking

Phase 3 was the adventure phase, I was reunited with Nat and alongside Joe & local guide Nooh our first 12 days were to be spent in the jungle near Long Pasia. That plan was immediately challenged as the 4x4s hit a muddy hill and were unable to get us to our starting point. So we spent an unexpected night in a logging camp with the unexpected luxury of a gas hob.

We'd be trekking with everything we needed on our backs for 12 days, bar a resupply of food midway. So single pot cooking on open fires were the order of the day. Each day followed a similar schedule rising at 5.30 to pack tarps and hammocks. Fueling up with porridge, a morning stretch and then leaving at 8to get to the next jungle eating where we'd again set up hammocks, the radio & start a fire. Most of the camps were located next to the river which meant a handy supply of water and a spot to bathe.

The first few days were easy treks of just a couple of hours which meant plenty of time in camp. After a rest day on day 6 we took on a bigger challenge to get to Maga falls on a day. We knew the phase 1 group took over 5 hours to reach our targeted lunch spot, but we had acclimatisation and the weather on our side and were setting up for lunch in less than 3. Post lunch we trekked an old logging road, the first chance to see open sky for nearly a week. After a particularly large river crossing we made it safely to camp to get a bonus day off.
Perhaps the highlight of the trek was the day off walking (without bags) down to the waterfalls and into a bat cave. The afternoon involved a spot of dressing up in jungle costumes & dancing and the chance to make our own jungle bling, ratan bracelets.
The uphill trek to Sinapong camp took us to 1800m, probably the hardest walking day. But it meant we got some great vistas the next day on our return to Long Pasia.
The final night was spent in home stays, some wonderful baking and a real bed (my first for 9 weeks). At 5 o'clock the whole village seemed to descend on the football & volleyball pitches. Teams are unimportant just get on the pitch & start playing.

Getting up the hill

Long Pasia

Bamboo camp

Jungle life

Sleeping quarters

Leech!

View from my hammock at Ratan camp 

Jungle life 2

Nooh providing some extra rations of deer

Trekking the logging road

River crossing at Maga falls

Maga falls