Afloat on the Kinabatangan River:
Map of Sabah Province, Malaysian Borneo.
(The yellow thumb tacks show places which will be mentioned in this story.)I flew into Sandakan Airport in the north-east corner of Borneo and Ling was there to meet me and the two other photographers who had arrived on the same flight; as was Ahmad, who owns a taxi company.
Ahmad drove us (and all our gear!) for two and a half hours to our Lodge near Sukau on the banks of the Kinabatangan River — Borneo’s longest river.
The Lodge is very small and simple but the family made us welcome and cooked meals for us even though it was the midst of Ramadan.
The family owns a small boat and they let us keep it out on the river all day, from before sunrise until after dark, so we could explore the lower-reaches of the river where it meanders across its flood-plain, changing its course from time to time and leaving Ox-bow lakes behind; and venture up some of its side-streams too.
(You can't do that if you stay in the regular tourist lodges where you get a one-hour boat ride accompanied by the entire population of the Lodge — all chattering their heads off!.)
The land around the Kinabatangan was raised to “Wildlife Sanctuary” status about ten years ago which means commercial development is still permitted along its path although “National Park” status would have been even better and would have prevented further commercial development. The main problem is that the natural hardwood forest has been reduced to disconnected patches and there is no forested corridor linking the forested areas which would provide continuous habitat for the indigenous animals.
The relentless on-march of the oil palm plantations and other human activities continue to encroach on the forest so the wild creatures have a rapidly diminishing habitable area. As a result, the animals are concentrated in the forested strips close to the river so you do see a lot of very varied wild life here.
However, photographing it from a small boat on the river is quite challenging because the vegetation on the river banks is particularly dense so you only see the creatures if they suddenly emerge to bathe or drink on the river bank (as did some elusive Pygmy Elephants); or you see the Primates and Hornbills high-up in the branches of the incredibly tall trees.
I found that even a 400 mm lens was insufficient and I often needed to use my TC-20 as well. That combination on a rocking and heaving small boat makes it quite difficult to hold the view in the frame at times and demands very high shutter speeds (meaning high ISO settings) so I was continuously grateful that I had my D5.
The highly endangered Proboscis Monkeys (another animal which is only endemic on Borneo) were among the creatures which we were able to see from the river although they were high up among the tree-branches.
Proboscis Monkeys _AJS5029.jpgAlso to be seen in the trees are Long-tailed and Pig-tailed Macaques and the occasional Orang Utan too.
Pig-tailed Macaque _AJS4026.jpg
Long-tailed Macaque _AJS4235.jpg
