Sukau

 I've always seen many newspaper promotions for Sukau but thought it an expensive weekend getaway. For one thing, I'm a city girl and I don't pretend to be a tree hugging nature lover eventhough I'm surrounded by all the greenery and amazing nature in and out of my city,it just never sat at the top of my list of places to go. I decided to go as one doesn't necessarily have to venture out of the country just to travel. Doing something new somewhere else is an adventure in itself :)

Nevertheless, the marketing for this place really made me curious about the tranquil wonder of the place but since it's in my state I guess one never wants to do things that are within reach. Also I'm not big on doing things solo, if I didn't have anyone to go with then I wouldn't go so I was really glad for this opportunity. The initial plan was a visit to Gomantong Cave, Batu Tulug, Sukau river cruise, and Tabin Wildlife reserve,however the 3 days for this was rather short and also we didn't have the proper vehicle which meant we had to scratch Tabin off because of the difficult and rugged roads. Think of those Dhakar rally roads and you get the picture.

The first day we left the city at noon as we had to pick up the group from different locations,coupled with frequent potty stops we finally arrived at the home of someone in the group. This trip home for her was partly to see if she could start out a village homestay and our group were her guinea pigs trying out her family's hospitality. Dinner and then  some drinking and card games made it a very late night for us, so needless to say we did not wake up early enough to go to Gomantong Cave.

Kinabatangan River,

No pygmy elephants to be found! 

Spotting for wildlife

Proboscis monkey

At first we saw a group of females with the young and also some juvenile which didn't have the prominent nose haha. After our boat went to different nooks and bushes we finally beheld the glorious backside of a large male sitting all by himself. We made a lot of noise to get him to turn around for us, after all the annoying noise we made he deign to show us his profile briefly and quick as a picture-happy Japanese we snapped his profile. Immediately after that he moved behind a branch with more foliage and hid from our view.

Hello , you handsome stud!

 As we turned back to the house by the river, a younger male spotted our boat and came trashing down through the trees to screech at us, guess we disturbed his peace with the speeding boat. Proboscis males like the one pictured above are usually alone and distanced from his harem family and they do not interact with humans much, which is good for them. Sadly we did not see any pygmy elephants which I was rather hoping to see in the wild. So many travellers I met have see a herd of 10-40 elephants. At least I would have another reason to come here and perhaps stay longer at a river lodge and partake in some day and night treks and maybe catch a better picture of a hornbill. Anyhow enjoy the wildlife pics from my friend, who has a better camera than my point and shoot :)