Orangutans in Borneo

10) Red Leaf Monkeys – I saw these cute colourful monkeys in Danum Valley, which is a protected area of pristine primary rainforest. On our first two sightings, these primates were a little distance away, sitting in the trees as we drove into the area on our first day and also on one of our walks. But a few of us had an even better viewing on our last morning. They were in the trees low down and very close to our lodge. They seemed as curious about us as we were of them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch them for hours as we had to check out of our rooms and leave!

9) Macaques - There were plenty of both Long Tailed and Stump Tailed Macaques in Bako National Park, Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary and on the Kinabatangan River. They were very cute and cheeky, and like the baboons of Africa, usually up to mischief! In Bako I saw one approach the cafe and walk along the wall where people were sitting and when a man turned away for one second, the macaque went in for his chocolate sponge and ran off with it! At Sepilok, when our group were hoping to see orangutans at one of the feeding sessions, there was a whole load of macaques there instead. Whilst it meant the orangutans stayed away, the macaques were great to watch. My favourite experiences though were when we saw them beside the river late in the afternoon, when they build their nests for the night. There was a particularly large number of babies in one group and it was so fun to see them in the wild playing together and exploring their new world.

8) Caves and Bats - Borneo has some amazing limestone caves. Deer Cave in Mulu was just massive – the biggest I’ve ever seen – and it links to other caves nearby, making it the second largest cave system in the world. One of the largest sections measured 174m wide and 122m high. Deer Cave is also well known for its bat exodus at dusk and luckily for us the rain eased just long enough for us to witness this amazing spectacle. They come up out of the cave and fly around in a circle above and then fly off. Groups of them do this repeatedly. The finale was what seemed like a never-ending trail of bats flying across the evening sky, like a giant slithering snake! There were quite literally millions of them. Very impressive!

7) Sun Bears - There was a Sun Bear Sanctuary virtually adjacent to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary. The enclosures appeared to be fairly large with a raised canopy walk around much of them, to increase the chances of catching a glimpse of these charismatic bears. There were a few quite big young cubs that were seen exploring their surroundings and digging for food much of the time. However, I was also lucky enough to witness one climb a tree. I saw two play-fighting with each other. They looked like just one large bundle of black fur at first, but for a moment they separated and I got to see the creamy yellow 'sun' on the chest of one, for which they're named.

6) Birds - I saw a great number of birds on the trip, both large and small. There were many birds of prey and several different species of hornbill, including the biggest, the Rhinoceros Hornbill, which has an impressive casque above its beak. I saw Purple Herons, Lesser Egrets and various types of Kingfisher, including the largest Stork Billed Kingfisher. I had several good sightings of one at the Sepilok Jungle Resort where we were staying. In fact, that was the last thing I saw before I had to leave and catch my flight, so a nice lasting memory of the trip. There were also lots of beautifully coloured little Sunbirds and Flower Peckers and a mass of different types of butterfly (ok, so not a bird, but it falls into the flying category). They were so large and colourful. There is such amazing diversity in the rainforest. Almost every other creature is a giant this or pygmy that. Speaking of which…

5) Pygmy Elephants - Whilst we were staying by the Kinabatangan River we'd been told a large herd of them were in the plantation area and hadn't been seen bathing by the river for 4 days. Despite being warned there was only a 5% chance of seeing them, a group of 10 of us decided we wanted to try. Of course, within about 15 minutes of setting off in the boat the heavens opened, there was even thunder and lightening not too far off. However, we didn't turn back and I got completely drenched since I was only wearing a flimsy poncho. After an hour and a half we finally reached the place the elephants usually came to the water, but they weren't in sight. It was very disheartening. On the plus side, the rain eased on the return journey and we saw lots of primates by the river. As luck would have it, we did get to see a couple of elephants - a mum and calf - though they were well obscured from view by the tall grasses. We only realised they were there when we saw another boat motionless on the water with a group of people all looking towards the grass. Despite standing on our seats, we were positioned behind the first boat, so we didn't get a great view. I thought I could see a gap in the grass, so ended up sneaking on board the other boat and stood on the bow, somewhat nervously. I was over the moon when I briefly managed to catch a glimpse of the baby elephant's eye staring back at me. It was so cute! It was worthing the cold wet suffering!

Our adventure wasn't quite over as we still had to get back to the hotel, which was still quite far away. Darkness descended and everyone on board fell silent. The local man steering the boat had to slow down as there was a lot of debris to navigate past in the water, as a result of all the rain - and by debris I mean tree trunks and branches. He only had a handheld torch that wasn't very powerful. Thankfully, the old man was very experienced and clearly knew the river well. We arrived back at the hotel safely, but very late, much to the relief of our tour guide who hadn't been with us.

4) Snorkelling - I'm quite the novice having only been a few times before. Our group were taken to the islands of Kota Kinabalu and to a dive sight known for sharks. Everyone else was eager, but me, less so. I was more than a little nervous. I find wearing a mask and breathing through a snorkel so strange. When I got into the water it took me quite a few minutes to calm my heart rate and get into a pattern of slow, deep breathing. We weren't too far away from the island, so it wasn't particularly deep.

The fish I saw were beautiful and amazing, so colourful! I can't tell you what species they were, but, one was bigger than the size of a plate - vertically tall and thin - and I saw black and white stripy ones and long thin translucent ones. They were all very quick to swim away from me as I approached, which in a way was reassuring! I lost my bearings from time to time, so every now and then I looked up to be sure I'd not wondered off too far from the boat. Eventually, I got tired and edged closer towards it and into slightly deeper waters. I was busy looking at the fish closer to me when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something larger down below about 6-8m away. My immediate thought was 'That's a large fish!' Then it dawned on me, it was a shark! It glided in and out of sight within seconds! (centre of photo) I surfaced to inform the others and as they swam towards me in the hopes of seeing it for themselves, I promptly swam in the opposite direction!

I went snorkelling a second time off the beach at Turtle Island. There was no coral reef to swim above, just the sandy beach, and since it was very shallow and a beautiful sunny day, it was excellent for watching the fish. I had another fabulous experience. I saw a really large fish - it must have been over 2 feet long - which was really chunky and box-like, wide and fat at the head but tapering down in size towards the tail. It looked a bit like a Spotted Porcupine Fish, but I couldn't be certain of it and I didn't get a photo! There were lots of miniscule baby fish close to the shore, barely even the size of my little fingernail. They were so cute. The highlight that day was swimming alongside a school of fish, which was utterly amazing!

3) Proboscis Monkeys - They're the ones with the really big nose! They're not the most attractive of the primates, but they're quite adorable all the same. Most of my photos of them were taken at the Labuk Bay Sanctuary. It was one of the rare days we experienced glorious sunshine and so they were easy to photograph. However, I much prefer to see wildlife in their natural habitat. It's far more enjoyable and satisfying and we did see lots of troops along the Kinabatangan River, virtually every time we were out on the boats. The only down side was that it was also usually raining or in poor light, so not so easy to photograph! I was lucky enough to witness a pair mating. Blink and you'll miss it - it was over in seconds!

2) Turtle Island - It's a protected island where Green Turtles come to lay their eggs. It was amazing to witness the workings of the conservation project firsthand having seen a programme about it. During the day there was free time to relax and snorkel, but in the evening, that's when the turtle activity began. I got to witness a female laying her eggs. A ranger collected them and then they were buried in the hatcheries to protect them from predators such as monitor lizards. I was even lucky enough to see the eruption of baby turtles coming out of the sand from eggs buried a few months prior. All of the hatchlings that emerged that evening were taken down to the beach and released and made their way to the water. Every now and then we had to give them a gentle nudge to guide them in the right direction. It was amazing to see, but in the dead of night, difficult to photograph.

Occasionally, lone hatchlings missed being released at night, probably because it's so dark when they're collected. On my first afternoon I saw one, when virtually no one else was near the hatchery. One of the workers picked it up and placed it on my hand. It surprised me, as they weren't supposed to do that and it made me uncomfortable. But, it was impossible not to absolutely adore this helpless little creature that was flapping about on my palm. The following morning another hatchling was discovered. It had missed being released and I happened to walk past just at the right time and ended up accompanying a family down to the beach where they released the little one. It was a lovely moment watching it rush down to the water. I just hoped it survived. It's so amazing that turtles don't return to the island of their birth until many years later, when they're ready to lay their own eggs!

1) Orangutans - It's probably not a surprise they're at the top of my list. They were the main reason I went to Borneo. Seeing one in the wild was what I'd hoped for and Danum Valley was where it happened. In fact, within 15 minutes of walking along the road on our first walk, we heard that a flanged male (big cheek pads) called Mike had been seen by researchers who track the orangutans and record their movements. We left the road and headed into the rainforest weaving through all the dense vegetation. Not long after, we were standing at the base of a very tall tree, looking up, trying to catch a glimpse of him. It wasn't easy with branches and leaves partially obscuring our view. It wasn't the best sighting, but we got to see him again on our last morning. His overnight nest was found and we waited ages for a glimpse of him emerging from it. Some of us even missed our breakfast and I got a really stiff neck from constantly looking up. It was worth it though, because eventually he started to move about and feed. In fact, everyone in the group got good views of him a little later when we were leaving Danum Valley. He'd moved to a tree above the road.

I can't conclude the Danum Valley orangutan experience without recounting the leech experience too. Many of us were wearing special leech socks, which come up above the knees and are worn over your trousers. They're supposed to do the trick along with spraying insect repellent. One woman in the group wasn't wearing leech socks and a leech dropped onto her thigh. I tried swiping it off using my lens cap, but it didn't budge. Instead, it disappeared through the dense material of her trousers to her leg! I couldn't believe it! I thought I'd escaped the leech experience. My roommate and I were very careful to inspect our clothing and bodies for leeches in the hallway of our room. However, I made the mistake of not checking my camera bag! After I'd had a shower and was dressed, I sat on the bed and that's when I suddenly felt a pain in the back of my knee. I knew instantly what it was. I've never dropped my trousers so quickly! Luckily, I was prepared and quickly grabbed one of the small sachets of salt I'd brought with me. The salt was poured on and the leech fell to the floor. Ewwwwh!