Sepilok

Day 1: Morning bus journey from Kota Kinabalu to Sepilok, home to many of Borneo's Orangutans. I checked into a guesthouse called ''Uncle Tans'', which is close to the Orangutan Rehab Centre. They are also quite renound for trips along the Kinabatangan River, a place I also wanted to visit in the hope of seeing some in the wild.

After checking in early afternoon and getting myself a very good deal on accommodation (8 quid a night for a bed and all meals included - a budget traveller's dream!), there wasn't a great deal to do. There isn't much in Sepilok other than the Rehab Centre, the main reason travellers visit here. I booked a 3 days / 2 nights wildlife safari along the Kinabatangan to start the following afternoon, inclusive of my visit to the Rehab Centre first thing in the morning. That left me all afternoon to thrash one of the guesthouse employees at pool as they have their own table. All meals included and free Pool, Darts and Table Tennis - I could get to like this place.

That evening, I met a couple of other travellers over dinner. Adam, an Aussie who now lives in Japan and Olivier, a quite smug french guy who ticked most of the stereotypes and was alright in small doses. He had travelled a fair bit and was therefore convinced he knew everything about everywhere, even places he hadn't been. A bit frustrating to listen to over dinner but myself and Adam just humoured him. Spent the evening hanging out with them at the hostel before putting Olivier in his place over a game of pool later on. Not quite so smug then - Haha.

Day 2: Morning shuttle bus to the Orangutan Rehab Centre. Met a cool English guy called Pete (Oxford), who was going there as well and was also booked on the Kinabatangan Safari trip starting later in the day.

The Rehab Centre is one of only 4 Orangutan sanctuaries in the world and it occupies part of the Sepilok rainforest reserve. Injured and orphaned Orangutans are taken there to be cared for before they are ready to be returned to the wild. We arrived about 9.30am ahead of the morning feeding at 10am. Some of them were already visible and then lots more arrived near the viewing platform when the food was brought out. Amazing creatures who were more than happy swinging along the ropes in front of the crowds and seemingly posing for pictures. We got a good look at them for about half an hour before they gradually descended back into the forest, leaving the scraps available for the Long-Tail Macaques (nicknamed ''The Jungle Mafia'' by the locals) to indulge in. These are also really cool but less than behaved apparently, hence the nickname.

After the feeding, we were free to walk around the centre and read some more about the great work they do. It sounds like it's a real success story as numerous Orangutans have been returned to the wild after being cared for. There was also a 20 minute video outlining the work of the place, which was really interesting. It showed one Orangutan, who was in their care from infancy until he was old and now strong enough to break a human in half if he wanted to. Nice! The video showed them cautiously returning him to the wild and thankfully, he didn't attack and instead went straight up a tree. I would find myself remembering this part of the video quite vividly in a few days time.

After we had been ushered out to the front of the centre, myself and Pete waited for our shuttle back to Uncle Tans. We met a couple of American guys (Brandon and Will), who were also heading there and were booked on the Kinabatangan trip. As we were waiting, the jungle mafia emerged from over the roof of the centre and promptly filled the reception area and parts of the car park. I reckon there was at least 20 of them, who were more than happy walking amongst us and seeing what mischief they could cause. They look pretty harmless but it's probably still not a good idea to get too close to them, as Will found out when one tried to steal his water bottle. Thankfully for him, it was almost full and therefore just too heavy for the Macaque so he couldn't complete the steal. Was really funny watching him try though and even more funny watching Will's feable attempts to stop him. They hung around for another 10-15 minutes, rummaging through all the bins and sussing us all out before returning to one of the trees. Beware the jungle mafia! We then got our shuttle back to Uncle Tans.

We all packed some stuff for the 3-day trip and had a short briefing before getting our minibus ride to the river. Just the four of us on the trip but there were more people already at the camp. When we arrived at the river, the heavens opened - some of the strongest rain I've ever seen and less than appealing when you have an hour boat ride, uncovered, to get to the camp. We covered our things in plastic bags as best we could and then set off - all less than enthusiastic it has to be said.

The journey was actually a pretty good laugh with us all getting so soaked and we arrived at the camp late afternoon. It was situated right in the jungle and our hut was on stilts keeping us only a few feet above the water - pretty cool. We met some of the locals - Lan, Leo and Wan, who showed us around the camp before dinner that evening. Lan is a keen Liverpool fan, who knew almost as much as me (almost) so we got on pretty well. They also had a football pitch made up in the camp and challenged us to a game the following day. Needless to say, myself and Pete were more keen than our American friends but we all agreed to the challenge. Will asked if he could have some padding..............................................only joking.

We had dinner and a briefing from Wan, a young guy who would be our guide for the 3 days. He outlined the itinerary and the vast amount of wildlife we were hopefully going to see. That night, we had a safari boat trip along the Kinabatangan and were treated to views of 2 baby Crocodiles, 2 Buffy Fish Owls (a first for me), a couple of Kingfishers - blind at night so we were able to get really close to them, and a couple of Monitor Lizards. Also present were more of the Jungle Mafia, hanging around in a tree by the side of the river. Loads to see and a real treat for our first safari. Wan had an amazing eye for them as well considering we were searching with just a torch. A really cool experience and great fun also. Then it was bed for us - up at 6am to get in the boat again and see what wildlife morning brings.

Day 3: Less to see in the morning unfortunately. More of the Macaques (glad to see them in the trees rather than in our bags back at the hut) and another couple of Lizards. The highlights in the morning were an Eagle (not sure what kind) and 2 Hornbills, another bird I've never seen before. Not as much to see as the previous night but still a rewarding trip.

After breakfast, we were joined by a dutch guy (Wauter) in taking on the locals at football. It's safe to say we underestimated them and were beaten pretty convincingly. A combination of their skill, lack of american experience and my now shocking fitness levels I think. Not helped by the fact we had to play in walking shoes while they have their own boots I might add. Still, no excuses. A rematch tomorrow, if I could convince Brandon.

That afternoon, Wan took us to a different part of the jungle for a trek to see what wildlife was on offer. Mostly insects this time - a MASSIVE centipede (just for you Angela) and a couple of Spiders. Wan also shared his local knowledge about the trees and what they can use them for. Also some poisonous plants for us to avoid.

Afterwards, myself, Wan, Brandon and Will set off for a few hours fishing by the side of the river (Pete stayed to chill out at the camp). I've only been fishing once in my life and didn't catch a thing so I was keen to learn more and try and put that right. Brandon got the ball rolling with a catfish before I caught one myself and was well chuffed. It was then a close competition between me, Wan and Brandon as to who could be top dog - close for a while before Wan put us well and truly in our place. Only catfish on offer but I managed to catch five of them in total! Will, on the other hand, didn't catch a thing all afternoon, despite switching positions several times. Highly amusing for the rest of us.

While we were sat in the boat enjoying the sunshine, Wan heard a noise in the forest behind us and promptly showed us what he had seen - a huge, old Oranguatan that wasn't far away at all.. We were all thrilled with this as most vistors to the camp are lucky to see one in the wild. Here it was, and a big one at that!

Without hesitation, Wan got us all off the boat so we could get into the jungle to try and get a closer look. Jogging barefoot, Brandon got bitten by something in the grass and, while waiting behind him, I did too. Nothing major but enough time taken to get us seperated from Will and Wan, who continued their pursuit. We then had to try and find them, without making sufficient noise to potentially scare the Orangutan away. We couldn't find or hear them and it then suddenly dawned on us both that we were alone in the jungle, with a huge, hungry Orangutan somewhere close-by (this was when my mind flicked back to the Rehab Centre video - this one was about that size). We searched around for a few more minutes but couldn't find the others and only had a few noises to go on - not sure if this was them or the animal finding a new position to attack from. It was pretty funny to be fair, if mildly scary at the same time. Eventually, we gave up and returned to the boat to hopefully meet Wan and Will there.

When they returned, they had quite a story. They had ended up right under his tree and had him staring down at them, not moving for several minutes. He clearly wasn't happy with their presence beneath him, as was illustrated by him breaking up branches (some big ones apparently) and throwing them down in their direction. This explained why they were being so quiet and also made me kind of glad that we did get seperated. As cool as it would have been to get closer, I'm not sure how he would have reacted if there were 4 of us staring up at him. Will told us that at one point he asked Wan what they should do if the Orangutan came down, to which he replied ''I don't know''. Haha - so much for their local knowledge. Clearly a situation that even he hadn't been put in. We all felt very fortunate to have been there - myself and Brandon to have seen it, the other 2 to have escaped alive. Had a good laugh about this back on the boat as we made our way back to camp, keen to tell Pete what he had missed.

A short break back at the camp before heading out in the boat again for another wildlife safari. This trip was in search of Probiscis Monkeys, who are famous for their frankly HUGE noses. Not an animal I've seen before and I made an agreement with Wan that he had to give me his T-Shirt if we didn't find any. He seemed pretty confident to be fair.

And we could see why - loads of them. We found several trees holding them and they are great to watch because they are capable of massive leaps between trees and branches, without consideration for how strong the target branch is. This was really funny as a couple of them nearly fell off after an ambitious jump. We managed to get right under their trees and they didn't mind as they were so far up. A few of them gave us a disapproving stare from the top, a look we were now quite familiar with. We also saw another baby Crocodile, which was cool.

After dinner back at the camp, we were back out again for our second jungle trek (talk about an action-packed itinerary). Only this time, it was 9pm and a torch was needed. Didn't see a great deal unfortunately, a huntsman spider and a wolf spider being the highlights. Were all quite keen to find a Scorpian as well but unfortunately not. A couple more nice birds that we could get close to though. Back to camp to share some homemade Rice Wine with Lan and a few of the other locals. Can't think of too many occasions when we didn't see Lan without a drink of some sort in his hands. In this instance, it was a bucket of Rice Wine, and it was pretty disgusting as usual. We were happy to help him out a little though.

Day 4: Up early again for our final safari trip before returning to Sepilok. Had been very lucky so far with all the wildlfe we had seen and were wondering what else could be in store for us.

And we got lucky again - Gibbons. For those that don't know, these are another type of Monkey, probably the most representative of humans in the way they look and move around. I'd seen some previously at Saigon Zoo and they are definately my favourite type of Monkey. Like the Probiscis Monkey's, they are capable of huge jumps and also have this really funny up-right running style, which reminds me of the killer in the Scream films. We got really lucky seeing these in a tree mixing with lots of the jungle mafia and we spent a while hanging around underneath watching them. Another real treat for us all.

And it got better, on our return to camp we saw three more wild Orangutans! Much further away than the one we had seen on the fishing trip but we were able to get a good look at them through the trees still. We all felt very fortunate to have seen so much over the 3-days. All luck when you are searching for wildlife and we got really lucky. Many visitors to the Kinabatangan don't get to see one Orangutan, let alone four.

Once we returned to the camp, we took on the locals at footie again. A closer contest but they still beat us. Was a great laugh anyway though and good to get a couple of days of exercise. Lan told us that his team often competes in the Kinabatangan Open and other tournaments near Sandakan, and usually wins. We could see why.

We said our goodbyes to everyone and the camp and thanked them for a fantastic few days. Wan had been an unbelivable guide, with a great eye for spotting animals along the river. Everyone else at the camp had made a real fuss of us and the food was quality too. Lan has been taking cooking lessons and was happy to give us a couple of demonstrations. A great trip and we definately landed on our feet by going with Uncle Tans - I would highly recommend them to anyone planning on visiting Borneo, which you should.

Boat trip back (no rain this time) and then it was a minibus back to Sepilok. Brandon and Will had to head to Sandakan straight away to get over to KK and I went with them as I was in need of an ATM (none in Sepilok). Said goodbye to them and will hopefully be hooking up with them for a beer in Semporna, my next destination. Great lads and we had a good laugh on the trip - Will's poor attempts at a british accent being one of the highlights.

That evening, myself and Pete chilled out at the hostel playing some pool and taking in our dose of English footie that they had on in reception. The 2 of us stayed up until the early hours watching the mess of a game that was the Carling Cup Final. Glad we got the cup but what an emotional rollercoaster to get it. That's Liverpool for you.

Day 5: My final day in Sepilok before heading to Semporna for some diving. Pete and I hung around the hostel in the morning before taking a walk to check out the nearby Rainforest Discovery Centre. Wasn't sure what we would see that we hadn't seen on the wildlife safari but Adam had said it was good there so thought it might be worth checking out. It wasn't! I think we went a bit late in the day because we walked around for a good couple of hours and only saw one small Lizard. No birds, no Monkeys, nothing. Oh well, made us even more grateful for everything we had seen along the Kinabatangan. We then got caught in some seriously heavy rain heading back to Uncle Tans. It rains A LOT in Borneo.

A pretty relaxed afternoon and evening, consisting of more Pool, Table Tennis and Darts. Nothing much else to do in Sepilok (no bars or anything) and we had seen everywhere we wanted to. I really enjoyed my time in Sepilok and Uncle Tans has been one of my favourite guesthouses so far. Likewise, the wildlife tour was awesome. Said goodbye to Pete, who was heading to Kuala Lumpur the following day. Bus to Semporna for me in the morning.