The Corridor of Life

One thing I've learnt about the challenges of my work is being in the field regardless of weather conditions. Kinabatangan River is massive, in my opinion, and teeming with wildlife, especially when you go further downstream. Thing is, we had to go on boat rides, and you never have any say on your choice of boats. And just so you know, Kinabatangan is notorious for man-eating buayas (crocodiles). That pretty much spiked the anxiety level *albeit my secret curiousity to actually catch a glimpse of them*.

You see, the boats are usually those small-outboards, not too high on the sides, and them boatmen seem to fancy going near to the banks. River banks are, like, the favoured hangouts of buayas. I always had this thought that the crocs will leap out of the water and snap at our DO-meters.

We didn't see any although we were on boats for half of our trip there. The rain was more harrowing.

Kg. Bilit, situated somewhere mid-stream of the river, is where WWF once had the HABITAT project (which is still ongoing now, but taken over by the village's corporation). You get to choose a tree in the nursery to plant (for free, tsk stingy) which is actually a conservation effort to replenish the habitat of orangutans in that area. And if you are lucky enough, this is also where you get to see elephants crossing the river.

Sukau, downstream of Kinabatangan, is where you get to see all our primate friends, especially the nasalis larvatus -- proboscis monkey. Oddly enough, we didn't see any. Not even the very common (and annoying) macaques. The closest to wildlife we had was a baby bird and a deer outside my window.


Four days of wilderness. Returning to civilisation will be great, flying home for the festive season will be AWESOME.

xo Li Ying