Day 10 Journey to Tanini Hotel on the Kinabatangan River

We didn't have to set an alarm this morning and woke at 7.30 a.m. Had an uninspiring breakfast and left Sepilok for The Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, a trip of 2 to 3 hours by road, all pretty much on the level, initially on decent dual carriageway though it was still very bumpy on board our bus.

After around an hour we stopped for one of our group to visit a doctor as she was feeling unwell. The rest of us stocked up with soft drinks/snacks in the lovely cool supermarket. Certainly do things differently over here!

They were delayed at the doctor's so we found a cafe, with toilets. However there was no water in Lamag. We sat in one of the cafes with a luke warm drink from the overworked fridge until our bus reappeared after around an hour. The lady seen by the doc and medication given.

A few pictures of the town 

Pleased to return to the Aircon on the bus we drove to a KFC as apparently there's often no water for toilets but KFC have their own water tank…. hurrah for KFC!

For the entirety of the journey we passed mile upon mile of palm oil plantations and mills. A crop is picked every 2 weeks and the tree produces well for 35 years. It's essential for the local economy but terrible for the planet. 

Arrived at the Kinabatangan River and crossed in boats, a 2 minute journey, to our lodges for the next 2 nights. A real upgrade on the last place. Lovely!

All meals are included here, lunch was delicious. After lunch we had to sort out wellies for the night walks as it's apparently too muddy for walking boots. We have a timetable of events for the next 2 days. The first of which is a river cruise at 4pm.

They have a gong at reception which is banged for meals and trips! Shoes are to be left outside the restaurant and accommodation. Flip flops are the shoe of choice for this portion of the trip!

Flip flops, ponchos, camera, hats ready and with an extra squirt of deet we headed to the restaurant for tea and banana fritters to fuel up before our 2 hour river cruise. 

Neil took some amazing photos of the wildlife 

I took some scenic photos!

It was cool on the river when we were speeding along but humid with a strong smell of petrol from the boats’ idling engines when we stopped to view animals/birds. 4 or 5 boats headed out at the same time from different lodges, gradually spacing themselves out over the vast river, which unfortunately has a lot of plastic bottles floating around in it, very sad. Apparently locals go and collect them on a regular basis but it's a seemingly endless task.

Dinner was delicious. I shared a bottle of wine with 3 others, very civilised. For dessert we tried something called tarip fruit, creamy, sweet but with a slightly odd texture.

Towards the end of our meal the rain really hammered down 

So this evening's night walk was cancelled. 

Neil has just ordered another beer🍻 

Later we walked slowly back to our lodge in the cool rain which has noticeably reduced the temperature, fabulous! 

Took a few photos on our way.

An early night as we have the alarm set at 5.15 a m. for tomorrow's activities. Went to sleep to the sound of light rain on our tin roofed lodge. Lovely.