Aug 2008

It's always reassuring to be told what to do when an animal charges but the thought of actually having to do it is another thing. These words let to Court and I sharing an “What the..?” look as we were all standing silently in the rainforest as our guide was off smelling for elephant urine. Yes, that did happen. But let me tell you about the other stuff first.

Last night, the option was put to the other guy in our group; two short activities, the first one at 06:00, or one longer activity leaving after breakfast at 07:30. Court and I were both happy that he choose the latter option. We didn't want to get up for 06:00 again. We got the wake up call and made our way to breakfast. The other guy in our group was already there. He was actually warned last night that if he didn't eat breakfast he wasn't going to be allowed to go on the hike. He made sure he was there for breakfast.

We set off on another previously unexplored trail. Well, unexplored by us. About 30 minutes into the hike Court started to get worried about the other guy in our group, too. I think he wiped out on a trail at some point. The hike was good until we finished the first short trail and moved on to the next one.

As we started the next trail Leo, our guide, stopped suddenly. Almost as an afterthought, he said, “Oh, at our briefing last night, one of the guides said he saw a lone elephant out here.” We weren't sure what that meant until he continued and said, “lone elephants are more aggressive because they feel safer in a herd.” That made sense then. Then he told us the infamous words, “So, when the elephant charges, don't run straight. Run in zig zags.” Um, ok sure. At this point I remember the old joke. “I don't have to outrun the elephant. I just have to outrun everyone else.” But, instead of going with that, I told Leo we'd all follow him.

After the briefing we set out on the trail, with ears peeled for elephant trumpets or a rogue elephant stampeding throughout the forest. When all of a sudden Leo stopped because he could smell the elephant urine. This is where we shared the “What the..?" look. Or, more appropriately, “What are we going to do with the other guy in our group if this elephant does, in fact, charge us?” Leo didn't seem too worried, so we kept going. We successfully made it to the end of the trail without seeing or being charged by the elephant. However, because we were so focused on the elephant, we didn't see many other animals. It was a more tense and stressful walk than expected, but still excellent.

After we finished that path, we stopped to rest and collect ourselves. Then, went on the canopy walk again. Court found some mystery bird in a tree. We could only see parts of it, a bit of the tail, the top of its head. It was kind of difficult to figure out what bird it was from the piecemeal description. But Leo, with some help of other guides, figured it out. She also spotted this bird on the walkway wire.

After the canopy, it was back to the lodge. As we were traveling on the road back to the lodge, we saw some maroon langurs up above us. We had to traipse through the forest to get a good look at them. But, we found them.

The other guy in our group was leaving soon after our return to the lodge, and he had to pack and do all that stuff. We rested in the restaurant and had a short little coffee/tea break. We were sitting at a table relaxing when we heard this loud, THUMP. We looked over on the floor and saw a gecko lying there kind of stunned. He had fallen from the ceiling, which would be a good 7m up. It eventually scuttled off after learning its lesson. We had learned a lesson as well: it was possible for geckos to fall into our plates while eating, as we had pondered in past trips.

After this rest we went back to our lodge and took another rest. It was turning out to be a tough day. Once we both woke up it was time for lunch. After lunch we took another rest. Wow, it was a really tough day. Then we met with Leo again for an afternoon hike.

We started out to do a couple of trails and end up at the canopy walkway again. This was turning out to be our favourite “trail”. Leo said it should take 1 to 1.5 hours to do the total hike. But it took us closer to 3 hours. We always find stuff to look at and he always finds random things for us to see.

On this hike we ran into some orangutan researchers who had spotted a male orangutan up in a tree. He was really difficult to see. All you could make out was his arm. He was sitting behind some ferns holding on to a branch above him.

We also saw this little insect. It's called a mobile fungus insect. The insect stays still long enough for fungus to grow on its back. This will hopefully protect it from birds and other predators.

We finished the trail and ended up back at the canopy walkway. While we were taking a rest Court saw this butterfly on the ground. She crouched down next to it and started to take some pictures. Next thing she knew the butterfly flew up and landed on her knee. What a perfect spot to photograph a butterfly. It turns out that the butterfly was hurt. There was a small hole in one of its wings.

We went back over the canopy walkway. This time we didn't see a whole lot of stuff, but we did enjoy the fantastic view.

These are some shots of and from the canopy walkway.

We stopped at one tree to check out the termites again. Today they were under attack from some ants. The ants were trying to break through the line of soldier termites and take the food that the workers were carrying. The ants are bigger, faster, and stronger than the termites but the termites vastly outnumber the ants. An ant would run up and try to test the line and about 5 termites would charge and jab it, forcing it back. The ants continued to test the termites' defensive line for weaknesses. One time an ant did get through the line but it got swarmed by a whole lot of termites. It didn't stay in there very long. Court liked that on one part where the bark was raised out a bit, like a ridge, there were tonnes of termites waiting there. She kept calling it Vimy ridge and saying the ants will never take Vimy.

We got back to the main road and started our way back to the the lodge when we heard a crashing in the bushes to our left. It turns out there was a sambar deer there. We managed to be quiet enough not to scare it away.

As we were watching the deer, we saw another group of people behind us looking at something. Leo started to gesture to the other guide to find out what they were looking at. Leo asked us if it was a red leaf monkey, if we wanted to go back. We said we were ok. But then Leo said it's a snake. We took off to make sure we saw it before it slithered away.

It was a Sumatran pit viper. Highly venomous. When we got to the snake Leo's first comment was that it was in the “ready to strike” position, and that we should stay far back. That was no problem for me. I didn't want to get bitten by it. While we were first watching it it opened its mouth to bare its fangs. That was enough of a warning for me.

We watched the snake for quite a while then went back for dinner. Dinner was outstanding again. Court was happy the coconut pudding made a comeback.

After dinner, it was time for another a night drive. All the birders went in a different truck than us. We were in with a European couple and a British family. The British family was the one with “chatty Cathy” as Court described her. She was an 8 or 9 year old girl who just kept gabbing away at meals. She seemed nice enough, but she just kept on talking and talking and talking and talking. And, of course, she was on our truck. She managed to keep quiet for a little bit of the drive. But not much. Oh well. The sound of the truck would scare animals off quicker than her voice.

For the amount of animals that we saw, the night drive was successful. Right near the start of the drive a flying lemur “flew” directly overhead of us. It was so close, our driver was worried about it landing on us. We also saw some sleeping birds, sleeping maroon langurs, a common palm civet, a lesser mouse deer and a flying squirrel.

We got back to our lodge around 10 and we were out cold by about 10:15. We have one more day left in the Danum Valley Conservation Area.

Word to the wise: if you are hiking in the jungle, eat breakfast before you go. Even if you don't need to eat breakfast at home, REMEMBER you need to eat it in the rainforest. Or you may not come back from the hike. I was kind of worried that my hiking partner (not Court) wasn't going to make it back today. But, that happened on our second hike of the day. He didn't come on the first hike. So, his first hike.

Someone came to knock on our door at 05:45. We had to meet Leo, our guide, at 06:00 for the canopy walk. All I can say is that 05:45 still comes really really early in the rainforest. We got ourselves sorted out and made it down to the lodge only about 10 minutes late. We waited until 06:15 for the other guy in our group, which was when we got word that he wasn't joining us. Court didn't look too impressed with the early start.

We set off for the canopy walk. It's a 240 m suspension bridge walkway that they've created near the tops of the trees. From the walkway it is a whole lot easier to see birds and other wildlife. You're not standing there craning your neck up for an hour or so.

Because of the rain last night there was a mist throughout the air, the sun hadn't had a chance to burn it off yet. This mist reduced the visibility dramatically and not many animals were up and moving around. However, Court did manage to spot a big, orange hairy thing moving in the tops of the trees. She picked out another orangutan just waking up and starting to hunt for food. Even luckier, it was a mother orangutan and there was a juvenile with her. Some of the pictures turned out but others didn't. Oh well.

We also noticed a lot of other little wildlife along the way. We found this gorgeous looking spiderweb and a host of termites trudging food up the tree. There were two columns of soldier termites facing outwards and all the worker termites were moving up and down the tree between them. It was quite impressive.

Then we reached the end of the canopy walkway and came back for breakfast. We were both tired and hungry! For sheer volume of animals the walk was disappointing, but the quality was great!

After breakfast we had a little time and quickly ran back to our cabin. As we were sitting outside, Court promptly fell asleep sitting upright in her chair. This pretty much determined that she would not be going on the morning hike to the viewpoint. Which was probably a good decision.

We met again at the main lodge at 09:00 to go on our hike. It was planned to be a 3 hour hike with a stop at the jacuzzi pool for a swim. But this did not work out. We were going to hike up to an ancient burial ground and the viewpoint, the highest point in Danum Valley. There's an excellent view over the whole area. It was a pretty difficult trek. To give you an idea the trail is only 1.2 km long, but the change in elevation is about 225 m. Up. Which means it is about a 25% slope.

We set off for our hike. This time it was me, Leo and one other guy. Court was asleep. I was worried about the other guy before we even started; he struggled with the little walk yesterday. Then at the lodge Leo asked if he ate breakfast. The other guy said he hadn't but filled his belly with water and tea. I thought, “Oh crap. This isn't good”. But we set off anyways.

Leo and I kept up a pretty good pace for a while. We stop every so often and I'd ask some questions about any random thing that I could see: insects, plants, animals, anything. I was interested in it, but I also hoped it would give the other guy a breather. Oh, I also forgot: he had only one 500 mL bottle of water with him. I think I had 2.5 L or something ridiculous. I am a Cameron. I sweat a WHOLE lot normally and in the rainforest it's worse.

We saw some more pill millipedes, tractor millipedes mating, some giant forest ants and lots of other neat little insects. We didn't see many other animals though.

We eventually made it to the junction for the burial ground and the viewpoint.

I wasn't sure if the other guy in our group was going to make it, but he did. He passed on the hike down to the burial ground and sat while we went. This was a burial ground for the Suppa people of Sabah. Instead of burying the body in the ground, they would climb up and place the coffins in a small cave or alcove on the mountain face.

There was a ladder built to climb and see the grave sites. On one site there are still bones that you can easily see, including their teeth. Scientists have carbon dated the bones at over 250 years old. There was also some old pottery to see.

We climbed back down the ladder and went over to see the ancient coffin. It was made of a very very very hard wood. They would have to soak the wood for months before it became soft enough to carve. Leo said that this coffin would be reserved for someone extremely important probably a tribal chief. You could also see the blowpipe that he was buried with. I assume this was meant to protect him in the afterlife.

We went back and picked up the other member of our group and started the climb to the viewpoint. This was the hardest part, but the other guy in our group was determined to get there. I wasn't sure if he'd make it. Actually, I thought he'd make it. But, I wasn't sure if he was going to make it back down the mountain.

The view was excellent. We couldn't see any animals or anything. But, the view was still great. Oh, I forgot. The other guy in our group was here in January and did the hike then. Wow!

This is the main lodge and some of the chalets.

We rested up there for a while longer. Leo asked if we wanted to go on to the fairy falls. It was only 20 minutes further along the trail. Except it was 20 minutes downhill at about a 25 degree slope. Which is fine going there. But it also means it 20 minutes back up the hill at a 25 degree slope. I think the other guy in our group thought briefly about it, but I said No, I didn't want to go.

We started back down the hill. We got back to the junction and about 5 minutes later we stopped and the other guy in our group almost passed out. He managed to steady himself on a tree, but he was in rough shape. Leo quickly sat him down, took off his shoes and asked him if he had more water. He was out. I however, still had about 1.5 L left. I gave Leo some of my water and an empty bottle. He mixed this with a rehydrating pack and made the other guy drink it. Then we waited for another 20 minutes or so.

Eventually we got up and moving again. We went pretty pretty slow. We passed the jacuzzi pool, where you can go swimming if you want. Again the other guy in our group was tempted to go, but I said I didn't want to. I was actually getting quite hungry by this point. And we made it back down to the main lodge. Phewf. I'm glad we didn't have to carry him down the mountain.

We arrived back later than expected and I stopped at our lodge to get Courtney to go eat. This involved more than I thought. First I had to wake her up. She was still asleep. When she got her act together it was lunch time. Another excellent meal.

While I was hiking Court did some exploring and picture taking. Here are some shots of our room. Remember it was built for the Sultan of Brunei.

She also found some fire ants. Leo said fire ants are very aggressive and it hurts when they bite you. I don't think Court got bit by one though.

We all met up again at 15:30 to do some more hiking. After the morning excursion the other guy in our group opted out of the afternoon activity. This was probably for the best. We went for a hike on the Danum Trail to the river.

We didn't see a whole lot of animals. That was fine. It was still a great hike through the rainforest. We did see/were found by many leeches. We got them before really dug in. We found them mostly on our pants and shirts. Most of the were on Court.

We got back with a little time to spare before dinner. After dinner we connected with Leo and the other guy in our group to do a night walk. Basically we walked around the lodge area, in and around the cabins, and, using flashlights, tried to spot stuff. I felt like we were prowlers, sneaking around someone's backyard with a flashlight. It was a lot of fun.

We found a wild boar almost right away. It was just waiting behind the restaurant. I think they feed it leftovers; apparently it's there almost every day.

We also some same sambar deer, greater mouse deer, and lesser mouse deer. I found this cricket. It was EXTREMELY loud. It was quite amazing.

Then we went to the pond near the lodge to look for frogs. Court was on fire spotting the frogs. We ended up seeing four different species of frogs:

• file eared
  
• img=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/IMG_0051__Large_.jpg thumb=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/thumb_IMG_0051__Large_.jpg
• cinnamon
  
• img=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/IMG_6021__Large_.jpg thumb=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/thumb_IMG_6021__Large_.jpg
• harlequin
  
• img=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/IMG_6022__Large_.jpg thumb=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/thumb_IMG_6022__Large_.jpg
• white-lipped
  
• img=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/IMG_6026__Large_.jpg thumb=http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/59032/thumb_IMG_6026__Large_.jpg
• and one toad.

The picture of the toad didn't turn out.

Leo, our guide, was really excited about this. It was kind of fun trying to spot the frogs.

Then it was back to our lodge. Court found this airplane moth sitting on the ground by the restaurant.

I had just enough energy to take my first shower of the day. Then as soon as I laid down I was out cold. We had to rest up for another day of exploring.