la v and jak travel the world

July 5: We visit the Dutchman of the Forest
Today, we headed off to Bako National Park to do a little tour of the jungle/rainforest and to try and get a glimpse of some wildlife. We took some speedboats out to the entrance of the park, cruising by the South China Sea. Once we got there, it was only a few minutes of walking on the boardwalk before we spotted the famed Probiscis monkey, a unique primate that exists only in Borneo. The most unique trait about the Probiscis monkey is its nose, which is HUGE... in fact, the locals refer to it as the "Dutchman of the Forest." If you look closely, you'll notice he's picking his nose.
Reevers took us on a bit of a nature walk into the rain forest. The vegetation in the rain forest is so thick that it is difficult to spot the animals, even if they are right in front of you. Reevers explained how we could listen for the specific sound of the male Probiscis monkey, which has a deep, nasal grumble/squawk -- the bigger the nose, the better the sound. A couple of times, he made the sound of the male monkey, which received an eager response from some females.
The hike itself was pretty cool; we got to walk on a pretty easy trail that took us through the edge of the jungle. It took a while for us to get used to all of the animal noises in the jungle, but after a while, it became a bit easier to differentiate between some of the different creatures. We paused every now and then to try and catch a glimpse of more animals… perhaps a flying lemur…

We heard (and smelled) a few more animals along the way, but most were too shy to come out and play.
Here is Reevers, trying to scout out some interesting wildlife for us.
After a little less than an hour of walking, we came across a clearing that took us onto a beach. Just in time, cuz it was getting HOT! While we were alking around in the jungle, the shade of the trees kept the temperature pretty nice; probably in the mid 80s. But as soon as we got out into the open air, it must have been in the mid 90s, with humidity over 90%. Whew! We dipped our feet into the water, which was pretty warm itself.

On the way to the canteen for lunch, we spotted a bit more wildlife, like this baby venomous pit viper…
We also got an up close look at this silver-tailed macaque with her baby… these two caused some trouble later after lunch was finishing, when they jumped onto the dining tables and started devouring the leftover rice!
We cruised back to the bus in our speed boats and headed back to the hotel, where we basically passed out… the heat really takes a lot out of you here. Tomorrow, we’re off to Batang Ai!