Malaysia: Borneo to be Wild - Sabah

We've spent the past 10 days on Borneo, the third largest island on Earth, in the Malaysian state of Sabah. There are two other countries on the island of Borneo (for those who didn't know) one of which is a state of Indonesia, called Kalimantan, the other an entire country called Brunei.

Part one of our adventure took us into the steamy rainforest region called Sepilok where we had some opportunities to view spectacular wildlife in the lush jungle. 

We were fortunate to see many types of indigenous primates, such as the orange-tinged and iconic orangutan, the hyperactive silver-leafed monkey, many fiesty macaques, and troops of the big-nosed proboscis monkey. 

We saw the world's smallest bear, the endangered honey bear, known as the sun bear, in it's natural forest environment, as well as a few water monitors (big swimming lizards).

We also explored a mangrove forest by riverboat where we spotted many colorful birds, visited a Brunei stilt village that was built over the water and had tea and snacks with the village chief in his home. Once darkness fell, we saw hundreds of dazzling fireflies swarming in the trees along the water's edge, a first for us both.

The next leg of our journey took us deeper into the jungle to an adventure lodge on the Kinabatangan River. Along the wide, muddy river we had a couple additional days of excellent wildlife hunting - mainly by riverboat. 

We also rented leech socks and big rubber boots for an adventurous jungle walk to a large inland waterway called Oxbow Lake. 

Our days on the Kinabatangan were fun-filled and again we saw many monkeys in the wild, one very huge 15-foot crocodile swimming near our boat, and viewed many types of rare hornbills, brightly feathered kingfisher, and dozens of other large birds in the treetops along the banks. 

The last day in that area we visited a massive cave system, the Gomantong Caves, where we were led into the largest of the caverns to see the many bats high above, some dangerous centipedes, and thousands of creepy-crawlies on the walls and underfoot (boots or shoes were highly recommended). In the surrounding jungle we also spotted a pair of wild orangutan swinging in the branches above the trail.

For the third and final leg of the Borneo expedition we were based in the city of Kota Kinabalu, (known locally  as "KK"), the capital of Sabah. There we had a chance to catch our breath with a down day of street shopping and night market wandering, and even some hotel pool-time, for some non-active relaxation. 

But we also had a couple days of exploring KK's offshore Gaya and Manatik islands, both heavily forested and quite lovely. On Gaya we had full day trip that consisted of 3 good snorkel sessions amidst vibrant and plentiful coral and fish, and saw some of the largest anemonie and clown fish we've ever seen, who watched us with guarded curiousity. 

On Manatik, we swam in the warm sea, and lounged on the shoreline for a few hours before heading back to the KK city area. 

Sabah is a wonderful slice of Malaysia, and we've met many friendly travelers, seen several amazing sunsets, beautiful flowers, and had a fine time interacting with the local people, who seemed kind and very friendly.