As you can probably imagine, our full day in the Danum Valley was all about spotting living things.  We were up before 6.00am again to head out on our first trek of the day.  As we prepared to start our trek, a wild pig and it’s twelve piglets crossed the road ahead of us, followed by the boar shortly afterwards.  It had rained a lot, so the leaves on the jungle floor were all wet and the clay was slippery and muddy.  And the leeches were active.

That’s a tiger leech in the above photo.  They tend to live on leaves that are about 1 metre above ground level and attach themselves to your legs or any other part of you as you brush past them.  They move fast and are attracted to body heat.  They can grow up to 3 or 4 cm long, but plenty are smaller.  It mostly hurts when they fasten on to you, and they pump in a lot of anticoagulant when they’re feeding.  Yes, I know this from experience after one having a large meal on my back.  Eurgh.  We pulled off a couple of others from our bodies when they’d only just attached – it leaves a round bruise that looks like a blood blister (which I suppose it is, essentially).  The leech socks did work effectively to keep them off our legs and feet though!

Now I have to admit – this is not Stella’s idea of how to spend a holiday. She does love the animals – especially the baby ones – but she most definitely does not love bugs, leeches, mud, sweat, treks and food with flavour. I was actually pretty proud of her – she showed courage in doing things that were out of her comfort zone and were things that she didn’t really want to do. And in the end we progressed to ‘I have complaints – but I’m keeping them in’. Well done! That’s the spirit!

Clare also hates being sweaty, dirty, and threatened by leeches, but she’s a hardened Girl Guide and Gold Duke of Ed participant, so just gets on with it. That said, we were all pretty happy with our cold showers while in the Danum Valley – I think that Clare took two on this day! We did three treks – the early morning one, another straight after breakfast, then another before dinner. That did leave us with some time to chill before and after lunch. The girls and I took the opportunity to catch up on our novels while Dan went for a swim in the river (in the rain).

From the Danum Valley Field Centre website: Prior to may 1995, Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA) was an informal protected area in the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve of primary, undisturbed, predominantly lowland rainforest with an outstanding complement of Borneo flora and fauna. It was part of the almost one million ha forest concession assigned to Yayasan Sabah. In 1976, WWF-malaysia suggested that the area be declared a national park. The Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA) is a 438 sq. km tract. However, Yayasan Sabah Board of Trustess resolved on November 28, 1980, to leave the area within Yayasan Sabah concession but shall leave it unlogged for the purpose of conservation. Thereafter it is known as “Danum Valley Conservation Area”.

The Forest Management Plan for Yayasan Sabah Concession Area was drawn up and approved by the State Cabinet in 1984. Principle to this plan was the designation of two areas as protected conservation areas, one of which being the Danum Valley Conservation Area. In May 1995, the area was declared a Class I (protection) Forest Reserve by the Sabah Legislative Assembly, meaning that it cannot be logged except by decisions of a two thirds majority vote by the Sabah Legislative Assembly. In 1999, Danum Valley Conservation Area was further gazetted under The Cultural Heritage (Conservation) Enactment 1998, as a Cultural Heritage (Conservation) Area.

To facilitate activities realated to research. Education, training and wilderness recreation, Yayasan Sabah established the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) IN 1986. Located on the edge of Danum Valley Conservation Area, the Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) is open to both international and local scientists/ researchers, who must first apply in waiting to the sectary, Danum Valley Management Committee.

Danum Valley Field Centre has evolved into one of the foremost rainforest research establishments in South East Asia. The extensive facilities include permanent research plots and an extensive trail system, well-equipped analytical laboratories, computer and email facilities, a library, climatic station data, phenology monitoring data base, trained field staff, vehicles, housing and sports facilities, a Nature Interpretation and Environmental Education Building and a Nature Discovery Centre, several canopy observatation platforms and towers, and a suspension bridge over the Segama River.

There was quite a bit of rain over the course of the day, which makes some animals harder to spot. Unsurprisingly, they like to get out of the rain too! But there were always other things to find.

Research programmes at Danum Valley began in 1982….To date over 350 collaborative research projects have been completed or are underway resulting in about 400 publications. Major studies focused on natural forest dynamics, regeneration within artificial gaps, nutrient cycling and the effect of logging on water quality and vertebrate populations, and a long-term research related to climate commenced in 2008 by a consortium of 8 institutions with collaboration from Malaysian universities/ institutions and headed by University of Lancaster, UK.

A large group of botany and zoology students from Swansea University in Wales had arrived on the same night as us.  They were busy during the day in classes or trekking around on various projects.  They were all sleeping in the simple hostel accommodation that was a short walk from the dining room.  Dan and I had commented to one another on how subdued and well behaved they seemed on the first night; on the second night we could hear the murmur ‘there’s beer for 15 ringgit!’ travel from one end of the verandah to the next, shortly followed by a rush of students to get whichever cans they could.  They were much more chatty that night!

Danum Valley Conservation Area is dominated by dipterocarp tress, with the canopy reaching a height of over 70 metres in some places. Some 90% of the Conservation Area is classified as dipterocarp forest, with the remaining 10% being low canopy, sub-montane forest mainly found on Mt. Danum in the heart of the Conservation Area.

After dinner we hopped on to the back of a 4×4 with a couple of the park rangers armed with spotlights. They were able to find a few creatures that we hadn’t seen previously! I have no idea how they can spot them from a moving vehicle in the dark – but they do!  This was Stella’s favourite activity in the Danum Valley.  We saw plenty of sleeping birds (all puffed up with their heads tucked under their wings, sitting in a row on a branch), a flying squirrel (that didn’t fly for us), sambar deer, mouse deer, Malay civets, and a tarantula!  And of course there were plenty of geckos around.

I was a little sad the next day when I discovered that a couple who did a night walk (while we were out on the 4×4) spotted a tarsier!  This was one animal that I had really hoped to see while we were in Borneo; alas, for us it wasn’t to be.  However, we were really lucky to have seen the mouse deer, and this was the only time that we saw civets.   It really was an amazing day.  Once again many thanks go to Mike for his excellent guiding abilities.

After breakfast we hopped back into a boat – along with our luggage – and headed to the jetty on the other side of the river to await our transport to the Danum Valley.  This gave us just enough time for another wander around the buidings at the jetty location.

Most of the village houses are very simple constructions. They tend to be on stilts, or else have a lower floor built from concrete blocks. The top floor is usually timber (if not concrete). Rooves are usually metal. They tend not to have much ornamentation; if they do it’s generally a turned timber balustrade. Some are painted, some are not. In the towns there are apartments, often above shops, up to around five stories high. The benefit of concrete as a building material is that it isn’t affected by termites. We have found that even in newer buildings, fittings aren’t always well installed, or are of dodgy quality. I figure that they are just working with what is available to them – or what can be afforded.

It was only a short bus trip to the starting point for Gomantong Cave. We kitted up in hard hats and gloves – I’ll tell you why the gloves shortly! The walk in to the cave area was through more lush jungle. I have to be super careful on boardwalks – on all surfaces really – as due to the wet climate, surfaces are often quite slippery.

See that cow? We happened to arrive on the one day of the year where the locals who live at and work in the cave were preparing for a ceremony to appease the cave spirits – and yes, the cow was an integral part of it. Fortunately for us the ceremony was going to take place later in the day.

As well as living beside the main cave opening, there were houses higher up on the cliffs beside other entrances. This cave system is incredibly important – and profitable – and there is no way that it’s going to be left unattended.

Stella only got as far as the entrance to the cave – it’s an assault on all the senses. The smell is unbelievable – an intense and concentrated mixture of bird and bat poo. It’s also incredibly noisy with the sounds of both bats and birds. There are droppings everywhere – underfoot, on the hand rails (hence the gloves), and in huge piles in the open areas of the cave. That said, it was amazing to visit. A boardwalk goes around the perimeter of the cave, taking you from one side to the other then back to the entrance.

That building in the photo above? Someone LIVES in that. It’s a guardhouse. Inside this incredibly smelly and noisy cave.

And had I mentioned the cockroaches? SO many cockroaches! Plus some poisonous centipedes.

Incredible to visit, but a relief to get out of! There is a display at the entrance to the boardwalk in to the cave area that explains more about the cave system and about the ways that the nests are harvested.

According to the government tourism website, bird nests that are produced in this cave are the best in the world. There are two types of nests produced in Gomantong Caves (Black nest and White nest).The harvest and collection of bird’s nests are conducted twice a year and is regulated by the Department of Wildlife, as provided in section 85 ( 6 ) EPHL97 . White nest harvesting is done in February and August, while the black nests are harvested in April and August. The task of harvesting birds’ nests in Gomantong Cave is done by contractors appointed by the government through a tender system, different from Madai Cave where the harvest is done by the heirs of the cave. Black and white nests produced in 15 caves and the remaining 4 caves just produce black nest only. The market price for a kilogram of white nests can reach up to RM7000 while for black nest is between 3,000 – RM4000 per kilogram.

Bird’s nests harvesting activities is an incredibly unique and impressive sight which can be seen during the harvest season. The workers who harvest these birds nest used traditional tools such as “piatau”, “gegulug”, “sesungkit” and “ambong” to harvest the bird’s nests. All equipment is made of rattan and bamboo. The ability of these workers which is climbing the “gegulug” and standing on the floating “piatau” provides an exceptional view for visitors.

After peeling off our gloves and refreshing ourselves, it was back into the bus for the drive to the Danum Valley,  via Lahad Datu.  In Lahad Datu we stopped off for luch at a local cafe – the food was delicious!  Wonderful combination of flavours.

But then Mike had planned a little surprise for us – a stop at Multibake to choose a birthday cake for Clare! Hip hip hooray! Red velvet cake went down a treat.

The drive in to the Danum Valley took around two hours, on what had formerly been logging tracks. It was a slow and bumpy ride. We were staying in rest houses at the Danum Valley Field Centre, a rainforest research centre.  Over the past couple of years it has added on facilities for tourists in order to provide more funding and to enable others to see the wonders of the Danum Valley.  It’s best to visit on an organised tour through a company like Sticky Rice Travel, as we did.  This means that you have your own guide who really knows what to look for and what you might find.  We were especially fortunate to have Mike guiding us, as he’s spent many years working in this valley and is passionate about it.  Once we’d settled in to our rooms – basic, but cofortable with fans and en suite cold water bathroom – we pulled on our leech socks for the first time and met Mike for an afternoon walk.

That hole of muddy water in the photo above is a pig wallow – the wild boar come to wallow in the muddy water to coat their skin to deter insects and provide some sun protection.

The tree with the black trunk in the photo above is ebony. And look – more red leaf monkeys!

We also spotted the pygmy squirrel – such a teensy little thing, that moved so quickly.  Can you spot it in the next two photos?

After a robust and delicious buffet style dinner, we headed on a night walk. At this stage it had been raining, so we were walking with torches along muddy and slippery jungle paths. It was quite the experience! I don’t have photos from our night walks, but we saw some colourful sleeping birds, plenty of insects, and colourful fungi. There are some nocturnal creatures that I was hoping we’d see – but no luck on this walk. After all, it’s a huge jungle out there!

We were awake at 5.30am to get ready for a 6am boat cruise.  Sunrise is just before 6.30am, and sunset is at around 6.15pm.  We had the added excitement of Clare turning seventeen years old – what a place to spend your birthday!

Okay, a heads up for all of you – there are SO many photos that I can’t resist sharing in today’s blog post! Your scroll finger might get sore.  I was so glad that we’d remembered to bring the rarely-used ‘real’ camera – Clare did a wonderful job with the zoom lens.

Groups of proboscis monkeys were still asleep in the trees. There were around eleven that we counted in one group. Like all monkeys, they are social and travel in groups, often family groups.  Stella prefers to refer to them as ‘preposterous monkeys’.

And then we spotted more hornbills!  Such fabulous birds!  I am fairly sure that these ones are Malaysian pied hornbills, the most common.  They eat fruit, insects, shellfish, small reptiles, small mammals and birds including their eggs.  They nest in holes in tree trunks.

And in that next photo?  It’s an orangutan!  In the wild!  Woo hoo!

These photos really are all over the place in terms of the time of day that each one was taken – one of the hazards on writing a blog post so many days after the event.  My memory is becoming hazier, because we’ve seen so much more since!  Anyway, the water levels were very high, so our planned post-breakfast jungle walk was changed to a boat trip down river to the village of Sukau, with a walk through the village to see what we could see.

That white building on stilts is purpose build to attract swifts to it (it has a recording of the bird call playing) to prompt the swifts to build nests that will later be harvested for bird’s nests to be sold for human consumption, especially in bird’s nest soup.  Personally, I don’t see the attraction of eating bird saliva, but each to their own.  Bird’s nests are very expensive to buy, as their harvesting and then the preparation of the nests is all done by hand and is extremely labour intensive.

Education is considered to be very important.  This is a village primary school – there is a high school about 15 minutes drive down the road.  While there are private schools that charge significant fees, there are also government funded schools to give as many children as possible the opportunity to advance themselves through education, no matter the family income.  Sponsorships are available for children from poor families.

I am always fascinated by cemeteries (some of you many know that in one of my previous career incarnations I worked for a funeral director – I have spent plenty of time in cemeteries).  There are many small cemeteries dotted around near villages or even near roadsides.  You can tell the religion from the type of graves – the one in the photo below is a muslim cemetery.  We’ve also spotted plenty of Christian and Chinese cemeteries as well.

I had also been wondering about what alphanumeric system was used for car number plates.  The first letter is the state – in this case, Sabah.  The next letter is for the city in which the car is registered – in this case, Sandakan.  The numbers that follow are more random.

Our afternoon boat cruise was full of sights.  The long-tailed macaques really put on a show – we were able to get incredibly close to them.  There were large family groups of all ages – the smaller ones being particularly cute in their movements and interactions.  The larger ones scare me a bit – you definitely don’t want to get them off side!  Don’t stare directly in their eyes.

That’s a red leaf monkey in the photo above – there are plenty more photos of them to come in later blog posts, but this was our first sighting of one.

Some of the trees had these large drums in them, placed to provide nesting opportunities for hornbills.  They were really big – I have no idea how they managed to get them high up into the trees!

More hornbills!

That’s a hornet’s nest built on a dead branch in the river – we gave it a wide berth.  If one hornet stings, the rest then attack as well.  Very dangerous.

The monkeys are more active in the late afternoon, as they move from feeding down to their resting places for the night, higher in the trees.

There are a few places where ropes have been strung across the river.  These are orangutan bridges, giving them a way of getting from one part of the jungle to another.  Generally, orangutans can’t swim.  Proboscis monkeys and macaques can swim, but considering that there are crocodiles in that river (yes, we saw one) why would you swim when you can cross a bridge?

It was fascinating watching this pig tailed macaque cross over!  He’s huge, and looked very determined (and unhappy)!  That’s a whole lot of baboon crossing a wobbly piece of kevlar tape, a long way up in the air.

Phew, he made it!  There were quite a few times though when he appeared to slip and hung from the tape rather than walking along it.  It was very impressive.

One more pig tailed macaque crossing to watch on our way back to the lodge as the sun set.  What an amazing day!  As always, our guide Mike did a superb job of spotting wildlife and answering questions about all manner of things.  It’s definitely worth having a private guide who really knows their stuff.  This was definitely a birthday that Clare (and the rest of the family) will always treasure.