Saturday August 23, 2003
[Also published on All Malaysia]
Sg Kinabatangan’s wild world
STORY & pictures by Liz Price
Elephants in Sabah.... what a sight!
As the boat approached the riverbank, I could see three grey boulders on top of the embankment. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the boulders move. Then it developed ears and a trunk and I realised I was looking at an elephant – my first sighting of wild elephants in Sabah!
I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the boat for a closer look. It was quite a steep climb up the embankment and there were deep holes hidden by the long grass. When I arrived at the top, I was astounded to see not just three elephants, but a whole herd. It was a group of about 12 adults with their young.
They didn’t seem too concerned by our presence and continued to feed on the long grass, although a couple of adults were trumpeting for a while. I took photos in quick succession expecting the animals to move off, but they stayed put. I saw a smaller group at the far end of the grassy meadow, and another group walking through the nearby woods.
Macaques feasting on fruit.
It all seemed a bit surreal. I half expected to see circus tents in the background. I have only seen a wild elephant once in Malaysia, and that was in Taman Negara, when I was alone and about two days’ walk from Park HQ. At the time, I was terrified and turned tail and ran, without even taking a photo.
So to see a whole herd at close range was just amazing
There are only two species of elephants worldwide, the African and Asian. The African is by far the bigger of the two. These Asian elephants in Sabah seemed surprisingly small compared to the huge creatures I had seen in South Africa. With the Asian elephants, the tusks of females and young males are rarely visible, but some large males have tusks up to one metre long. Their ears are also smaller than their African cousins.
The elephant is not indigenous to Borneo and no one knows for sure how it got there. There are various theories; some say they are the descendants of tributes presented to the Sultan of Brunei. Others say they were brought to Brunei by the British Borneo Company to help with the logging activities. But records show the elephants have been there for at least a century, i.e. before Europeans settled in Sabah and well before commercial logging started. But however they got there, they are surviving and there are now more elephants in Sabah than anywhere else in Malaysia. However they can only survive if their habitat is left intact.
We were on the Sg Kinabatangan, the longest river in Sabah. It flows for 560km from the mountains in the southwest through central Sabah before emptying into the Sulu Sea, south of Sandakan. Logging and clearing of land for plantations have spoilt some of the upper reaches, but the riverine forest near the coast is hemmed in with oil palm plantations, and contains an extraordinary variety of wildlife.
The famous proboscis monkeys unique to this part of the world.
I opted to go with Wildlife Expeditions, and was not disappointed. From Sandakan, we drove to Sukau, a journey of about three hours, part of which is along dusty roads. Although Sukau is marked on maps, it is a tiny place comprising few settlements along Sg Kinabatangan. There is little human settlement so the banks of the floodplain are rich with wildlife.
We took a boat upriver to the Sukau River Lodge, and from there went up a small tributary, the Sg Menanggol. Its naturally dark waters were quite a contrast to the murky brown of the Kinabatangan. Within five minutes of leaving the lodge, we came across a troop of proboscis monkeys. These are unique to Borneo, found along coastal mangroves and large riverine forests. The males have the characteristic large pendulous nose. The function of this enlarged nose is unknown, but it may be related to sexual selection by the females.
Apart from the nose, the colour is also distinctive as it looks as if these monkeys are wearing an orange jacket, grey tights with white underpants.
Our boat stopped right below the troop; it was a young bachelor group, so none of them sported a really big nose. Like the elephants, they also seemed relatively unconcerned by our presence, and nonchalantly continued eating. One of the larger ones sat with his back against a tree trunk, forearm resting on his leg which struck me as such a human pose. Suddenly one let loose a golden shower, then all the others followed suit!
Further up river, we spied several long-tailed macaques. It was nice to see these creatures in the real jungle, as many of their relatives have become urbanised and are commonly seen in city suburbs, in particular, at Batu Caves where they feed on human “junk food”.
I also saw a small family of pig-tailed macaques (beruk). Captive animals are trained to climb coconut trees. Sadly, we didn’t see any orang utans or crocodiles.
This area is a bird watchers paradise. I am not a birder, but I was happy to see hornbills, especially the white crowned, large kingfishers and several oriental darters or snake birds. My favourites were two Buffy Fish owls, one of which dived for a fish right in front of our boat.
There were several monitor lizards along the riverbanks, mostly juveniles. And we were lucky to spot a Waglers Pit Viper on a branch above the river. This is the same species of snake found in the snake temple in Penang.
It was quite an amazing afternoon. I never expected to see so much, in terms of numbers and variety of creatures. The highlight had to be the elephants.
The Kinabatangan remains one of the few places in Malaysia where you are guaranteed to see wildlife, and what better way to see it than through a river cruise. W
Wildlife Expeditions
Room 903, 9th floor
Wisma Khoo Siak Chiew
P.O. Box 3507
90739 Sandakan, Sabah
(089) 219 616, Fax : 089 214570
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