Last of Borneo

On our last full day in the jungle lodge, our guide said we were going to hike to see the Great Argus dance for his ladies. In case you’re puzzled by that sentence, this is a Great Argus -

It is one of the largest pheasants, and they have a dancing ground (like birds of paradise or grouse) where the males put on a show to attract a mate. The first dancing ground was empty, so we walked another km through the jungle (managing to avoid leeches this time!), and quietly walked up to this fella who was all alone.

We had been hearing his call as we were approaching, but unfortunately there were no females. Thus, no dancing. However, we did get this video so you might see him better, and especially his tail plumage (maybe when they dance, he would resemble a peacock?) They are only found on Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula.

As usual, open the email in your browser by clicking the link at the bottom of the post, to see this video -

But… I’m getting ahead of myself. We started out early that morning, like usual, watching the mist rise…

… when we caught sight of a Monitor Lizard coming down a tree -

Anyway, then we went off, getting more and more sweaty, and being as quiet as possible approaching the Great Argus.

Now, fast forward to later in the afternoon. We drove over an hour away from the lodge, to visit the Danum Valley Research Station (deeper into the primary forest of the Conservation Area), hoping to see more or different animals.

We were lucky and saw Red Leaf Monkeys -

That was about it.

Now I’ll share some of the insects and other creepy-crawlies we saw. This caterpillar’s hairs are apparently very painful to touch -

We saw a few different centipedes…

… but this one…

… was the same kind that crawled out of the shoulder belt holder in the car and stung Steve on the neck!

He said it really stung for a few hours, but then went away, leaving no trace.

I thought this was a very interesting entrance to a hive for these Stingless Bees -

The ambient humidity in the jungle (and it had not recently rained) -

A Forest Cockroach -

be sure to enlarge to see the babies

Steve, for scale, against one of the many giants we walked around…

… and his finger for scale by the millipede -

We really enjoyed the colorful collections of fungi -

I’ll close with some brightly colored pics…

… before we head back to civilization in Kuala Lumpur.

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Welcome to the Jungle

Leech socks are a thing…

… but you don’t need them up on a canopy walk, just down on the forest floor trails -

I always assumed leeches were in water (from Hollywood, I guess), but in actuality, they hang onto leaves in the undergrowth…

That Tiger Leech has a sucker at one end that holds onto things, but it’s the other end that bites and sucks blood. Steve got a video of one moving along the undergrowth - (as always, to see the video, open this post in your browser by clicking on the link at the bottom of the post) -

We were both christened on our very first hike, despite wearing leech socks. I had one near my armpit, and Steve had a few around his waist. Apparently, they get on your clothes and climb up until they find bare skin. We didn’t feel them bite, but man, do the spots bleed after you pull them off. They have anticoagulant in their saliva, and despite firm pressure, the areas continued to bleed for over 30 minutes. Luckily, they don’t hurt or itch - it’s just the persistent bleeding that’s a pain.

We were now in primary forest, meaning the land had never been cleared by man (except for the lodge we stayed in and the gravel/dirt road we bounced in on, over 2 1/2 hrs to get there).

It is very dense jungle and very hot and humid. Even when we would go out walking with our guide early in the morning, we’d be literally sopping in sweat by the first 15 minutes (think 90+ degrees and 90% humidity). It was tough.

The day we walked up to this viewpoint over our lodge, it took us a little over an hour, but we saw nothing except lots of leaves and the muddy trail in front of us. I had been really looking forward to seeing more primates here, but we had a few really hot and fruitless days of walking in the jungle. Ah well, you can’t win ‘em all. We did see an ebony tree...

… and a massive pillbug (tennis ball size) -

This is one that was undisturbed -

Hands down, the best time we had in 3 days was on the night hike on our 2nd evening. We saw loads of things, from Forest Crabs (a couple of inches wide in total)…

… to a Huntsman Spider (size of your palm)…

… to this teeny Black-spotted Rock Frog (thumbnail size).

We walked by a pond that was loaded with treefrogs.

Dark-eared Treefrog

I had always been envious of pictures that I saw of treefrogs, and wondered how the photographers found them (usually they’re very small) as well as got their photos. Well, I learned that they sit motionless…

Harlequin Treefrog

… despite bright lights shined right at them. All of these pictured here were no bigger than 3-4 inches.

Cinnamon Treefrog

The crowning glory of the evening was seeing a Western Tarsier. This is a primate that is only found on Borneo and Sumatra. It is completely nocturnal and its body is only 6 inches long.

if you enlarge the photo, you can see the long hairless tail and maybe make out one of the fingers near the head

Despite the bright lights shone on him from several angles, and lots of photographers madly clicking away, he remained motionless.

So, here’s lookin’ at you kid. G’night.

Orangutans, Elephants and more

Our days on the river were very busy and long. We’d join our guide in the boat by 0600, and motor up or down the river looking for different wildlife for a couple of hours before returning to the lodge for breakfast. This will give you a taste of a morning boat ride (to see the video, be sure to open the email in your browser by clicking the link at the bottom of the post) -

There’s no audio on that because the wind noise was just too much.

early morning colors on another day

Down smaller tributaries of the Kinabatangan River were “Orangutan bridges”; these great apes cannot swim. Normally, these were empty ropes strung across, but one morning we watched a Pig-tail Macaque crossing…

…and he took a couple of breaks along the way.

Our fullest day had us heading back out to the river at 1400 (the sun is really hot and bright then) to motor upstream for nearly 2 hours (62 km) in search of Pygmy Elephants. Along the way, we finally saw some orangutans…

…enjoying a fruiting fig tree -

We realized how close the encounters we had had at the rehabilitation center were, and how lucky I was to have gotten those great close-ups. This is the best I could get at the extent of my long lens -

Sure makes you think of Bigfoot, doesn’t it? :)

(you can see the face if you zoom in)

Well, we did find elephants…

do you see it?

… and boy, did they look small (even with my zoom lens) -

When I looked up stats, I found that Pygmy or Borneo elephants are under 8 ft tall, while African elephants can be 10 - 12 ft tall. This adult and youngster looked much less than 8 ft, but we had to stay across the river so we didn’t bother them.

I loved the different coloration…

… and their lively tails -

With watching this little guy clamber out of the river, I felt like this showed his true size (the grasses at the water’s edge aren’t that tall) -

With this shot of the end of her trunk…

… I was reminded of this alpha male Proboscis -

check out those nostrils!

This juvenile Proboscis monkey…

… seemed fascinated by us, and even called out -

So, a few more pics before I end this series. I caught a neat glimpse of a nursing Proboscis…

… while nearby was this massive guy -

On our way to lunch at the lodge one day, we met this gorgeous Paradise Snake -

Much of the time the water was very still…

… and every morning with the mist rising…

… it was magical.

The End.

Kinabatangan River

Before we left the Sandakan area (where the rehabilitation centers are), we were treated to one last wild Orangutan encounter -

(be sure and enlarge it for detail)

We stayed 4 nights at the Sakau Rainforest Lodge on the above named river, and can highly recommend Borneo Eco Tours as an operator. For those of you who have been following me for a long time, you know I ‘never’ highlight accommodations or tours we’ve done, because that’s not what this blog is about. I’m making an exception here, because that operator was top notch, and the wildlife spotting was really good. If you can afford it, get a private guide, so you don’t have to share a boat with 6 or 8 other people.

It was a 2 1/2 hr boat ride to the lodge, and on the way, we saw two more of the “Big 5” of Borneo -

That is a young male Proboscis monkey. The Alpha male has a much larger nose, but he wasn’t out and posing as well -

(I did like his apparent grin)

They looked like they were wearing long fuzzy opera gloves.

This Estuarine Crocodile was posing nicely…

… but didn’t move a muscle for so long, that we joked with the boat crew that it was a plastic model that they planted there for tourists. So the croc obliged us -

Obviously, we had seen Orangutans, as members of the Big 5, and later in our visit, we were to see the remainder - Rhinoceros Hornbill and Pygmy Elephants.

Many times I was glad I had my long lens, as the wildlife was fairly far away and hidden in trees. We were only to see this Silvered Langur twice in our whole time in Borneo -

(you’ll want to enlarge this picture to see more detail)

They are often referred to as the “golden monkey”, because babies have bright orange fur for several months after birth. Sadly, we didn’t get to see a baby.

We were to see sunrise every morning on the river…

… because it’s cooler, and the animals and birds are more active. I’ll try not to bore you with too many birds, but I definitely want to share the hornbills that we saw…

Asian Black Hornbill

… and the more colorful ones, like these Black-and-red Broadbills at their nest -

We had a close encounter with some Long-tailed Macaques…

… that our guide called ‘cheeky monkeys’.

Another Hornbill is the Oriental Pied, and hopefully you can see the difference between a female (L) and male (R) -

Now, the grandest of them all, the Rhinoceros Hornbill, is the national bird of Malaysia -

That one flew right over us one morning, and you can tell it’s a female because of the red ring around the eye.

Even though it’s not the best pose for the camera, hopefully you can see the dark line on the horn of the male on the left, and the red eye ring on the female -

And this guy was rightly proud to pose -

I’m finding it hard to tell a story, when I look through my picture folders and find tons of bird pictures (that I think are beautiful, and I know how hard it was to photograph some of them), but I can almost feel you shudder at the thought of more birds.

I captured that Blue-eared Kingfisher on a night boat ride. The “captain” steering the outboard motor also had a strong spotlight, and when he spied something along the riverbank, we’d pull up for a closer look. The birds at night were essentially frozen on their perches, so I was easily able to photograph them in their full-color glory.

This Palm Civet was much more active and elusive -

(you’ll want to enlarge the pic for more detail - I didn’t want to crop it because it’s a little fuzzy)

This Stork-billed Kingfisher just wanted to be left alone, probably like you by now, so bye-bye!

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world, and the largest in Asia. We explored only a small part of the state of Sabah (Malaysian), on the northern end of the island, The island is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Our first visit was to the Rainforest Discovery Center where we quickly spied some neat inhabitants -

That Giant Squirrel had a tail much longer than its body -

Steve wanted to show just how big this Pitcher Plant was -

The Borneo Sun Bear Rehabilitation Center had some endearing members -

These are the smallest bears in the world, and there are less than 500 left in Malaysia. Our guide told us that each bear has unique chest markings…

… and I noticed as they walked, their large curved claws caused them to shuffle along with their paws turned inward.

As we left the center, a large wild Orangutan was moving away right in front of us!

Steve captured this video (open the email in your browser by clicking the link at the bottom of the post)…

… and I got some neat closeups…

… including before he started “walking” away -

Later that same day, we visited the Sepilock Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where we enjoyed watching youngsters in the “nursery”…

… and marveled at the length of their arms, and the size of their hands and feet -

At another feeding station, this guy caught my attention…

… because most of the apes kept one appendage holding onto a rope or vine, but he seemed very comfortable actually walking around on his legs -

Later this same day, we went back to the Rainforest Discovery Center for a night walk, and were treated to Red Giant Flying Squirrels putting on a show -

Our guide said this was really unusual because normally they’re active after dark…

… but the ‘golden hour’ lighting was gorgeous on them…

… and let us see so much more detail than at dusk.

After all that excitement, the night hike was a little anticlimactic, but we still got to see Lantern Bugs…

… and a gorgeous Kheeled Pit Viper -

Next, we’re off to the Kinabatangan River, which is the second longest in Malaysia at about 350 miles.

More Bali

Here are a couple more points of general Balinese culture/life, before I share our explorations into the beautiful nature in central Bali.

In most intersections or roundabouts, there were statues - some more elaborate than others.

You can see in the next video how a totally unmarked intersection actually flows amazingly well (as I’ve said before, please open this email in your browser by clicking the link at the bottom to insure you can watch the video) -

The motorbikes zipped everywhere, and were definitely the most dangerous part of any traffic. They would drive in between lanes of cars, as well as on the shoulders of roads. When your car was turning, you had to be very careful that a motorbike wasn’t zooming up alongside (either right or left) to try and beat your turn.

Enough civilization - on to nature!

I apologize for the commercialized picture above, but it had a great view of the Ceking Rice Terraces. Steve took this out the window as we drove back by at noon, and the light was so much better than when we were there first thing in the morning -

This turned out to be a very Instagram-y place. They definitely marketed it to young people who wanted to have their pictures taken. There were numerous swings that young ladies would swing out over the fields wearing a borrowed long skirted dress -

You could also participate in activities over the fields, like zip-lining or riding “sky bikes”, but only if you were under 50. Steve was incensed at the age cutoff, especially since the youngest allowed to participate was 7 yrs old. Once we realized the intent of this stop, I took a few pictures as we wandered along the terraces…

… and told our driver that we wanted to avoid places with lots of tourists, if possible. Our next stop was a very quiet temple, Gunung Kawi, that featured shrines carved into a rock face, from the 11th century -

This reminded us of the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and Petra in Jordan (but with a lot more moisture). Here is a view of the same shrines from across a stream -

Further back in the hills were more temple areas -

On our way to our last stop for that day, we passed a number of shops along the road featuring unique glass vases…

… and more picturesque rice fields -

Interestingly, our next destination had nearly the same name (Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu), but it was a water temple.

We were immediately smitten by the peacefulness of the water features…

… the reverence of the few locals praying…

… as well as the very intricate and colorful decorations -

This was such a welcome and quiet change from the first water temple we visited near Amed, earlier in the month -

way too many self-absorbed people waiting to have the perfect picture taken

There were very few people at Pura Gunung Kawi Sebatu, and they were all quiet and contemplative. Because it was an active temple, we were asked to wear sarongs as respect for the local culture -

Steve was not injured; he wears the ankle brace for support of his weak ankle.

Now, our next day of exploration was all about waterfalls. There are tons of them in central Bali, but they are scattered over numerous hillsides and tucked in valleys that are not interconnected at all by roads. Thus, we spent an entire morning visiting only 2 waterfalls, but for us, they were definitely worth the trek. I had read that Tukad Cepung waterfall was best in the early morning (and that would have the added bonus of fewer tourists).

The sunbeams in the early morning moisture were magical -

We arrived at the second waterfall, Tibumana, in the late morning, so it wasn’t too crowded…

and that guy just had to go for a swim right then (eyeroll)

… but it took creative camera placement and cropping to achieve these -

We certainly fell in love with the natural beauty of Bali and the sweet kindness of its people. We’ll be back.

Bali

I’d always thought of Bali as this tropical, peaceful paradise, and in reality, it is and it isn’t. Yes it’s tropical and has beautiful nature…

… but it’s also teeming with people, so not so peaceful sometimes.

We actually spent a couple of days in Amed, on the NE coast, before we joined the boat on Komodo. Amed is a small fishing village that has some fabulous diving right from shore.

This Spotted Eel is nicely contrasted by the colorful fish around him.

It’s commonly referred to as “muck” diving, when you’re looking along a sandy or silty bottom for interesting little critters.

That little guy above is usually referred to as a “Pom-pom” or Boxer Crab. Letting you see the actual size:

This next fish, a Leafy Filefish, is one of the more odd ones we’ve seen -

I always like to share nudibranch pictures, because they’re just so beautiful -

definitely enlarge this picture to appreciate all the fine details of the nudi

So, we returned to Bali after our Komodo dive cruise, and spent 5 glorious days in Ubud. This is a town near the center of the island that is very popular with tourists. Traffic can be really slow at times, so we were able to get a good look at how the locals live. Nearly every property is surrounded by brick or concrete walls, enclosing lush courtyards and the family’s temples -

There were always entrance gates to the property, some more elaborate than others -

A daily activity for the Hindus here is making offerings to the gods. Every morning we’d see (usually women) riding on motorbikes and carrying baskets of prepared palm leaf boxes filled with flowers and a small bit of rice. They would place the offerings on the ground in front of the house or business, and then lay a smoldering piece of incense on top.

There is a lot to tell you about in that picture above. This was on a street corner, but usually the offerings remain undisturbed, as people walk over or around them. There are more offerings on the platform above the statue. Concrete or carved stone statues are everywhere. Statues are draped with cloth for celebrations, and sometimes are left, so that they fade, but this one is relatively new. I always smiled when I would see a parasol shading a statue from the strong sun.

We would see a number of shops selling statues, as we rode along -

Now here’s why we had a glorious stay in Ubud -

This huge villa with our private pool was only $87/night! I won’t bore you with all the photos I took, other than to say, we really enjoyed our time here.

On our first day of exploring Ubud, we visited the Palace in the center of town…

… and there were definitely more elaborate gates -

I smiled at the additions to the statues -

We then walked to the Sacred Monkey Forest to ogle the inhabitants - Long-tailed Macaques:

The babies were the cutest, of course -

… and I was definitely drawn to the Mohawks they sported…

… and the moustaches (on both females and males) -

A nice family tableau -

Until next time…

Komodo, Indonesia

Our next adventure took us on a liveaboard dive boat for 10 days around the myriad islands of Komodo National Park.

our boat is the one with the wooden top level and white hull

We had a morning excursion to visit the namesake Dragons, and got to see several -

(you’ll have to forgive the slight blurriness of the pictures because I forgot to change my camera settings to account for the low light)

To see the next video, be sure and use the link at the bottom of the post to open the page in your browser -

We also saw some of their prey -

… and learned that they can go a month between feedings, although probably not if they just eat one or two of these monkeys!

They are ambush predators, and can take down agile or large prey by blending into their surroundings and lying in wait. For the bigger animals, like these water buffalo…

… they either get a calf away from the herd, or bite an adult — infusing venom, and then trailing the victim until it collapses.

Enough of land stuff, on to diving!

We saw many similar fish and creatures to the ones in Raja Ampat…

… but I was especially proud of this Thorn Seahorse that I found on a night dive, while everyone else was looking in other areas.

The dive guide found this tiny (only an inch long!) Bobtail Squid -

The nudibranchs, or sea slugs, were quite varied here -

(this picture is blown up so you can see the detail)

… ranging in size from an inch or two, to the Spanish Dancer, which is commonly about a foot long!

See how they dance -

(you may want to replay that video a time or two to catch the actual dancing in the first few seconds)

This Banded Pipehorse was posing beautifully -

Steve captured these Schooling Bannerfish (as well as several other schools you can see in the background) on one of our deep (90 ft) “epic” current dives -

This eel was one we’d never seen before - a White Ribbon Eel:

(you may want to enlarge the face to see some interesting detail)

I know this post has been a little hodge-podge, but I wanted to share the highlights of our diving.

I’ll let this blue Ribbon Eel say goodbye for me -

Diving in West Papua, Indonesia

The Raja Ampat islands are an archipelago of hundreds of jungle covered islands. According to many divers we’ve spoken to over the years, this seems to be the best diving in the world.

We had flown into Sorong, and then had a 2 hour boat ride to the resort. Our home away from home for the next 2 weeks -

Our bungalow was the fifth down on the left, and we could always see ours coming back from a dive, due to the laundry hanging out on the lines we strung on the deck. :)

There was no AC, and since we’re near the equator on a jungle island, we constantly lived in a sheen of sweat, even with fans running.

On one of our first dives, we were excited to see a Wobbegong shark -

We soon learned that their family name is “carpet shark” and they definitely lived up to that moniker. We never saw one move, and we saw at least one on every dive.

That one was for you Nemo lovers! Anemones and their resident anemonefishes were everywhere. I won’t bore you with pictures of all the different species we saw. ;)

This Peacock Mantis Shrimp is a big dude (probably about 6 or 7 inches long)!

I caught this picture on just our second dive of the trip. For the rest of the 2 weeks, we’d only see their heads after they had scurried back into their holes -

Many fish are masters of disguise. Can you spot the Scorpionfish in the picture below?

be careful not to put your hand down on him - the spines on his back are venomous

When putting this blog together, I’m scanning through 13 folders of pictures trying to pick out the best and most unique, and not wanting to bore too many of you.

We saw tons of different nudibranchs (sea slugs), ranging in size from 1/4” to 3” or more.

From sea slugs to Mantas, we saw it all.

This big guy/gal (wingspan 16 ft!) flew right near us, and you can see how murky the water was. Steve’s video captured the show we were treated to at the Manta cleaning station -

(be sure to click the link at the bottom of the email to be able to see the videos)

There are also some pretty unique creatures we saw - a Leaf Scorpionfish…

… is just a tad ungainly, wouldn’t you say? This Bubble Coral Shrimp is almost transparent -

This is what it feels like to become one with the school…

… and this is the big picture:

The sheer numbers of fish were just mind blowing!

Two super neat creatures that we were thrilled to see were the Pygmy Seahorse and the Blue-ringed Octopus. Over 9 dives, the 2 dive guides accompanying us and other divers scoured every dive site for the Pygmy Seahorse. We couldn’t really help because we weren’t sure what we were looking for (how big exactly and where they like to hang out). First I’ll show you a short clip from Steve showing the sea fan where our guide found them…

Did you see them? Neither did I. But I aimed my camera where the guide pointed, and the camera did the rest -

That little one is less than an inch tall; be sure to zoom in and see how cute it is!

Now, to the most venomous creature in the ocean - the Blue-ringed Octopus. On our last day of diving, our guide showed us a tiny octopus in the reef. He’s the size of my thumb.

After I got a number of pictures of him, I moved on down the reef, and Steve started filming with his GoPro -

We later identified the fish as a Cheek-lined Wrasse; but, interestingly, Bard (Google’s AI) doesn’t believe it:

"There are no reef fish that are known to prey on blue-ringed octopuses. The blue-ringed octopus is one of the most venomous animals in the world, and its venom is fatal to most animals, including fish. Reef fish are typically small and do not have the strength or speed to overcome the blue-ringed octopus's venom. Additionally, the blue-ringed octopus is a skilled predator and is able to defend itself from most threats."

(We didn’t follow the fish, to see if or how quickly it died.)

A Radiant Sea Urchin (that’s actually the species’ name) on a night dive -

This next one is probably my favorite, due to the brilliant colors -

did you see the shrimp in the anemone above the fish?

So now you’ve seen the highlight reel from 2 weeks and 38 dives.

Oh! I almost forgot the resident Cuscus!

She would climb down the tree for the bananas left there by guests. A cuscus is a large marsupial found only in the forests of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea.

We had a number of gorgeous sunsets, but I limited myself to only two, to close out this post.

Singapore

Yes, we are “halfway ‘round the world” right now! We spent a full day sightseeing (and trying not to drop from exhaustion from jet lag). We were staying in Chinatowm…

… and the mix of old and new was very interesting.

The majority of our time was spent in Gardens by the Bay, which is actually a “world renowned” botanical garden that is massive (250 acres) in the heart of Singapore. I mainly wanted to go here to see the Supertrees….

… that I had seen so many pictures of on the Internet.

I hadn’t realized that they were making living “walls” of the trunks, and work is ongoing. They were first completed in 2012. There was a walkway that we could have paid to walk around near the tops of several trees in the “Grove”, but we just wandered ‘freely’ among the grounds.

Sorry the pictures aren’t brighter, but it was a cloudy afternoon, after raining all morning. Very nicely hot and humid! ;-)

The Marina Bay Sands hotel is pretty eye-catching…

… but we didn’t have time to visit this time. When we return to Singapore at the end of our trip (in mid-June), we’re going to try and visit the casino at the top, and at least have a cocktail and take in the views.

There was a wetlands area that we wandered through, and it reminded us of our recent visit to southern Georgia -

I thought the chick was kinda cute…

… and the Water Monitor kinda fearsome -

Apparently his bite is toxic, so we gave him a wide berth.

Downtown Singapore:

I don’t have a great closing for this post. I just wanted to get a little bit out while I have a day off from diving. The next post will feature our day trip around Makasaar on South Sulawesi island in Indonesia.