I've been on two Proboscis Monkey River Cruises in Sabah, Malaysia. One was during my more recent trip in July 2015 to Semporna for a diving trip to Sipidan Island, and another during a company trip to Sepilok in year 2011. I thought might as well kill two birds with one stone in this post and talk about both of those trips in this post. I can't say either one was much better than the other, as both were similar and the luck with seeing Proboscis monkeys apparently depends on the season (they mostly come out during rainy season when the leaves are tastier and hence they hang out closer to the river edges where tourists come by in their boats), but my luck at seeing more interesting wildlife was better at Sepilok. Perhaps if I had gone at a different time to the river cruise at Semporna, my luck would have been better.
Tour with Borneo Global Backpackers in Semporna
In my recent trip to Sempora, Sabah for a diving trip to Sipadan, my travel package with Borneo Global Sipadan Backpackers included a Proboscis Monkey River Cruise which was on the day of my arrival at the lodge. The cruise started in the afternoon after 3pm, where I was picked up from the backpackers lodge and brought to the boat departure area. Some light snacks were provided at this area.
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| Welcome deco at the boat departure area |
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| The waiting area |
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| View of the river where we departed from |
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| Boats! |
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| A hermit crab in an aquarium at the waiting area |
While we humans go out hunting for Proboscis Monkeys, we had no need to go out looking for macaques. Watch out for these tye of monkeys as they are used to people and have no qualms of getting in your face to try and steal your food. Here's one who got an ice cream from one of the kids waiting for the cruise.
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| On nom nom |
The cruise takes us on 3 rivers, 2 smaller rivers called Sungai Tohok (Tohok River), Sungai Buaya (Crocodile River) and Pegagau River. The boat basically goes down each river and back up to next river and coming back up again.
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| Yeah, the pic is a bit small but that's the cruising route |
The boats are covered and don't move very fast, and since the cruise is in the evening, you don't have to worry too much about getting sunburnt, although you might consider bringing a poncho in case it rains (which fortunately didn't happen on my trip).
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| Chilling on a boat is the best way to chill |
Here was our lovely guide explaining everything we saw on the trip. She's holding a mangrove tree seed (yes, it's that's long) and explaining how they germinate.
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| Mangroves trees seen all along the rivers |
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| The mangrove trees seeds dangling like earrings from the trees |
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| Not everyday you see a seed that could be used to whack someone on the head if you're bored |
You might have heard of some recent kidnappings along the Sabah coastline by terrorists out to get ransom, which is a bit of a worry for some folks. Well, the local government has stepped up security for tourists as a result and hence my boat had a chaperons of coast guards following us the entire trip, so you can be a bit more at ease on your holidays here.
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| Just your friendly neighbourhood coast guards stalking your boat for your safety |
Unfortunately, I went during dry season and apparetly Proboscis monkeys don't come out so much to the edge of the rivers during that time as the leaves aren't so moist and tasty. The guide advised that it's best to go during raining season if you want to see more Proboscis monkeys. So we didn't get to see any Proboscis monkeys on the first two rivers. We did get to enjoy some nice scenery and see a lot of birds though.
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| The water is clear enough to make a mirror like reflection, which is pretty cool |
Plenty of bird of prey coming out to, well, prey.
We got lucky on the last river and saw a big papa of a Proboscis Monkey with the typical fat belly and humungous nose. He was pretty far in though, so here's the best I could get with my good ol' point and shoot camera.
Like I said, come during rainy season for more monkey!
The ride back was getting close to sunset, which made for some pretty nice pics as well.
The evening was topped of with a barbeque dinner with some entertainment in the form of a traditional Malay dance back at the waiting area.
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| The barbecued fare was unfortunately a bit dry. Oh well. |
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| Nothing like enjoying a candlelight dinner with dancing... |
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| With an interesting twist that the candle isn't real! |
And that's the experience on my semporna Proboscis Monkey Cruise trip.
Tour with Proboscis Lodge, Bukit Melati at Sepilok
Sepilok is an area of Sabah further up south from Semporna. I was here for a company trip in year 2011 and our luck in seeing the monkeys was much better. The ccomodation isn't too shabby either, if you are looking to come here for a little getaway.
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| My colleagues enjoying the chalets |
One difference between here and my Semporna trip is that the boats aren't covered, so it's a little hotter and much wetter if it happens to rain. Get your caps and ponchos ready if you come here!
We saw quite a few Proboscis monkeys during this trip (but again, more likely due to the season and not the location).
In addition to macaques who looked pretty relaxed.
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| This one looks a little high, actually |
We got really luckyand saw an orangutan too!
Plus some other wildlife like lazy komodo dragons. Apparently there are also crocodiles in the water, but they mostly leave people alone. We didn't see one crocodile during this trip.
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| Look at me, ferocious Komodo dragon. Zzzz...I mean...Grrr |
The lodge also offers night river cruises to go hunting for animals.We saw some civet cats (couldn't get nice pics of those), and some colourful kingfishers.
There were many other activities during this particular trip, but that wouldn be another post for another day. All in all, no complaints about either trip and the operators did a pretty good job. So if you're looking to see these rare monkeys on a trip to Sabah, just try tomake sure you go during a wet season to get a better view of them. :)
