We started off this 4th quarter in the capital of
Sutera Harbor in Kota Kinabalu.
Jaap flew out on the 5th and Marijke stayed with the furries and kept busy exploring the town and getting Q3 on the web. The marina of Sutera harbour is very comfortable. Much better than others, probably even the best marina in
The BIYC rally brought some old friends and acquaintances: s/y Labarque with Patrick and Elizabeth whom we met on various occasions (e.g. Chinese New Year 2008!) since Sebana Cove 2 years ago. s/y Ambor Nectar, with Karin who came to Macau with us from
The
When Jaap came back from
Then we did the mountain. Mt Kinabalu is the highest in
Mt Kinabalu has 9 peaks, the highest is 4095m
Marijke came along as far as the Timpohon gate with the Nikons (binoculars and cameras) where a lot of new wings were seen. We found Dennis, the birding guide who drove us there, after many mails to Malaysia Nature Society and associated members. He picked us up at 5:30 am and we had a wonderful day there.
At the end of a very productive afternoon Dennis and Marijke returned to KK and Jaap checked into a mountain hut, from where he started his ascend the following day. Dennis became a good friend and took Marijke to other birding locations in Sugud and the
Signs and rope pointing the way up. Jaap on the summit.
Early morning view towards
Very steep sometimes, and not very warm. One of many interesting pitcher plants.
Everything for the Laban Rata hut (3810m) needs to be carried by porters. They get paid by the weight. The big one on the right (a fridge?) was 73 kg!
We hired a bike and drove over the
Air coming out of the tap?
When the month was up we left the city and motor-sailed up north towards Kudat. The SW monsoon was on its end and NE winds had started. They werent very strong yet and as long as we hugged the coast we made good process in that direction. We anchored somewhere halfway for the night and rounded the north tip of
Our 1st stop between KK and Kudat
Here we met up with old friends Kari and Aslaug on s/y Lady Ann
(http://simnet.is/aoa/ ) who were hauled out at a yard just out of town and had been there for quite some time. First for a scheduled bottom job, later again for major prop shaft problems due to a faulty shaft bearing. Poor guys, there are many nice places in
The very northern tip of
The weather was changing. A lot of short, heavy rain showers made us hurry on. We had plans before the wet monsoon settled in. Our next trip was 2 days to
Sandakan Yacht Club, walking distance to town, has a swimmingpool, showers, bar and restaurant, but no berthing, so we anchored right in front.
Harbor scene near the fish market.
In Sandakan we had some much needed laundry and essential shopping on our list, but we also took the time to visit Sepilok, a pocket of nature where the rainforest is nearly (never completely) untouched. Most tourist head straight for the Orang Utang sanctuary, but we were more interested in RDC (Rainforest Discovery Centre) with its good hiking trails, observary towers and canopy walk. The Nikons worked overtime and the bird section got bigger.
The canopy walk at RDC and the view from there.
5 days later, November 18th, we left
With a length of 560 km it is Sabahs longest river, starting somewhere around Mt Kinabalu and winding its way northwest to the
There are some guesthouses and B&B type accommodation, mostly simple and basic, and 1 or 2 proper resorts that offer air-conditioning and hot showers 24/7. This is all relative, because when the river floods in the wet season, they too get wet feet and things can be quite uncomfortable to say the least (quoted from Lonely Planet)
Alishan entered the river from the SE, at
We spent the first night close to the entrance, in front of some houses on the south bank and watched macaques and a wild pig with a huge nose roam on the mudflat at low tide. And this was the start of a wonderful trip. Not sailing wise, we had to use the engine the whole way. There was hardly any wind to sail by and the current is sometimes quite strong. That, plus the many bends makes the river just un-sailable. There were also some difficult parts where the shallow spots and little islands seemed to prevent us from crossing to the other side when we needed. We explored the tracks by dinghy before taking Alishan, whose depth is a little over 2 meter. Thanks to a load of information from other yachts we managed all right. M/v Lifeline and s/y Kantala had left their navigational details on a CD at Sandakan Yacht club and this was topped up with C-map tracks of s/y Lady Ann and s/y Helena Zwo.
Abai is a village near the northern entrance, with around 30 families.
There are no roads and no cars. All transport is by boat.
So we motored, sometimes 3, sometimes 10 miles a day and watched the shores and the skies. The first day was the day of Kingfishers. The big and colorful Stork-billed were nearly as plenty as the Colored. The next day we dropped anchor at a monkey corner and we happily watched the macaques till night fall. And again the following morning, not so happy anymore after those monkeys had kept us awake all night. Next came the day of Hornbills. Black, Wrinkled and Rhinoceros flew over. Then we had the day of the Proboscis monkeys, which of all the primates are my favorite. In between we saw storks, darters and many raptors and heard the sounds of lots more.
The big nose of the male and their pink complexion gave them their Malay name: Orang Belanda Dutchman.
Suddenly Jaap spotted a trunk, followed by the bodies of 3 elephants standing in a small clearing on the river bank. They slowly withdrew in the jungle when they noticed us. We thought they might have had plans for a swim and dropped the hook to wait. We heard them move through the bush downstream, but didnt see them anymore. Suddenly, at 3:00 am there was a lot of trumpeting and splashing just in front of ALISHAN. 2 Elephants were swimming. They had decided to cross the river and made no secret about it. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but we heard one go climbing ashore again while the other pottered on a few hundred meter till he managed to get out. The banks are quite steep sometimes and although these are pigmy elephants, they are really quite big and weigh hundreds of kilos.
That was very exciting and the highlight of our way up. Others were the oxbow lake Danau Pitas near Abai and a small tributary ¾ on the way. We launched the dinghy and motored our way in, feeling bad about the noise of the Yamaha, wishing we had canoes. Then, if there was a current we could drift back and that was absolutely wonderful.
The lake is half filled with flowering water hyacinths and other water plants in many shades of green and purple. They formed floating islands, slowly making their way out to the main river. White egrets, from Great to Little, speckled the shoreline, waiting for their fish and flying up in formation. Sometimes they landed in the middle of the water on bits of wood, drifting by the boat, taking off at the very last moment. There were Herons, many Purple, Darters, Storks and several different raptors. The tall reeds moved gently in the breeze. They were packed with grassbirds, munias, prinias, swallows and swiftlets. Every now and then the lot took off with a lot of twittering and the plumes would sway another way, marking the passage of something big. In the dark green foliage of big trees we saw monkeys swinging, while Hornbills tree hopped their way to the next fruiting fig.
Oriental Pied Hornbills
Apart from the Proboscis Monkeys we saw Silver Leave Monkeys, with cute faces and long grey hair, ever so shy. Pigtail Macaques, big, with red fur and funny hairdos. We noticed not only their tails are borrowed, they also have pigs ears. And many ordinary monkeys, the Longtail Macaques, living in big groups with many babies, always socially active and very entertaining.
Stork-billed and Blue-eared Kingfishers next to a Black-and-Yellow Broadbill
Flocks of Long-tailed Parakeets made noisy landings up in the trees and Blue-eared and common Kingfishers sat quietly amongst the low branches. There were Shamas, Malkohas, Broadbills, Woodpeckers. And the sounds of Bornean Ground Cuckoos. No, no sightings. We sometimes saw some movement in the bushes on the riverbank, indicating the presence of something bigger than the average babbler or squirrel. Talking about squirrels never knew there were so many different kinds and the noise they make!!!
A blurry brown mass in a green tree: Orang Utang. They are shy and hard to spot!
This Pigtail Macacque doesnt mind us watching him.
There are a number of cat-like mammals living in this part of
Wakame in hiding.
A week later, after negotiating 500 curves, 400 logs and a ton of other stuff, we arrived in Sukau, a small Muslim settlement 50 miles up river with a road and a mosque and a school. Here some power lines hanging over the river prevented us from continuing upstream. Our mast is about 18m high. We might be just OK, but if not, wed get in serious trouble. Didnt want to take the risk.
Here we anchored, just in front of those cables and were able to buy a few things like 100+ (an isotonic drink) and mosquito coils, 2 essentials. The shops had no fresh fruit nor vegetables, they were sold only on the weekly market, every Thursday. But there was an internet café! Hey, this is the
The boat landing and the Thursday market at Sukau
Zainal, a local, who had befriended other visiting yachts came to visit and told us about the area, where to go, what to see. He told us about a Japanese man studying the proboscis monkeys and the next day we looked him up. Ikki Matsuda started his studies 5 years ago and now held a PhD on these monkeys. He could tell us all about them and even took us on one of his trips up the Menanggul river. It was great. Thank you Ikki, for your introduction to what we call the PB monkeys. (Prison Break tv-series we were watching at night were also shortened to PB) Many times we returned to this tributary of the Kinabatangan, the Menanggul river and these peaceful creatures never ceased to amaze us with their entertaining ways and their ENORMOUS jumps. We love them too!
Ikki Matsuda on his way to work.
On these river trips we sometimes used our dinghy, but often hired a local boat. Ahmad Arsih, who had helped Ikki with his studies, now worked free lance as boat driver / nature guide and Ahmed had something: The best eyes of
019-8732925, email: sukau82@yahoo.com
With Ahmed in his boat: comfortable, fast, easy to maneuver and quiet. Much better than our dinghy.
1 Month old baby croc, already fearsome with its razor sharp teeth.
A buffy Fish Owl and a Mangrove Cat snake
We didnt see any other yachts for the first 2 weeks, until s/y PEWTER showed up, followed by s/y TONIC and s/y BARNACLE C. The Pewters were in Sukau only for 3 days, but the others stayed for Christmas. We had a X-mas potluck featuring a lot of local fresh-water prawns We all got in Ahmeds boat and sighted the elusive gibbons!
Christmas onboard s/y BARNACLE C with John, Jane, Doug and Margret.
A local with his catch of the moment (Look well!) and a fish trap below.
The big rains of the season still hadnt come, but every week it would rain for a day or so and we could catch enough water for our tanks. Not enough for washing cloths, so like every housewife in Sukau, we used the river.
These rainy periods brought more big logs down the river. It had given us some problems on the way up, until we figured out where to anchor and where not.
Jaap watching a big log floating by. One night another, even bigger one gut stuck on the anchor chain and caused us to drag anchor. The chain had dug into the wood, making it very hard to undo in the strong current.
You know how the grass is always greener round the corner, so is the river further upstream. So when Mr Zainal offered to take us on a work-trip to Danau Girang we were delighted. The
Zainal and Budin checking out the damage at the
At the end of the year s/y ALISHAN was still at Sukau, but getting ready to move down river. Marijke had made a day trip into
We wanted to spend at least a month here, knowing that regarding the time of the year it could become very uncomfortable, but by know had enjoyed it tremendously. 6 Weeks and still more to come. But thats for the next update.
See you then.
From Kota Kinabalu to Sukau
Floats
River floats
FUNNY (or not)
(Remember
Its an oversized polyester Rafflesia display in the park at Mt Kinabalu.
Rafflesia is supposed to be the worlds largest flower.
s/y ALISHAN now has 2 mountains in the mast: The logo of the real Mt Alishan in the sail and Mt Kinabalu in
Funny enough, the cats dont care for it.
Last: because every update has had at least one photo of a temple, this little fuku (happiness) character from the Chinese