It’s 6 in the morning and a pall of smoke is covering the river and our cameras as well. Upon closer inspection, it is a pervading mist that carpets the air and it looks thick like soup.  We get into our boat and we cut through the mist and the river slowly reveals itself.  Thick jungle on either side of the banks gives way to towering tropical hardwood trees, fallen logs, and overhanging tree limbs and branches. Every minute removed from the mist, we see something different in the river. We see white shadows like sentinels guarding certain points in the bank and they turn out to be White Egrets getting ready to fish.

The boat slows down and our guide quietly motions to an area near the mud bank. Coming to a crawl, our boatman manoeuvres carefully to what looks like a log with black holes on its side. As quickly as we see it, it disappears under the water with barely a wake. A quick tug at my shirt and I’m directed to look at the other side of the river. Deja vu!  I’ve seen this before in an episode of NatGeo Adventure about the Zambezi River in Africa. This log has an open mouth with an impressive row of teeth; it’s an estuarine crocodile or a copper croc as one local calls it, basking in the morning sun. Ten feet of solidity with luminescent eyes gazing at our boat, the croc is staying long enough for me to get a decent shot with my camera. Boy, I hope my settings are all correct as I rattle off multiple shots in quick succession hoping to get the Money shot. The croc heard my camera clicking and slides into the water. We move on down the river and we see a clearing in the forest and 2 figures appear on top of a dead tree -- a mating pair of Pied Hornbills squawking and bobbing to their hearts content.  Eight kinds of hornbills inhabit this area and I catch glimpses of them flying in tandem across the river with their signature squawk. Right next to them are another pair of Storm Stork, which our guide tells me is one of the top 5 rare birds in this area. The large birds with a balding head and spindly legs remind me of 2 old-timers hanging out in a bar having a beer.

Onto another break in the forest and I hear a “whoosh” whistle by the boat. We know it’s something big that flew past us but it was too fast and headed towards the thick canopy. Patiently, we wait and stand our ground but I have this eerie feeling that something is watching our every move.  Our patience is rewarded; a White Bellied Fish Eagle sits majestically on a large Fig Tree surveying its kingdom.  Not once did it look at us, but the eagle gave us a profile showing off his regal beak as if to say this is my photogenic side. This eagle gave me the privilege to be in his royal presence.  I willingly oblige and take several shots of His Airness; I feel like a bird paparazzi making sure I had the TMZ shot.  Heard but not seen were the bearded pig, babblers, barbets, mynas and the rhino hornbill.  We have just passed the first hour of our boat ride; this is already wildlife overload. Here we are, with 2 more days to go and we haven’t seen the monkeys, large primates and elephants just yet.

Where is this wildlife reserve, you might wonder? It is not in the deep jungles of the Congo, or out in the mighty Amazon River. It’s not even somewhere closer like the Brahmaputra in India or even the Mekong River in Indo-China.  We are in Sabah, Malaysia, this “Land below the Wind” where typhoons never tread. A mere 2 hours by plane from Manila, with no visa required, will get you to the mighty Kinabatagan River. Located in the eastern section of Sabah in the Sandakan District, the longest river in Sabah winds and snakes its way for 560 kms starting from the eastern Witti Mountain Range and flows into the Sulu Sea.  Kinabatagan River means Chinese River in Malay denoting the early Chinese traders who went up this river in the 13^th century to trade with the Orang Sungei (River people) for birds nest, rhino horns, elephant ivory and exotic lumber. Today, tourists are attracted to the riches of diverse landscapes along the river from limestone caves, dipterocarp forests, riverine forests, freshwater swamps, oxbow lakes and mangrove swamps. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that this area is one of only two known places on Earth where 10 primate species can be found. Some of these include the Orang Utan, the Proboscis Monkey, Macaques, Maroon langur and Bornean gibbon, most of which are endemic to Borneo. Bird lovers will find the bird watching incredible: all 8 of Borneo's hornbill species are seen regularly. Of the 200 other species of birds recorded in the area, eight of these are of Malaysia's threatened bird species. The large mammals like the Borneo Pygmy Elephant, Sumatran Rhino, Malaysian Sun Bear, Barking Deer and Clouded Leopard are on the must see list but are harder to find.  My Lonely Planet and Rough Guides Adventure Books rate the wildlife viewing in the Kinabatagan as a “Must See” destination in the world of adventure travel.  Just look at these numbers: 15,000 species of flowering plants, 3000 species of trees, 220 land mammals, 200 species of birds and 10 primates all found in this rich ecosystem of biodiversity.  The wildlife in the Kinabatagan is acknowledged by experts to be the most varied and easily accessible in Southeast Asia

I’m surprised at how smooth the water is on the river. It’s so flat, I could have tried barefoot skiing with no problem at all. It’s late in the afternoon and we venture upriver deeper into the jungle. Tipped by his fellow-guide, our guide Patrick wanted to check an area where he had seen a family of 50 Borneo Pygmy Elephants that feed and drink together up and down the river before. The herd was not seen here for at least a month since the heavy rains swelled the banks of the river. Nearly an hour later, the light is quickly fading and we have yet to find the herd.  Then, we see another boat parked by the side of the river and curiously, we approach it. There he is, one young adult male quietly feeding on the long grass minding his business. We inch up to at least 20 feet, feeling the excitement and the rush of being so close to a wild elephant.  His trunk flicking the grass, ears flapping and tail wagging in unison got me feverishly clicking my camera and video cam all at once. We move on and we see a apair almost submerged with their trunks acting like a snorkel.  Peeking into a small tributary, we see another group of four and then we hear more commotion within the forest canopy. The distinctive trumpeting sound resonates up the river. We’ve hit the mother lode, an elephant picnic!  Female, male, big, small, with tusks or none, all shapes and sizes are represented. Behind all the feeding adults, we notice a small baby hanging on to the every move of Mom’s tail.  They seem to all be so preoccupied in eating and drinking that nothing seems to bother them. It is estimated that an average adult elephant can eat up to 300 pounds of vegetation and forage up to 20 hours per day to support their bulk and appetite. I am surprised at how docile they are, with human-like sensitivity. I witness a pair helping each other climb the riverbank with their trunks and thanking each other with a soft pat on their heads. You can’t see this kind of natural interaction in any zoo. We feel so blessed to see free elephants displaying their true nature.

My animal bucket list for the Kinabatagan is almost complete and I’m just missing the stars of the show, the Orangutan & Proboscis Monkey. It’s starting to get dark and this is the best time to look for the monkeys as they go near the river to sleep in the trees for protection.   Finally, we come across 3 fur balls in one tree with their backsides to us, and long white tails hanging. It’s our first glimpse of the famed monkey and the next tree finally reveals a large male. Boy, their noble nose is big & plump and with a potbelly to match, I stopped wondering why they’re called Orang Belanda or Dutchman. This proboscis monkey could have come from a Dutch bar and you couldn’t tell the difference.  We are graced with their typical signature “yelp” sound and their penchant for making long jumps. Patrick excitedly tells us to look up further to the top of the biggest tree and check the shadowy figures.  He claims that it’s a Silver Leaf Langur and even more rare Albino Langur next to each other. I can hardly see them but I catch the distinct silhouette of a monkeys’ Mohawk hair and beard surrounding its face.  That was a good bonus for us but we still needed to see a wild orang-utan. We check a promising area that indicates recent orang-utan activity. Unfortunately, that is as close as we got to seeing one, since we had to turn back because of fading light. The end of the day was punctuated by a cloud bank shaped like an elephants head against the dusk sky. What a way to finish this glorious journey!

A larger question now has to be answered.  Why should we even care or go to the Kinabatagan River? One can say that we can just go to the zoo and see the same animals without all the hassles. That answer captures the spirit of modern urban life, where we are conditioned for convenience. The disconnect we have to nature, where we worry more about the hassle of getting there. For me, the Kinabatagan represents a bygone era of exploration when the Congo, the Amazon and the Nile were rivers of mystery and intrepid adventurers like David Livingstone & Richard Burton discovered them.  It is a rare opportunity to visit and experience what the jungles of Asia were like a hundred years ago. There is nothing like the high of getting close to a wild animal and marvel at its majesty and simplicity. Something magical happens, and you feel like a boy in a candy shop with too many sweets to choose from. 

Storm clouds are gathering on the horizon, habitat loss due to heavy logging and encroachment of palm oil plantations are the gravest threat to this region and its animals. It would be a tragedy if we allow a treasure like the Kinabatagan to be lost. The best and probably the only way to preserve this unique area is to view it as tourists and be witnesses to its glory and leave a lasting legacy for our children. On the morning we left our resort, a wild boar visited us and went straight to a palm oil plantation eating loads of palm oil fruit. This is poetic justice and a fitting end to our adventure.  Signing off till the next adventure...will check in from the crystal clear waters of Papua New Guinea.