Wildlife adventures at Naturelodge, Kg. Bilit, Kinabatangan & The Sandakan Trail

Photograph of myself, HK Wan, my niece, Wan Pik Ki, my elder sister, Lai Meng, my son, Wai Yan and my wife, Sow Lan taken Sandakan Harbour Square (facing Sandakan Bay)

Our Travel: 22nd to 26th August 2009 during the School Holidays

Our Group: HK Wan & Family (Wife: Sow Lan, Son: Wai Yan), my elder sister, Lai Meng, my younger sister, Lai Ling and my niece, Wan Pik Ki.

Our return fare: Special return fare of RM 60.00 per person via Air Asia. As flight was at 7.15am, we stayed the previous night at Tune Hotel, LCCT at a special rate of RM 16.18 per double occupancy. Also, it cost us RM 1/person for transportation to the LCCT.

Our Accomodation:
1) The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit, Kinabatangan
2) Sea Front Hotel, Sandakan Town @ RM 69/Room c/w 2 breakfasts & free Wifi

Photograph of my wife, my son & myself taken at Kun Yam Temple - one of the Sandakan Attractions within the famous Sandakan Walking Trail. It took us about 90 minutes to complete the entire Sandakan Trail including stopovers for taking photographs.

Photographs of the 2 (two) Orang Utans at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabitation Centre. As our visit coincide with the fruiting season, only 2 orang utans turned up at the Rehabitation Centre during mealtime at 10.00am. The primates prefer the seasonal jungle fruits rather than the usual diets provided at the Rehabitation Centre.

During one of our morning cruises, we managed to see 2 (two) orangutans in the wild. However, before I could video or photographed them, they disappeared in the thick secondary jungle.

Photograph taken at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabitation Centre. It cost RM 4/adult for mini bus transportation from Sandakan Town to this centre. The admission fee was RM 30/foreigners and RM 5 for Malaysians & RM 2 for child. However, the camera or video's fee was RM 10 per unit.

Photograph showing a group of Proboscis Monkeys during our wildlife adventure. Proboscis primates are only found in Borneo (Sabah & Sarawak) and Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Photograph showing a herd of Pygmy Elephants in the wild. The pygmy elephants are only found in this part of the world. They are the smallest elephants in the world and their size are about that of a water buffalo.

Another photograph sh0wing a herd of pygmy elephants in the wild of Kinabatanagan. According to boatman, this was our lucky day to see such a large herd of pygmy elephants. Occasionally, due to their small stature, you can only partly see the elephants as they are blocked by the tall grass. At certain time of the year, the pygmy elephants may not appear at all for almost a month.

Our Lodge - The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit,Kinatatangan.
Our accomodation consist of a chalet with 2 (two) twin beds and built-in bathroom cum toilet. There is no TV, no internet, no access to mobile phones, no newspaper, really peaceful and keep us fully concentrated on the wildlife adventure, jungle trekking, etc. However, there was electricity supply throughout.

The cost of our accomodation was RM 315/person - a special rate for Malaysian only with a 20% discount for my 11 years old son. The foreigners pays much higher than us (due to a special discount). The cost include all meals, 2 wildlife cruises per day, jungle trekking and night walk (with jungle boots provided). Also, pick-up from Sandakan Town or Airport cost us an extra RM 15/adult (child: FOC)

Photograph of my wife, Sow Lan and son, Wai Yan cruising along the Kinabatangan River in the drizzling rain (in search of wildlife). Various wildlife were sighted during our cruises such as various primates like orang utans, proboscis, the long tailed macaques, the pig-tailed macaques, silver leaf monkeys, herons, king-fishers, various hornbills , eagles, etc. However, the most exciting adventure was sighting a large herd of pygmy elephants in the wild. A crocodile was also seen but moved away as soon as noticed.

Photograph of my wife, Sow Lan and son, Wai Yan resting within the locality of an ox-bow lake after a strenuous 90 minutes of jungle trekking. At this resting place, a blood-sucking leech managed to crawl to my son's navel but it was laughter all the way.

Another photograph of my wife and son cruising along the Kinabatangan River. My son was also enjoying his Sony's PSP Playstation during the cruise.

We left Sandakan on 26 August 2009 by a non air-con minibus and it cost us RM 1.50/person and the bus stopped right up to the departure hall of Sandakan Airport. In all our budget travels, this is our cheapest transportation to any airport.

It was a real wildlife experience for our 6 (six) members group as we were the only Malaysians amongst the caucasians during our stay at The Nature Lodge. Also, my 11 years old son enjoyed during this Wildlife Adventure at The Nature Lodge, Kampung Bilit, Kinabatangan.

Posted by HK Wan (Email: hengkei@gmail.com) on 7th September 2009