orangutans in the mist!

from there, we got the bus west to sandakan. our b&b was quite grotty, but we were really there to go to the orangutang rehabilitation centre. it was so cool! they are semi wild ones- they've been released but still come back for food when they want. so they have a series of ropes which the orangutangs come out to the platform along. and they really milk it-they're such show offs! they come out one by one, hang in front of you, pull faces, pick their nose...so funny! most of them are pretty young, but there were a couple of older ones which were really big and hairy. they're gorgeous- really look like yetis! it was so amazing to see them.

we also did a couple of nights in 'uncle tan's' jungle camp. this was cool- you took a boat into the rainforest, and a short hike to a very basic group of huts with not many facilities! they take you on a few hikes and boat trips and you really do see stacks of animals. we even saw orangutangs in the wild! thats amazing cos they're an endangered secies and you only find them in borneo and sumatra. its quite a crazy sight to see a massive big hairy thing up at the top of a really thin tree- doesn't look natural at all!

another amazing animal we saw were the probocis monkey. now there's an odd creature- so ugly and actually quite surreal! you wouldn't think they'd exist either- big massive nose, hunchback, thin arms-just weird. but they can really jump, and i think they're great-so funny...

other things we saw were crocodiles, loads of hornbills, macaques, kingfishers, monitor lizards, the tiniest frogs (12mm!!), owls, and bearded pigs (yes, pigs with beards- so bizarre!)

the only thing was that it was just so muddy. we had to wear wellies the whole time-totally squelchy and kept getting stuck! we also did a night trek, which was much more fun than i expected- we saw so any little frogs, crazy spiders, and bugs, even a couple of scorpions!

while i'm on the subject, i didnt think anything could be worse than a leech. but yes, there is- tiger leeches! they'd told us that leeches weren't a problem- there was more chance to see orangutangs in the wild, but then , we actually saw 3 of those! so we were walking along and a girl spotting this worm speeding up my top- she didnt realise what it was but after our previous experiences i knew it was a leech and flicked it off right away. so lucky it hadnt bitten- apparently they like the upper body better so thats why we spotted it. ugh, they are so massive. i cant imagine what size that would grow to compared to the normal ones.horrible creatures! still dont really think i'm cut out for the jungle!