World Adventure

`Hi All, The sanctuary is about 30km from Sandakan and near mangroves surrounded by oil palms on one side and a bay on the other so the proboscis monkeys are again essentially trapped but at least they have 600 hectares We arrived early and walked onto the covered viewing area and saw many small monkeys and one large proboscis monkey casually sitting on the edge of the balcony leaning on the post.Initially we thought that it wasn´t alive and I even asked whether it was real but didn't need clarification as it moved when it was threatened by one of the photo opportunity spoiling silvered langurs. The proboscis monkeys are pot bellied,big nosed and a little ungainly on their long legs but their are intriguing.Two groups attended the feedings,a male bachelor troop and a family group of mothers,adolescents and babies in total there would have been well over 50 animals feeding upon cucumbers and sugar free pancakes. Watched a video call ¨Big noses of Borneo¨ after a lunch at the lodge hidden in the oil palms. It showed the history of the proboscis monkey sanctuary and the structure of the monkey groups. Basically the proboscis monkeys lived happily in the environment then most of the mangrove forest was cut down and replaced with oil palms. The monkeys did not have enough habitat to sustain them and started raiding workers huts for food. The workers started shooting the monkeys but the plantation owner decided that he would create a sanctuary for them and feed them. This is the problem within Sabah as competition for land between wildlife and man is ongoing and regrettable the battle is being won by man at the expense of the magnificent and unique flora and fauna of Borneo. The airconditioner suddenly stopped pumping out cold air and we realized that the car was flashing a warning light the car was about to blow so we pulled over and waited a few minutes before opening the radiator cap to discover that the water in the radiator had mysteriously disappeared.Was it time to call Mulder and Scully (X-Files) back from retirement to investigate the case of the missing water or was it simply a case of remember that the hirer and mentioned that we may need to refill the radiator during a long trip and that that was why he had put a bottle of water in the boot? Refilled the radiator and continued on our journey Had a run of luck in Sandakan. I was not looking forward to returning the hire car as the street parking seemed to be continuously full and often double parked. However luck was with me and a car drove off next to the hotel we were staying making it easy to check in and unload the bags without any hassle. Then I drove to the car rental location and again had a car drive off from a parking space. Relief. Glad to get off the Malaysian roads as they are quite dangerous. Road trip showed the truth about Sabah. Most of the jungle is gone and has been replaced with oil palm plantations. Tomorrow flying back to Kota Kinabalu for an overnight stop. Bye for now David and Vanessa.