Stepping gingerly out of the small eight-seater motor boat I try not to imagine the terrors that may lurk in the muddy water in which I am now knee-deep.
Crocodiles, snakes and leeches all spring to mind. After all, this is the Borneo rainforest and the water is the floodwater of the Kinabatangan River.
The boat sits at the base of the steps leading to Sukua Lodge, one of the river’s hotels that has not been flooded by the extended rainy season in February.
The lodge and the village of Sukua are 44 miles up the Kinabatangan River from Sandakan. In Malaysia’s Sabah province, Sandakan sits on the east coast of the island of Borneo and was once the capital of the province.
Today Sandakan is known more for its wildlife and there is a concerted effort to develop eco-tourism there. Sukua is at the heart of the most concentrated area of wildlife in Sabah. The river is well known for its troops of proboscis monkey, only found in Borneo. But it is also the place to see one of man’s closest living relatives in its native habitat: the orang-utan. The word means man of the forest in Malay and these red apes are highly intelligent and have disconcertingly human gazes. Sabah is one of the few places in the world where the orang-utans still live in the wild.
Yet even some of these orang-utans have had some help from humans. Two hours by road from Sukua is the Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary. Established in 1964, the goal is to teach orphaned or captive orang-utans to be self-sufficient in the wild. It can take seven years – and sometimes more – for the orang-utans to stop coming to the centre for regular daily feeds.
The feeding sessions are open to the public and, as the centre is only a short drive out of Sandakan, this is where most people see the orang-utans. But once the animals are self-sufficient they disperse into protected forest areas which lie between Sandakan and Sukua along the Kinabatangan River. Seeing the orang-utans at the centre gives good close-up viewing but seeing the animals in their natural habitat is my ultimate goal.
Sukua Lodge and other properties along the river offer late afternoon and early-morning cruises along the water to search for monkeys, orang-utans and even crocodiles and elephants. There are also many types of birds, making this a paradise for twitchers.
The boat sets off in the late afternoon heat, the ranger heading into a small tributary off the main river. The forest is lush green with vines and branches crossing overhead and dangling down in the narrow strip of water. But there is no wildlife to be seen.
Retracing the path, the ranger then heads down river. High in the top of a fig tree set back from the water is a mother orang-utan and her infant. But it is difficult to see her well and the ranger moves the boat on.
A flash of orange catches the eye in the afternoon sun. A female orang-utan of five or six years is sitting in a fig tree on the river bank. The approach of the boat disquietens her a little and she moves away to the opposite side of the tree. Slowly the ranger edges the boat around and we sit 15ft below her, watching her watching us.
Suddenly she purses her lips and makes a smacking noise as if she is blowing us a kiss. It is highly unusual behaviour -Êthe ranger says in 12 years he has never seen anything like it. We are on the opposite side of the river to where some of the Sepilok orang-utans have been spotted so this female is unlikely to have ever been in captivity.
More kisses follow to our delight and amusement. She entertains us well but then suddenly she tires of us and begins to nibble on the bark of the tree.
We watch her for 15mins more before the ranger moves the boat on in search of proboscis monkeys. There are none to be seen that night but I am not disappointed.
Our encounter with the orang-utan has fulfiled the purpose of my journey here. And best of all, she has timed her kisses to perfection. She blew them to us on Valentine’s Day.
Sabah province
Getting there: Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Royal Brunei all fly to Kota Kinabalu from the UK via their respective bases of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Brunei. Malaysia Airlines is featuring special return fares of £399 for travel in May and June but tickets must be booked before the end of March. Prices then increase to £539. Malaysia Airlines has daily flights to Sandakan from Kota Kinabalu (about 45mins) for £28 return.
Transport: there are public buses to use but most holidaymakers use the transport of local operators. It is only possible to visit Sukua with a ground operator.
Time to avoid: rainy season is usually October-January.
Language: Bahasa Malay is spoken here although English is widely used and understood.
Visas: a valid UK passport, but no visa necessary.
Advisable health precautions: malaria protection, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio.
Currency: Malaysian ringitt (£1 = 6 ringitt). No more than 1,000 ringitt can be brought in or out of the country.
For more information: contact Tourism Malaysia on tel: 020-7930 7932