14 October 2011

Road Block: Danum Style...BORNEO (8 Oct)




After the lowland jungles of Sukau, we swapped for the steamy rainforest of Danum Valley, staying in the ultra plush Borneo Rainforest Lodge (literally one of the very best lodges I have been to on Earth). Before we got there though we had some "obstacles" on the way in to deal with. First, we found a Bornean Pygmy Elephant blocking the road, and a tusker at that (male). At first he looked a little too interested in us but soon casually walked off the road, leaving us open-mouthed in its wake. Then the driver pulled the car over for a rusty shape in the trees alongside: a young Orang-Utan that just hung in the tree staring at us, with the mother presumbly nearby (but not seen by us). Another distraction was a pair of White-fronted Falconets haunting a dead snag, the world's smallest raptor. We finished the day with a walk near the lodge, taking in both leeches (luckily we were now all too familiar with the advantages of wearing leech socks, with ours looking a little worse for wear after our earlier time in Taman Negara on the Peninsula). It was well worth it though for a glistening male Bornean Blue Flycatcher, and our first Dusky Broadbills before the rain started lashing down, tropical style, and had us running for cover.

Once the rain stopped though, we realized the show was not over just yet...

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