From hot and sticky KL to hot and sticky Borneo… out go the skyscrapers and city lights and in comes the jungle with a sprinkling of townships (except bustling Sandakan itself!)

We arrived fairly late in the evening, and had an early start to Turtle Island the next day so the only thing we did when we arrived was unpack at the Airbnb and catch a Grab car to a nearby restaurant for a meal. We thought we were in the wrong place at first as you had to walk into a Chinese hotel lobby then take a lift up to the top floor. It was more Westernised than we’d planned, but the food was delicious and it had a lovely vibe.

After supper, we headed back to our Airbnb and got to sleep. Day two here was our trip to Turtle Island (see separate post).

On day three, we got back from our turtle-viewing extravaganza pretty tired, but not wanting to waste the day. After a quick shower and unpack, we caught a Grab to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. This was a 50 minute drive from our apartment, which allowed for a little snooze in the car!

Our driver was also really chatty and helpful, and agreed to drive us to the feeding platform (avoiding a 2.7km walk in the heat of the day), wait for us and bring us back again afterwards – which was lucky as the sanctuary is far removed from the main roads and it probably would’ve been hard to catch a ride back.

There are 2 platforms and 4 feeding times at the sanctuary – and other than a tiny cafe at Platform B with a couple of staff members, it’s pretty quiet when it’s not feeding time. It’s all a-go when you hit the right time and follow the walkway to the platform though!

Endangered proboscis monkeys aren’t the only animals you can see here – there are also silvered leaf monkeys and oriental-pied hornbills amongst other things. We would have happily spent the whole day here, slowly wandering between the two platforms and trying to spot wildlife on the way, but as we knew we still had to get organised for our river trip the next day we made do with a shorter visit.

The proboscis monkey’s distinct appearance sets them aside from other monkeys – they have big noses, pot bellies and webbed toes. Adult males can reach 23kg and females about half that size. Males develop huge protruding noses when they reach sexual maturity, with the biggest nose of all taking the role of Alpha male. They generally live in groups with one alpha, lots of adult females and their offspring.

There are feeding platforms stationed all around the viewing hut, allowing visitors to find some space to watch these incredible creatures. We saw many mothers with babies, juveniles and adult males and females . It was so fascinating to watch them interact with each other – sometimes playfully, sometimes aggressively. The large alpha male we saw as very protective over his food and sitting space! Elijah especially enjoyed following his journey around the platforms and through the trees – with cries and screams from the smaller monkeys moving out of his way.

Found only in the mangroves of Borneo, proboscis monkeys are highly vulnerable to extinction, and as such are a legally protected species here. Despite this, their numbers are still declining, mainly due to habitat loss. The sanctuary here provides a safe space for them and is consistently acquiring and restoring degraded mangrove forests in an effort to provide a more sustainable habitat.

Monkey business is hungry work, so we asked to be dropped off at a local seafood restaurant that had been recommended by several of our Grab drivers and our Airbnb host, called Jalan Buli Sim Sim.

We were starting to feel the effects of only 4 hours sleep and the choice was overwhelming so struggled to decide on what to eat – apart from Elijah who promptly ordered a plate of sweet and sour crab! We added some rice, seafood dumpling soup, honey chicken and green vegetables to that order and hoped for the best!

After lunch we got ourselves to the local mall in town, to pick up some supplies and cash. Elijah and Kate had fun choosing interesting snacks to try from the supermarket, while Sylvie spent her money on her new pal “Ginger”.

So that’s about all from our time here in Sandakan. We are heading back in a couple of days, and we have orangutang visits in mind for that part of the trip. But for now, we are looking forward to seeing what we might be able to catch a glimpse of in the wild, as we head to the Kinabatangan river!