Saturday evening in the rainforest

After lunch and a few hours of relaxation (oh and 3 quick loads of laundry in the sink because our clothes were disgusting...whose idea was this place for a honeymoon anyway??), we felt rejuvenated and relaxed... we sat for dinner in a private corner at the main lodge. Dinner tonight was a special wedding gift from our good friend Marlo Polonsky- thanks Marlo! My first course was a delectable soup called "winter melon soup"...it was a clear, lemongrass based broth with cubes of clear veiny "winter melon" (which I certainly had never heard of- but was similar in consistency to watermelon, just not sweet) and coarsely chopped carrots with whole lemongrass. Brian had fish and chicken satay with fried rice and vegetables and I had whole grain rice with steamed pumpkin (pumpkin in the rainforest??) and chicken satay. For dessert we had "leftover gobler" (which was just as tasty as last night) and steam cakes with coffee...we were going to need some caffeine to keep us up for tonight's night drive and night walk...both rescheduled from last night.

After dinner we all climbed aboard an extra large white pick up truck with cushioned seats facing each other in the back. Mike perched up on top of the driver's area in a specially rigged seat and laid out the rules of the road...if we see something on the right, then only the people on the left can stand up...he explained he would be using a light to look for wildlife and to be careful not to follow it with our eyes because we may get dizzy...simple enough. With that we were off...

Despite the rules, I did follow the flash light anyway...maybe I would be better at spotting wildlife than Mike? He flashed it quickly up and down the trees, I was surprised how bright it was! Everything else around us was pitch black. He spotted first a flying lemur...it was way high up in a tree and I couldn't believe he had found it at all. It was about the size of a small cat and at the moment just sitting. He turned off his light to see if we could get it to fly away and it worked! It jumped just when my eyes had adjusted back to the darkness and Mike flicked the light back on it just in time to catch it's bat like underbelly before it landed smoothly on a nearby tree...

We continued up the very bumpy road when he caught sight of something flying. We stopped for a moment, turned off the engine to wait for it, when something ran by the car- lights on and just before it ran into the brush we caught a glimpse of a leopard cat! It's colors were amazing. Mitch explained that this was one of the smallest cats in Borneo and rare in terms of sighting because they are so fast. Lights off again and we caught a flying squirrel. Very similar in appearance to the lemur from earlier.

The bugs were swarming all around Mike's light and therefore, us. Not mosquitos (I actually have yet to see one) but a massive variety of other flying insects...beetles, moths, smaller fly like bugs...who knows what these things are...?? But they are everywhere, and one actually flew straight into my mouth. Yuck!!! Guess I won't be talking anymore tonight!

We reached the limits of Borneo Lodge after about 45 minutes drive and our turning point. The driver made an awkward U turn and killed the engine and all the lights so we could enjoy "nature's light show"...the fireflies. They were really pretty...at times I wasn't sure if I was looking at a star or a firefly? And it was kinda nice to just sit for a quiet moment after that bumpy ride - I was sitting next to an older couple who at this point were practically laying in my lap. Despite it being night, it was still incredibly hot and now in the pitch blackness I was still feeling bugs land on me I just couldn't see what kind they were...After a few minutes he started the engine back up again and we were heading back with Mike flashing his light in the trees. I didn't realize it until now that he was looking for the red reflex of an animal's eyes...which is why he was just flashing the light so quickly.

We were almost back when they suddenly stopped short and had identified something seemingly very exciting on the right side (which meant Brian and I could stand because we were seated on the left). But I couldn't see a damn thing and at this point Brian had had enough of the heat and was showing little interest. Everyone seemed to be having trouble seeing whatever it was that they discovered so Mike grabbed my camera, scaled brush tripping up a steep hill along the way and being careful not to disturb this thing...he snapped a few photos with my camera while Mitch held his light...he brought the camera back to us and I was shocked to actually see the strangest animal ever...a tiny primate known as a tarsier. It is the smallest primate and yet has the largest eyes (in proportion to body) of all mammals which makes it a great night time hunter. It is entirely carnivorous and feeds on all varieties of insects as well as frogs, snakes and bats. It is sometimes called a "bush baby" and it's classification had long been controversial because it had mammal like features as well as rodent like ones including webbed hands and feet and long rat-like tail. I was grateful to Mike for getting me a picture...they said that they are so rare to see them and both our guides had only seen them once or twice before...

Back to the lodge where we had a few minutes to get ready for our night walk. Leech socks on, we started hiking with Mike, Mitch and a few others up the road. First we stopped by a small pond where Mike pointed out several frogs that were so perfectly blended in with their surroundings I don't know how he saw them at all! We even saw 2 frogs mating- I am sure they were not happy with the light being shone on them! He said that wherever there are frogs means that snakes are nearby and sure enough he spotted 3! One was striped and the other 2 greenish-brown in color. They were all fairly small (which made me feel better).

We continued walking and the only other thing we saw were 2 civet cats. I hope you are sitting down for this. Civets are best known for producing some of the most expensive coffee in the world known as "Kopi Luwak". Basically, the civets eat the coffee beans and once they pass through their digestive track (i.e. once they poop them out) the beans are collected, roasted etc. The coffee produced (they say) is best because of 2 mechanisms- civets only eat the best beans (selection) and coffee is made better as it is fermented in their intestines (digestion). The coffee industry in general considers this nothing more than a novelty item and real coffee experts poo poo it (pardon the pun) but nevertheless the demand for it is there and (crazy?) people continue to pay upwards of $700 USD per kilogram. It is widely farmed now in Asia (which one would think would decrease it's value since the "selection" aspect is removed) and it is estimated that over 50% more civet coffee is sold rather than what is actually produced (i.e. much of it is counterfeit)...and with that, it is bedtime.

We cannot wait to shower (again) and climb into our cozy bed with the sounds of the rainforest to put us to sleep...special thank you to Brian's family friends Richie and Roberta Guralnik for sponsoring our room tonight as a wedding gift...after today's events we will surely sleep soundly!

- Posted from abroad using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Lahad Datu,Malaysia