Sandakan and the Kinabatangan River Lodge Stay

Sandakan and the Kinabatangan River Lodge Stay

The next day we went onto Sandakan   and deciding to cut back on our accommodation costs we checked into the Central Hotel which was only $25 a night. So we have worked our way down the scale--$75 to $50 to $25—Whats next??----well it proved to be $15 back in KK about 3days later haha! We are doing 6 weeks so some economies are good idea . The Central hotel was fine and we had 2 nights there either side of our jungle trip to the Kinabatangan River where we also had 2 nights. This was organized on the first arvo there and was to cost us $150 ea with a visit to the Gormantong Caves on the way down there. A nice place to eat in Sandakan was the Harbourside Bistro—dinner for two for about $7 and a view over the Sulu Sea

Next morning we set out and 2 hours later stopped at the Gormantong Caves where they charge a wopping $10 for a camera fee!! So we paid for one! We had linked up with; a nice Indian lady gynecologist, Sue and her daughter Jodene from NZ and a nice young English couple. The cave was huge and renowned for the bats and especially swifts that live in it. The swift’s nests are harvested each year after the breeding and are use in Chinese medicine. It’s very expensive so locals guard the place very well during this time. We saw lots of crabs in the stream and any amount of cockroaches and other bugs devouring the guano and each other. The bats seem to get a bit of a caning as well, if they fall for any reason they become the next meal.

Another few hours and we reached the river at Bilit and were taken across and down the river a bit to our lodge. Liz and I stayed for two nights and did a variety of morning and afternoon boat trips to find wildlife. We also did a night walk and a jungle swampy trek to an oxbow lake. The highlight for us was on our last evening boat trip when we saw a big herd of the elusive pygmy elephants. We also saw lots of birds (hornbills), monkeys (including the proboscis—they of the big noses—and threatened)

and lots of other critters. Would definitely recommend the 2 night stay here, its very relaxing and they space the activity very well.