Gomantang Caves and Sukau
Visited Gomantong Caves, famous for edible bird's nest. Have you heard of Bird's Nest Soup? If so, this is one of the areas where the makings originate. Over 1,000 Swifts nest in this cave and only two varieties of swifts make edible birds nests. Twice a year, men climb bamboo ladders to over 150 feet to collect the nests off the cave walls. They harvest between March-April an August-September and were busy collecting the nests while we were there. Good quality birds nests can fetch more than US$ 200 per pound and these collectors make a good income doing this! Highly dangerous and they deserve every $ they can earn from this. Just looking at those flimsy ladders was enough to give us "flop-sweats." The limestone cave had two caverns filled with bats, swifts and cockroaches everywhere ...crunching beneath our feet, climbing up the walls, Ick...ick... ick.
inside the cave
A two-hour drive to the river, and then a boat up to Sukau Rainforest Lodge (also known as Old Ben's Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge), for a one-night stay. The Kinabatangan River is Sabah’s longest river and the surrounding jungle is inhabited by 10 species of primates. The nighttime jungle river safari was what we had come for.
Sukau map
In the late afternoon/early evening, we headed down the Kinabatangan River in a motorized boat hoping to spot long nose Proboscis Monkeys, endemic to Borneo and other wildlife - wild orangutans, other primates, birds...View image
...View image..., pit vipers and other snakes (including a big fat one on a branch overhanging the river!).
on the Kinabatangan River
Another wonderful and unique experience...
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