Thursday, February 13, 2014

Looking for Wildlife and Homelife on a Borneo River

Reading National Geographic Kids inspires my children to explore. In the same way that the original magazine got adults dreaming of adventures in faraway lands, the kid version has given my children a curiosity about the animals, landscapes, and cultures of our vast, diverse world.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Fisherman on the Santubong River, Borneo


When we boarded the boat on Borneo's Santubong River, my daughter was immediately enthralled by the wildlife photos lining the ceiling. Pictures of proboscis monkeys with their comical, Jimmy Durante noses stared down at us. Irrawaddy dolphins with their characteristic rounded heads and snub noses were shown frolicking in the water. Images of crocodiles glared at us, daring us to get a little closer. As the boat began to chug its way out into the river, she went on and on, telling me everything she knew about proboscis monkeys and their endangered status.

After a while, she paused for a breath and said, "Mama, we should go and see these animals sometime," waving her arm at the pictures

"Honey," I told her, "That's why we're on this boat. Those are the animals we're going to see!"

She was so surprised and delighted. The look on her face was akin to a preschool girl who has just been told she's going to DisneyWorld to have breakfast with all the Princesses. It was as if she had stepped into the pages of National Geographic. A world which had so far only existed on paper was suddenly about to become real.

We were going to see these animals in the wild. Of course, this can be a little trickier than seeing them at the zoo or aquarium. They aren't captive and waiting for you to come by to look at them. No, these animals are living free, and we needed a combination of luck and familiarity with their habits to find them. Luckily, we had a guide who knew a few tricks.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Waiting and staring, hoping to see proboscis monkeys.

Our first successful sighting was of some Irrawaddy dolphins. They are known to hang around fishing boats, so our boat would cut its motor and silently float whenever we came upon a fisherman.

"There!" someone would cry, pointing excitedly. The dolphins quickly came up out of the water and dove back down again. We would watch for a while before continuing down the river looking for more fishing boats to stalk.

Before you start scrolling down to see fantastic wildlife photos, I need to let you in on something. Photographing wildlife can be really hard -- perhaps even more difficult than taking pictures of uncooperative toddlers. Basically, none of my pictures turned out. All the ones of dolphins show nothing but water. I only got one photo of an animal the entire evening, and it was taken right as we were climbing on board.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Mudskippers are amphibious fish that use their pectoral fins to walk on land.

Yup, that's the sum total of all my successful wildlife photos. At least I have my memories...not that you can see them.

As we reached the mangrove forest, the boat took us closer to shore to look for proboscis monkeys. The key is to look for violently shaking branches. Night was approaching which is the time when these monkeys move from the inland spots where they spent the day back out to the river to forage for food. We spotted a few moving through the trees but never got the closeup look that we'd been hoping for. From what my friends tell me, we would have had a better chance of seeing them if we had spent the night at one of the Bako National Park cabins where the proboscis monkeys come crashing through the area every morning.


Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Fishing village on the Sanbutong River


For me, one of the best parts of our river excursion was stopping at a Malay fishing village. The brightly painted houses were raised up on stilts to keep them out of the way of rising water. Boats were tied up all along the shore.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
The fishermen have returned home for the day.

This place is so remote that they are not hooked up to a power utility. Instead, the loud drone of gasoline powered electric generators filled the air as we pulled up. There's a small school to serve the younger children, but teens interested in getting an education had to go elsewhere for classes, only coming home on weekends.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Toddler boy hanging out the window over the water.

The lack of power and secondary schools made me realize how different my life was compared to this fishing society. After all, I had reached their village on a 3-hour pleasure cruise and was going to lay my head down to sleep in a lovely hotel in Kuching that night. The fishing families, on the other hand, did not have the economic means to travel this distance often. Their poverty keeps them isolated.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
However, they do have the money for satellite television.

The evening call to prayer was just about go out as we landed, so most of the footpaths were empty as wandered through the village. In fact, we never saw a man the whole time we were there as they were off praying. I did see a Winnie-the-Pooh baby blanket hanging up to dry, though.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Wooden walkways between homes lead down to the river.


Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
One little boy dressed up in his Friday finery. 


Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
The fanciest house I saw in the village.

We only spent a few minutes walking around. I actually felt a bit odd taking photos, wondering what I would think if some stranger stood a few feet from my home taking pictures of it.

Santubong, Sarawak, Borneo
Sunset from the fishing village

As the sun began to set, we got back on board for our return trip. The guide shone his powerful flashlight at the mangrove forest's shoreline, sweeping its beam back and forth. He was looking for crocodiles whose eyes reflect the light, making them glow in the dark. My girl was the only person to see a crocodile (or so she claims).

We ended the evening cruise floating by a couple trees filled with fireflies blinking on and off. Fireflies are pretty much impossible to photograph in the dark from a bobbing boat. While I remember seeing fireflies on summer nights when I was a kid, this is the first time that my own children have seen them. I wonder if the fireflies are dying off in Houston, Texas as my parents still live in my childhood home, and the fireflies no longer flit through their yard.

All of us were quiet on the 40-minute van ride back to Kuching. It's excursions like this that make me fully appreciate all that travel can show my family. Wildlife transforms from being something we read about in books or visit in captivity to something that we see in its natural habitat. We're introduced to people whose society is physically located close to our own modern world yet remains so different from ours. We weren't just flipping through a copy of National Geographic. We were experiencing it in real life.


IF YOU GO:
We booked our tour through CPH Travel Agency. They picked us up from our hotel in Kuching in an air conditioned van and provided fruit snacks and non-alcoholic beverages on the cruise as part of the tour. The boat had life-jackets if you elected to wear one, even ones small enough for preschoolers. The cost was a little more than US$50 for adults and US$25 for children.

RELATED POST:
Don't Anger the Orangutans


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, Sunday Traveler on Ice Cream and Permafrost, and Travel Photo Mondays on Travel Photo Discovery. Check them out form more around-the-world travel inspiration.

24 comments:

  1. What a fun river trip this appears to have been. I enjoyed your wild life photography!

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  2. It's interesting when people live "together" in poverty, I don't think they feel poor. Especially when there is a richness of beauty and basic needs surrounding them. Your one wildlife picture is very unique, but not cute enough to pick up. Your kids are getting such an amazing life experience with a mom like you.

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  3. Thanks for telling us the best way to see the monkeys was to stay at the Bako National Park Cabins. How frustrating not to be able to get good photos. I know that feeling. But what you have shown us is enough to start me thinking. We used to have fireflies in our house when I was young. I have not seen one in Australia since then. We saw them on a river trip in Kampot, Cambodia recently.

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  4. Taking wildlife shots is HARD. I think anyone who is good at it is either very lucky or very experienced (a little of both, probably). I love the village and all the colors. Your sunset shot it gorgeous. Thanks for linking up this week.

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  5. This sounds like a perfect day outing. I love a boat trip. Your sunset photo is amazing! That's one for your wall!

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  6. Taking photos of wildlife is difficult, they move too fast for most of us. What I've done in the past is point my camera in the direction I think they're likely to appear, keep my eyes on the viewfinder or LCD screen, whichever works better, my finger on the shutter and just snap away when I see them. I'm not always successful but sometimes, one or two of the photos will be fine.
    But you know what, the most important thing is your memories and the memories you made with your kids that day.

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  7. I think it's one of the things I love most about travelling - introducing my children to the fabulous planet we live on! I love your pictures, I haven't yet been to Borneo but would love to one day! :)

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  8. Breath-taking sunset view, great photos :)

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  9. Wildlife is hard to photograph-I agree with that! However, I love these photos of the fishing villages! Thanks for linking up to #SundayTraveler!

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  10. What a fantastic experience for your kids! I still get excited going through National Geographic myself.

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  11. Lovely! I have always wanted to see Borneo, it is among my top wish lists right now. I didn't make it on my last two trips to Malaysia :(. I agree that getting photos of Wildlife is difficult, you need a fast camera/lens too often. What kind of camera are you using? I often times seem to have the wrong lens for the animals i'm trying to shoot, since most of them are always so far away.

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    1. My camera is just a point-and-shoot, so that could be part of the problem.

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  12. What a great experience to share with your kids. You definitely get a different prospective about life seeing how other people live. Great pictures by the way.

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  13. wow beautiful photographs your place. Loved them all. Thanks for sharing them.

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  14. That was fascinating to picture a quality of life for folks there then to see a satellite dish! I would love to see those dolphins and the mudskippers must be a hoot to watch, Michele! Good post! :)

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  15. So glad the kids got to jump into the pages of the NG book. My kids love that book too and it's a wonderful travel inspiration for us too. Their memories and this whole experience is worth more than some wildlife photos. I love the mudskipper photo and that sunset one.

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  16. I love the photos of the fishing village and the river scenery. Agreed, taking wildlife pictures can be extremely difficult. The perfect shots we see on publications such as the National Geographic can sometimes take up to a month to capture a single perfect shot.

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  17. Sounds like an amazing day for everyone in the family. What a great lot of interesting trips your family is doing.

    I took a nature photography course and one of the assignments was taking photos of an animal in the zoo but it couldn't show anything in the photo that would give the zoo away - no tags, bars...far more difficult than you might think. My biggest takeaway - focus on the eyes.

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  18. Thanks for finding me at One Road at a Time, what an interesting story you have moving from Texas to Malaysia. I love the photo of the purple house!

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  19. What a wonderful experience for your kids - and you. Would love to visit Borneo.

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  20. Beautiful pictures! Sometimes I'm so busy trying to get a picture that I completely miss what's going on in real life so no shame in capturing the mudskipper - it's a lovely photo too :) Malaysia looks gorgeous!

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  21. Looks like an amazing experience. There's nothing like seeing wildlife in their natural habitat. Our best experience was in Alaska. I had visions of coming home with amazing photos -- nope! Way too difficult. We'd love to take our son to Alaska and Africa someday. Loved your photos of the fishing village.

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  22. Just lovin' this island with its wild nature and extremely friendly people. Hope the nature here remains preserved. I particularly love the occasional village on stilts hanging over the water. Someone explained that they are sea gypsies who are not Malaysian citizens, so cannot own property on land, but who the government allowed to live in this sort of compromise. http://seaviewsandakan.com/borneo/

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