There are some opportunities in life that don’t come around twice, and when you have the chance to experience something unique you have to make it happen. There were 2 of these experiences in Borneo, I’ll be blogging about the other one shortly but today’s installment is about 3 days spend in the Danum Valley Conservation Area – a 438 square kilometre slice of untouched virgin rainforest overflowing with phenomenal plant and wildlife.
What makes Danum Valley unique is that before it became a conservation area there was no human settlement, so there has never been hunting, logging or other human interference. Within minutes of our arrival we encountered a group of around 15-20 playful Red Leaf Monkeys frolicking through the trees. For 20 minutes we stood on the side of the dirt road just metres from where baby monkeys were playing tag, flying between trees and generally being impossibly adorable (and difficult to photograph!).
This one on the right isn’t a monkey. Obviously.
Our days were spent going on walks through the jungle with our personal guide Andrea. The trees were just stunning, tall and straight and green and magnificient, and the variety of wildlife was something else again. Over the three days we saw red leaf monkeys, gibbon monkeys, silver tail monkeys, a western tarsier, snakes, lizards of all sizes, impossible butterflies, supersized bugs of all descriptions, miniature spotted deer, an owl, a pygmy elephant, doctor fish which nibble on your toes when you put them underwater and about a million other things I can’t remember. Oh, and a lot of leeches which are no where near as bad as you imagine.
This guy was slithering around under our accommodation.
Tiger leech.
Jungle plants are incredible.
Being deep in the jungle certainly isn’t everyone’s idea of paradise. It’s hot and humid, you have to wear leech socks everywhere and you can’t walk for 5 minutes before you’re dripping with sweat. But it was pretty close to mine. IT probably helped staying in luxury accommodation with 3 of the most exquisite meals included every day. I tell no lie when I say we went back for 5ths on more than one occassion.
This final shot shows where we slept, and where the monkeys slept. This little fella was enjoying an afternoon siesta in the trees. Cheeky monkey.
