Sipadan Island / Homestay Mabul .
| Home | More Pictures |
Sep 18-25 (8 days) Sipadan Islands, Sg Kinabatangan & Sepilok Orang Utan Sandakan
Day 1 Sat KL to Semporna: The group comprised of 8 ladies, all whom have travelled with me before. We assembled at KLIA for the 6pm flight Tawau and transferred to Semporna 1.5hrs by hired van.
Day 2 Sipadan & Mabul Island: We left for Mabul Island at 8am and after putting away our things at the village homestay, we headed for Sipadan Island, 20 minutes by speedboat. The group went on a half hour walk round this small island. Then its snorkeling, snorkeling and more snorkeling with a break for a simple packed lunch at the jetty. We returned to Mabul Island in the early afternoon and spend the rest of the day walking about. In the evening we adjorn to one of the jettys to wait for the sunset.
Day 3 Kapalai Island and back to Semporna: It gets light as early as 6am in this part of Sabah. After breakfast we proceeded to Kapalai Island, or more appropirately Kapalai Atoll, some 15 minutes away. There's only one small resort, which is built wholly on stilts as it is completely covered by water. It has the best snorkeling site of all the three islands visited with abundance of marine life. We returned to Mabul Island for lunch and later walked some more. We waited for the tide to come in at 4pm before leaving the islands for the short 1 hour boat-ride to Semporna.
Day 4 Batu Putih Kinabatangan: We spent the morning visiting the interesting town's market with its interesting array of fishes. We also visited the adjoining Bajau Village. I hired a local van to take us all to Batu Putih Village, located on the Kinabatangan River. This was to be our place for the night. Under WWF sponsered Mescot (Model Ecologically Sustainable Community Tourism Project), we lived with the local villagers. In the evening, we went on an evening river safari into the Kinabatangan Forest Reserve to view the famous prosboscis monkeys and other wildlife.
Day 5 Sg Kinabatangan: In the morning, we opted for another morning cruise and we were manage to see an orang utan in the wild. After lunch we left for Sepilok 90km 2hrs and manage to catch the 230pm feeding time. I counted a total of some 8 orang utan, mostly young juveniles. We stayed at a guesthouse within walking distance from the Orang Utan Centre.
Day 6 Orang Utan Sepilok: In the morning we walked over to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehab Centre, one of only 4 in the world, to catch the 1030am feeding session. This time, there were some 70 tourists, compared to about 15 yesterday. I also manage to view the Sumatran Rhinocerous, kept here as part of an unsuccessful breeding program. We took the local bus to Sandakan and at night we were treated to a seafood dinner by one of the member's working collegue, based in Sandakan.
Day 7 Sandakan: In the morning, we visited the fish market located just behind the motel. Its a good sized market with lots of fresh seafood. Later we hired a van to take us to the Australian War Memorial. Sandakan was the site of a Japanese POW camps housing some 1600 Aussies and 800 Brits. At the end of the war, there were only 6 survivors. In the evening we had more seafood..
Day 8 Sat Sep 25 Go Home: Most of us bought fishes,crabs and prawns to take back home. We also bought other foodstuff with the help of a group member's friend, who is a local Sandakan. Our flight home was at 530pm.
| Home |