Abai jungle Lodge

We had heard good things about this place and the high number of animals here but we weren't sure how they could top our sighting of elephants from yesterday. Well, it turns out that the reviewers were right.

We arrived from Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge to Abai Jungle Lodge by boat and had the rest of the morning to relax and explore the resort's boardwalk trails. We were immediately impressed by how well kept the boardwalk was while keeping the the surroundings natural. We climbed to the top of a 2 story bird tower and enjoyed the refreshing breeze up there. Then we saw some movement in the neighboring tree - a whole family of proboscis monkeys!! We saw babies swinging and playing with each other! When we had enough and continued down the trail we met a family of long tailed macaques. There must have been over 15 of them. The alpha male walked closer and closer to us on the boardwalk. After watching them and taking videos of them, we eventually decided not to challenge them and found another way back. 

Next we went to visit a local village. We learned about their culture and such and had lunch there. In the afternoon free time, we went exploring on the boardwalk again. We saw a couple macaques in the trees. When we encountered the proboscis monkeys again a group of bachelor monkeys were challenging the alpha male. It was great to watch but then we had to leave for our next boat tour.

This boat tour was fantastic, even without elephants. We saw a proboscis family with many babies and they jumped from tree to tree seeking shelter for the night. Later a group of long tailed macaques try to join their tree and the alpha male sounded the alarm. Fortunately, it did not come to confrontation. We also saw a group of bachelor proboscis monkeys who looked sad. We saw a family of silver leaf monkeys including a white morph, a number of crocodiles, rhinoceros hornbills, and some sleeping birds. After dark, we saw the trees lit up with fireflies. It was like a Christmas light show!

After dinner we had a night walk. We saw some bugs, frogs, and sleeping birds. I finally saw the giant stick insect but it was just a baby. I'm told the next place we're staying has adult ones, I'm hoping to find one.