Pictures from the River
Jeff September 3rd, 2009
We’ve been starving you of a picture heavy post for a while now. Since we’re best inspired by wildlife, I suppose that’s because we haven’t been in nature for a while. Sungai Kinabatangan, a long river on Borneo cutting through long tracts of primary jungle, provided a great way to get back into it. And two river cruises from the village of Sukau through the Sukau B&B were a great way of seeing it.
The first was a sunset cruise, followed early the next morning by a sunrise trip.
On both we saw loads of birds.
Not to mention loads of monkeys, including the always hilarious Proboscis Monkeys.
But the highlight of the trips was the rare and large herd of elephants we found eating near the river. They apparently only pass through once or twice a year.
All in all, it was a beautiful trip through some beautiful scenery teeming with amazing wildlife.
The elephants are probably there every day but they just tell everyone otherwise to get them excited. Maybe its just me but I feel like other continents have better wildlife than North America. Maybe I’m just familiar with the wildlife, that a deer really doesn’t excite me, but maybe the same can be said for these people when they see a monkey.
I saw seven deer on my ride tonight(3 different sightings), a turkey vulture that swooped down right in front of us to eat a carcass, a snake, and a boatload of wild turkeys.
You better believe I got excited at each sighting – something had to get me through the hills in Oldham County.
One of the highlights of my life is coming around a turn while riding on the top of Iroquois Park (Uphill Road) and being basically face-to-face (8-10ish yards) with a large buck. Most beautiful thing in the world.
So yeah, non-North American wildlife is different and, therefore, exciting. But I think it’s more context than anything. Tell me you wouldn’t, as Bill Bryson says, “surely shit your pants,” if you saw a huge bear out in the woods?
Well, that’s a question for Theresa and Jeff as I think they encountered a lot of bears during their hikes. So did you shit your pants guys? I’ve had two run-ins with bears both while in a car. Both times I was like “this is fucking sweet” until I nearly fucking smashed into the bear on the second occasion (excuse my French, but it makes the story better). I still point out deer, as though I’ve never seen one before, but I can’t really say it excites me. Though I did get excited when I saw a fox and occasionally when I see a coyote on the side of the highway.
totally lucked out with those elephants huh? awesome
Wonderful picture of the white bird by the lake
I have started to think of monkeys like deer. Oh, another monkey. Granted some are cooler than others and get a bit more enthusiasm but many are just another monkey.
The U.S. does have some cool wildlife: buffalo, bears, polar bears, hummingbirds (only found in N. and S. America), pumas. Unfortunately most of them are rather rare and the majority of Americans pass through life without seeing anything particularly awesome. And yeah, none of those (minus maybe polar bears) are quite as cool as elephants or giraffes or rhinos, at least in my book.