Mac's Rainforest Blog

After climbing Mt. Kinabalu, we were going to a lodge in the middle of the Danum Valley rainforest. We were all excited to get there, but I wasn't excited about going on an hour long plane ride in a prop-plane and then a two hour bumpy car ride because I had very bad altitude sickness.

  When we got there, we ate lunch and then went to our rooms.  Our rooms were very nice. That whole day we rested our sore legs. 

The next day we got up, ate breakfast, and went for a hike through the woods.  We were looking for animals.  We saw a bat wrapped in a leaf and an orangutan up in a tree. 

 I thought that was so cool because primates are my favorite animals.  On the hike we learned there are three types of primates: monkeys, apes and prosimians.  Monkeys are sometimes smaller and have tails. 

Red Leaf Monkey

Apes are bigger like us and do not have tails.  Prosimians are small and have huge eyes.  So including us there are four types of primates.  On the way back we got attacked by tiger leeches. The tiger leeches hurt very bad.  We got a lot of them but the cool thing was if you got bitten and were bleeding you got a certificate.  So we all were trying it get bitten.  

After that hike we went on another hike to a view point and to see some cliff-coffins and bones of an old native tribe.  We also went to a swimming hole where the fish in the pool would nibble at your feet.

 On the way, we saw gibbons and another orangutan at the swimming hole. 

 After that we went back to the lodge to get some rest before the night hike.  On the night hike we saw some civets which are a mix between a ferret and a raccoon.  We also saw a prosimian called a slow loris.  I thought it looked like a fuzzy alien.  After the hike we were all tried and ready for bed.  The next day it was raining so we did not hike.  Instead we went on a safari in a truck and we saw a pygmy elephant which our guide said was rare. 

 The rest of the day we rested, did school work and packed because the next day was our last day. 

 On the last day we went tubing down the river.  Tubing was a lot of fun but it was time to go and I was excited to be off to our next awesome adventure.