My Encounter With Proboscis Monkeys

In my last post, I asked my readers to guess where I would be going next on my KK trip.

And the hints I gave were a box of anti mosquito patch, a packet of Hansaplast, a Carman's energy foodbar, a Cadbury chocolate bar, a box of Dentyne chewing gum and a binocular.




OK, let me reveal where I would be going on my third day in KK.

I bought the Hansaplast because I injured my finger at home on the day I was leaving for KK. I needed it to protect my finger.

The Carmans food bar and the Cadbury chocolate bar were bought just to soothe my hunger in case I needed to eat at places where there were no eateries. Anyway, I ate the whole chocolate bar in my room the previous night when I could not sleep. I slept well after that! And I thought the caffeine in the chocolate would prevent me from sleeping! Well....

Now the Dentyne chewing gum was just for my chewing pleasure during long journeys! It is definitely not essential for this trip.

So the only essential items were the anti mosquito patch and the binocular. Where in KK would I need these two items? Well, it was for a trip to the Klias Wetland to watch the famous Proboscis monkeys!

I actually booked this Klias Wetland Cruise tour through the people at Lavender Lodge where I stayed. For RM185, the tour include a cruise along the Klias River and a buffet dinner.

The pick up van arrived at about 1.30pm in front of Lavender Lodge and then proceeded to pick up 2 female tourists from France and a couple with a kid from Australia at separate hotels.

Heading towards Beaufort, the journey took around 2 hours through beautiful countryside scenery of padi fields, sago trees and palm oil trees. There was even a Chinese temple halfway but we did not stop by to take any photos. Our tour guide who was also the driver, provided us some entertainment with his interesting comments about the sago trees and padi fields.

We arrived at Kampong Garama near the Klias Wetlands about 3.30pm.



Walked along this wooden planks past oil palm trees to our destination for our tea break!



This is the place where we had our tea break.



Do you see the word 'Monkey Shop' on the wall? The shop sells souvenirs though I didn't buy any as I thought the items were pretty pricey since they were aimed at tourists.



The place had quite a nice ambience to it and I thought it was kind or relaxing to have a meal there by the wetland.



I guess it was time to tuck in some food.



I had a very light meal. Just some banana fritters and kueh.



After the light tea break, we were all ready for the river cruise. We had to put on our safety jackets and followed our tour guide onto the boat. It was already past 4pm by then, which according to our tour guide, was the right time as the proboscis monkeys only come out then.

Unfortunately, I could not take any good photos of the monkeys as they were too far up on the trees for my camera to zoom on. This is the only photo which I think is the best as the rest were all disappointing!



I had a closer shot at this one, but it's just a silver leaf monkey, not the proboscis monkey!



Now this is how a proboscis monkey looks like. This picture is taken from Wikipedia.





Notice the characteristic long nose? That's why the monkeys are also known as long-nosed monkeys. Some people call it Dutchman monkeys. Know why? Cos besides long noses, they have pot bellies too. Just like the Dutchmen. Haha!

The males appear to have longer noses than the females. According to our tour guide, the long noses are used to attract the females and also act as a resonating chamber to amplify their "honking" calls.

During the cruise, our tour guide imitated those "honking" calls to attract the monkeys to show themselves. It was a good thing I brought along my binocular. I could see the monkeys very clearly but too bad, could not take any decent photos of them!

Oh, by the way, we also had a close encounter with a crocodile. Yes, a crocodile! I did not manage to take any photos of the crocodile as it did not show itself fully but remained submerged halfway in the water.

The crocodile floated in the river near our boat, then disappeared into the water. The situation was a little tense as we were wondering when it would come out of the water again. Look! The girls appeared to be a little nervous waiting for the crocodile to reappear.



One of them jokingly asked what would happen if the crocodile decide to attack them and flip the boat upside down? Reminded me of Australian crocodile movies Rogue and Black Water!

However, our tour guide quickly reassured us that in the history of Klias Wetland, there have never been a case of crocodile attacks before. Well, didn't he know that there's always a first time for everything? Haha!

After about an hour and a half cruising the river, it was time to head back to the restaurant for our buffet dinner. On the way back, the sunset provided a beautiful opportunity to take some photos. I do not know why or how but I somehow lost all those sunset photos! What a pity!

There was only one shot I have, with the girls in the picture.



After our buffet dinner, which was really nothing much to shout about, I quickly applied the mosquito patch onto my clothes. It was time to return to the river for a night cruise to see the fireflies!

However, on this second cruise, we were told not to wear the life jacket as it was just a short cruise. I thought it was not a very good idea and I think the organisers should re-think this. They are putting their customers' lives at risk. Don't forget it is night time and it is all dark. If someone falls into the river, it would be quite hard to see where he or she is!

Anyway, the fireflies tour was a disappointment. There were not many fireflies around! We could see some trees lighted up in the dark, but that's about it. I had expected more. However, one firefly flew onto our boat. We captured it with our hands and after passing it from one person to the next, we let it flew off to the trees.

With the river cruise tour concluded, we headed back to the van for a 2 hour drive back to KK. I would say, I quite enjoyed myself and I would recommend it for first timers. But no second time for me.

If you were to go on this tour, remember to bring along a binocular. Otherwise, you would be disappointed because the proboscis monkeys would be too far away for you to see properly with the naked eye. Unless you don't mind renting their binoculars of course. I think it's RM5 per binocular, if not mistaken.

Also, remember to apply mosquito repellant or mosquito patch if you do not fancy being bitten by the mosquitoes at night.

Coming up next - The Two Towers (and no, it's not Lord Of The Rings!)

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