Kerrin & Lesley's RTW

We started off our two weeks in Borneo by heading to Semporna to do some more scuba diving.  We were staying at a "floating" lodge on Mabul Island which was built up on stilts above the sea.  On the first day we did 3 dives around Mabul Island.  We saw some huge schools of fish and although the coral wasn't as nice or as much of it as there was at Ko Tao we definately saw a lot more fish.  On the final dive of the day we finally saw a turtle sitting on a rock and then swim off.  We'd seen some sting rays before but they were always sleeping under rocks.  This time though the dive master gave it a little prod and it came shooting out under us (got a little fright) and we got a better look at it's blue spots. That night was the last night for one of the diving instructors so back at the lodge there was a bit of a BBQ and party with a band and plenty free beer and rum!  We even went for a late night dip in the sea and met some really nice people.  The next day we were up early again for some more diving.  This time at Sipadan Island which is supposed to be one of the best dive sites in the world.  Straight away it didn't disappoint we saw loads more turtles, plenty of reef sharks, a huge school of hundreds of barracuda and plenty more different types of fish!


After our 2 days of diving we headed up the coast to Sandakan.  The town itself is like one big rubbish pile.  It was horrible walking around, especially at night when there were rats running out of the rubbish and the drains.  While we were there we visited a crocodile farm where we saw, well, plenty of crocodiles.  We then spent a day at the Sepilok Orang Utang Rehibilitaion Centre.  It is a huge are of forrest where the rehibilitate orphaned orang utangs before releasing them back into the wild and twice a day you can view one of the feeding platforms where they feed some of the younger ones.  we saw so many at the feeding times and then while we were walking along before the afternoon feeding one came up really close to where we were on the walkway!  While we were having lunch in the cafe another had come out of the forrest and sneaked past the rangers and climbed onto the cafe roof so it was pretty amusing watching them trying to get it to come back down!  It was amazing to see the Orang Utangs up so close and it was one of the things I'd been looking forward to most.  It was even worth staying in Sandakan for!

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