Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Monkeys and Malaysia
My feature about a cruise around Borneo onboard the newly renovated Orion II was published here in last week's Mail on Sunday.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
House-sitting and petite primates
I've just come back from the Philippines on an amazing trip organised by Shangri-La Hotels and Kuoni; my feature about the white coral sand, miniature tarsier primates and excellent seafood will be appearing in the Mail on Sunday at some point.
While I was away my feature about house-sitting was published in the Mail on Sunday, check it out here.
While I was away my feature about house-sitting was published in the Mail on Sunday, check it out here.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Dieting on a cruise ship?
Well I had a go...
My feature about Carnival Magic appeared in today's Mail on Sunday. Read all about it here.
My feature about Carnival Magic appeared in today's Mail on Sunday. Read all about it here.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Hello stranger!
It's been a busy few months with exotic cruises in Borneo and Patagonia keeping me busy and an up-coming trip to the Philippines to plan for.
While I've been away I've had features published on Canada, SE Asia, New Zealand and a new ship review... links to follow soon.
I've also been shortlisted for two awards; one at the Travel Press Awards (Young Journalist of the Year) and one with the British Annual Canada Travel Awards (Best Media Coverage) - so fingers crossed!
While I've been away I've had features published on Canada, SE Asia, New Zealand and a new ship review... links to follow soon.
I've also been shortlisted for two awards; one at the Travel Press Awards (Young Journalist of the Year) and one with the British Annual Canada Travel Awards (Best Media Coverage) - so fingers crossed!
Monday, 19 September 2011
Saturday/Sunday - Going wild
After a morning visit to the POW camp in Sandakan we headed to a water village to catch a speedboat out to sea and the mouth of the Kinabatangan River, where we were staying overnight. The boat cut through the cocoa-coloured river like a hot knife through chocolate as we headed up the jungle-lined river, passing white egrets perching on driftwood and proboscis monkeys straddling branches.
After a lunch stop we continued on to the lodge where we were staying overnight and transferred to a smaller boat to go on an evening wildlife-spotting cruise. As well as seeing more monkeys getting ready to sleep, we saw a streak of electric blue whizz past (a kingfisher), saltwater crocodiles, crested serpent eagles and giant monitor lizards chasing baby macaque monkeys. At the lodge geckos crawled on the ceiling and an oriental pied hornbill was sitting outside on the fence – at night the jungle was full of hoots and calls, drowned out by torrential tropical rain.
Sunday morning’s 6am start saw us heading back out on the river where we were greeted by a gibbon honking in a tree and a big group of hornbills – rhinoceros, oriental pied and crested ones. It was a good morning for bird-watching and we also saw dollar birds, datar birds and brahminy kites flying over lakes clogged with purple water hyacinths. We were all looking out for orangutans and a few sightings of nests and moving branches had us all a little disappointed as we sped back to the ship.
Luckily for us our guides were looking out and we had two proper sightings of the hairy apes hanging from branches and swinging through the trees. On our way back we stopped at the village of Abai to plant a tree, paid for by Orion, to try and help keep the ‘corridor of life’ alive along the Kinbatangan River.
As we left Sandakan there was a little bit of drama with an engine problem that caused us to run aground and so we were taken to a local hotel for the night. We’re staying in Sandakan now rather than going on to Tawau, but in true Orion style all the crew served us a gourmet seafood dinner with champagne by candlelight last night even though the ship had no power.
Now that’s my kind of adventure.
After a lunch stop we continued on to the lodge where we were staying overnight and transferred to a smaller boat to go on an evening wildlife-spotting cruise. As well as seeing more monkeys getting ready to sleep, we saw a streak of electric blue whizz past (a kingfisher), saltwater crocodiles, crested serpent eagles and giant monitor lizards chasing baby macaque monkeys. At the lodge geckos crawled on the ceiling and an oriental pied hornbill was sitting outside on the fence – at night the jungle was full of hoots and calls, drowned out by torrential tropical rain.
Sunday morning’s 6am start saw us heading back out on the river where we were greeted by a gibbon honking in a tree and a big group of hornbills – rhinoceros, oriental pied and crested ones. It was a good morning for bird-watching and we also saw dollar birds, datar birds and brahminy kites flying over lakes clogged with purple water hyacinths. We were all looking out for orangutans and a few sightings of nests and moving branches had us all a little disappointed as we sped back to the ship.
Luckily for us our guides were looking out and we had two proper sightings of the hairy apes hanging from branches and swinging through the trees. On our way back we stopped at the village of Abai to plant a tree, paid for by Orion, to try and help keep the ‘corridor of life’ alive along the Kinbatangan River.
As we left Sandakan there was a little bit of drama with an engine problem that caused us to run aground and so we were taken to a local hotel for the night. We’re staying in Sandakan now rather than going on to Tawau, but in true Orion style all the crew served us a gourmet seafood dinner with champagne by candlelight last night even though the ship had no power.
Now that’s my kind of adventure.
Friday, 16 September 2011
Friday – Hanging out with orangutans
From Sandakan we drove to Labuk Bay, a palm oil plantation where the owner has left an area as a jungle reserve, which is home to proboscis monkeys who swung through the trees to reach the feeding platform and were happy to sit on the fence watching us watching them. They are pretty docile – they fight by making noise at each other rather than tearing strips off one another and we saw an alpha male with his harem of lady friends. At the second viewing platform we also saw a hornbill – a black bird with a double yellow beak like a toucan and more common macaque monkeys; one ran along the feeding platform with his little baby clinging to his belly.
In the afternoon we went to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, which is the largest in the world – orangutans are only found in Borneo and Sumatra and their forests are quickly disappearing, although there are more of them than of the proboscis monkeys found in the wild. The rehab centre was set up in 1964 to try and help orphaned orangutans (coming from the Malay meaning ‘man of the forest’) and those that had been illegally kept as pets. To begin with the orangutans interact with their human carers and are taught how to feed, climb and play – during this stage they can be viewed at the first feeding platform, where we saw a mother and baby and two young ones swinging off branches and munching on bananas in the forest. During the latter stages they are taken further into the sanctuary, away from humans, and eventually released into the wild.
In the afternoon we went to Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, which is the largest in the world – orangutans are only found in Borneo and Sumatra and their forests are quickly disappearing, although there are more of them than of the proboscis monkeys found in the wild. The rehab centre was set up in 1964 to try and help orphaned orangutans (coming from the Malay meaning ‘man of the forest’) and those that had been illegally kept as pets. To begin with the orangutans interact with their human carers and are taught how to feed, climb and play – during this stage they can be viewed at the first feeding platform, where we saw a mother and baby and two young ones swinging off branches and munching on bananas in the forest. During the latter stages they are taken further into the sanctuary, away from humans, and eventually released into the wild.
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