8th May 2012

At precisely 9 a.m., I handed the car key to the reception desk, awaiting the grand arrival of the rental car representative. Twenty minutes later, with no sign of said representative and my patience evaporating faster than the morning dew, I left the keys with the concierge and retreated to our room.

Sue and I then strolled to the Activity Centre for our second round of orangutan observation and feeding, followed by a canopy walk. The group this time was substantially larger than on our previous visit, which seemed to make the apes suspicious. They lingered aloft, peering down at us with all the enthusiasm of a cat confronted with a bath. Eventually, as the heat and humidity began to melt the guests, who dropped away one by one, the apes descended, possibly sensing that we were now sufficiently tenderised.

The canopy walk attracted even fewer takers, the weather doing an excellent job of thinning the herd. It wasn’t the advertised three-quarters of an hour, and it lacked the heart-stopping moments of other canopy walks we’ve tackled, but it did reward us with one spectacular view over the beach, worth the effort and the occasional wobble.

Back in our room, we enjoyed a cooling lunch. Later, Sue headed off to witness the feeding of a baby orangutan, while I indulged in a blissfully refreshing shower. We reunited for a leisurely wander across the golf course, where we spotted a lizard of frankly prehistoric proportions, about a metre and a half long, vanishing into the undergrowth at an impressive turn of speed. Unfortunately, the local mosquitoes, apparently deprived of lizard blood, turned their attention to us, driving us in itchy desperation back to the Activity Centre.

As evening fell, we drifted to the cocktail bar for complimentary happy-hour drinks, only to discover we’d been seated beside that couple from Birmingham. We had met them before, and their conversational style could best be described as “competitive misery.” For thirty long minutes, we endured their grievances until the hotel manager wandered over, offering them fresh ears to chew. We took the opportunity to slip away, leaving him to a fate worse than room service without chips.

The day closed with a glorious sunset, reminding us that our time in Borneo was drawing to a close. We retired early, ready for the morning’s flight to Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully a lizard-free, complaint-light experience.