TSH and the monkeys

TSH set off equipped for most things on the ‘Mangrove River Safari and the Proboscis Monkeys’. This included insect repellent, sun cream, water, umbrella, poncho and mobile phone. The later item was because he was travelling solo as Diva was on another trip. The protection against rain and insects proved unnecessary as the boat was covered, it did not rain and no insects were seen. The camera is not mentioned in the list above as it is an ever present item.

After driving from the ship for 45 minutes the coach reached the centre of Bandar Seri Begawan where the river safari began. The boat trip was relatively comfortable but the guide was obviously not really a wildlife specialist so no information was given about the vegetation. A few egrets were seen but not mentioned and he did not scan the sky for White-bellied Sea Eagles. TSH had been lucky enough to see one of these catch a fish on a previous visit.

Stops were made to look into the dense mangrove vegetation for the Proboscis Monkey but none were to be seen. The same was true of the salt-water crocodile mangrove snake and monitor lizard. The one success was the sighting of long tail macaques.

Then it was time to go and “enjoy morning tea at a private home in the world's largest water village, Kampong Ayer”. The water village has electricity and fresh water but no sanitation – the guide said that the two tides a day dealt with this but that the Sultan was planning to have sanitation installed. TSH chose not to partake of the cakes on offer at the private home which appeared to be laid out more like a café and could serve morning tea and cakes to a number of coach loads of tourists, who could all be seated.

The guide was keen to inform everyone about how good the Sultan is and how he elects everyone in power in the country (who report to him). He does, however, take into account the wishes of the people and checks that they are suitably qualified to do the task they are set. TSH thought that the guide, who was a government employee, did a very good job in promoting the goodness of the Sultan but TSH is a cynic.

On the way back to the ship, the guide said that he had not got a good voice but that he would sing a short song about some past event involving a Sultan. Short it was not and it convinced TSH that any chance of a tip was just blown. (TSH also took account of the guide saying how well government employees were paid and looked after). When he had eventually finished singing the guide was applauded by people on the bus but TSH thought this might have been relief that it had ended.