There are only about 1000 of the endangered proboscis monkeys left in the wild, and all on the island of Borneo. Photo / 123rf
There are only about 1000 of the endangered proboscis monkeys left in the wild, and all on the island of Borneo. Photo / 123rf
Who knew a cruise could turn you into a monkey fanatic? Cherie Howie jumps on a river cruise in Malaysia, in search of some big-conked clowns.
We’re motoring along the river in a dinky little boat looking for monkeys - monkeys I really want to see, by the way.
I can scarcely believe it myself.
In other parts of Asia, I’m usually on the watch for monkeys I really don’t want to see, the kind that have lost any natural fear of humans and can be rather pushy and scary.
Here on the Klias River in Malaysia’s northern Borneo state of Sabah, I can relax.
A two-hour bus ride from the port of Kota Kinabalu has brought several dozen Norwegian Jewel cruise ship passengers on a shore excursion to this patch of protected mangrove wetlands specifically to see proboscis monkeys.
Proboscis monkey groups usually include one male to more than a dozen females, and their young, or bachelor groups of unattached males. Photo / 123rf
With their hallmark floppy Jimmy Durante-esque schnozzes, beauties of the animal kingdom these long-tailed primates are not.
What they are is found only in Borneo, endangered and the primate world’s most prolific swimmers - they can both wade upright and outpace their crocodile predators thanks to their webbed feet and hands.
We first spot them about halfway through the tour, after earlier stopping to watch other species of monkeys in this wildlife haven - including the silver leafed and macaques swinging through the trees as smartphone cameras beep in unison.
The distinctive reddish-brown bodies that appear in the trees are hard to miss, and I catch flashes of that distinctive big nose as one goes about its business of swinging between branches and munching on leaves (they also favour seeds, unripe fruit and, sometimes, insects).
You can see proboscis monkeys on a cruise at Klias River on the Malaysian island of Borneo. Photo / Cherie Howie
The sight is nothing like the up-close view of a nature documentary on TV but there’s something special about actually being there.
Most of us on the boat are strangers, but everyone tries to help anyone who can’t catch a monkey in their sightlines.
A TV screen doesn’t give you that kind of camaraderie.
We’d already sort of bonded earlier after an Australian tourist with an uncanny resemblance to former Prime Minister Scott Morrison slipped while getting into the boat, landing across the wooden bench seats on his back and with a sickening thud.
“Well, that’s one way of getting in”, he said cheerfully as everyone let out a relieved laugh.
People live alongside Klias River in the northern part of Malaysia's Sabah state on the island of Borneo, as do endangered proboscis monkeys. Photo / Cherie Howie
Now, even at a distance, I can pick out the proboscis monkey’s big nose and I wonder if it’s a male, the guide having told us the males’ noses are bigger, and that they act as an echo chamber to amplify their sound - especially useful when under threat.
The monkeys live in groups of around 20 - a single male to up to a dozen females, while unattached males similarly stick together.
But it’s not all love nests and bachelor pads, the proboscis monkey population has been falling due to the destruction of its habitat through logging and oil palm plantations.
The monkeys are protected under the laws of all three countries that occupy the island of Borneo - Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei - but still, only about a thousand remain in the wild.
It feels pretty special to see them in their natural environment, even at a distance.
Back at the dock, our boat joins a queue lining up to disembark their passengers.
I look up to see a monkey at the top of a large tree, its figure silhouetted in the late afternoon sun, and then catch myself squinting to see if I can recognise the species.
I can’t, and then realise not only am I still squinting, I’m shaking my head, too.
Fly non-stop from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur International Airport with Malaysia Airlines. Alternatively, Air NZ and Singapore Airlines fly from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur with one stop-over in Singapore.
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
