Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Island of Borneo

 Our next stop on the Island of Borneo was the Port of Kota Kinabalu which is the capital of the Sabah State of east Malaysia on the Northwest coast of Borneo. It was almost completely destroyed by bombing in World War Two, so there are no old colonial buildings, despite having a history of being a British colony. It is a clean small modern city with very few high rise buildings. We saw a few motor bikes, but most people drive cars, It has a port and railway line which carries rubber for export. 

We drove through the city and visited the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, which had many animals native to Borneo that had been rescued from illegal activity, were injured, or were donated when people could no longer care for them as pets. It is now  illegal for many of them to be raised as pets.  

This brightly colored hornbill is native to Borneo.

One animal that we had never seen before was the binturong, or bearcat. It is a very cute and curious animal.  It has very short legs and large strong tail. He looked like a fur coat with a cat's face! It is said that they smell like hot buttered popcorn!

He was very agile, running quickly along the rope.

He was happy to hang by his tail and receive treats from his handler

IT is one  of two carnivores with a prehensile tail that can act as a fifth hand. They can safely hang by their tails and sleep!

The small Sun Bear is also native to Borneo. They are the smallest bears in the world, and weigh only up to 140 pounds. They are omnivorous, but particularly like eating bees and termites. They have a very long toungue.

The endangered Pygmy Elephant is native to Borneo. It is smaller than the African or Asian elephants and has a longer tail that can reach to the ground.

The Proboscis Monkey lives in the Mangrove swamps of Borneo, and lives off of the mangrove shoots for food. They have a very long nose, and webbed feet which make them the best swimmers of all monkeys.

This was the large male of the family "Harem".

There are three Orangutangs at the park. This one got tired of sitting in the sun, and was heading to his enclosure. Orangutangs are now only found in the wild on Borneo and Sumatra. They are members of the Ape family.

This one was sitting in the shade under a structure,  and was watching the tourists walking by. I loved his expression. 

The Hairy Nosed Otter from Borneo is very rare and was thought to be extinct until 1998. These little guys cohabitate with the monkeys in a very nice canal!

The park put on a short show with some of the animals who have been trained to perform some activities.

This Cockatoo has been instructed by her handler to replace the shapes in the shape sorter puzzle. She is picking up the first one.

Here she is independently choosing and placing the shapes successfully in the puzzle with no difficulty at all! Clever bird!

The drive to the wildlife park went through very nice lush green countryside after leaving the city.