Sunday, September 16, 2012

The KK Diaries: Chased by Wild Monitor Lizards

Day 5, Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Dear Diary,

The last day of my first international vacation. Half past one in the morning, while Brenna and I were watching a gruesome episode of Locked Down, a white man about the same height as me but ten shades fairer entered the lounge. His name was Diego and came all the way from Switzerland. Wow, just... WOW. He just arrived at KK from Sarawak (or was it Sandakan). He was nice and even showed us some photos of orangutans and proboscis monkeys.

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu
Rock Monitor Lizard (Varanus albigularis)

The following morning, Brenna had to leave at around 11 in the morning to catch up her flight back to the Philippines. She wanted to stay longer, but she had no choice. It was also Yancy's birthday and we planned to try parasailing at Manukan Island. It costs around Rm. 70 (~Php 1500) - cheaper compared to Philippines. But lo' and behold! When we arrived at the port, we weren't allowed to ride one due to bad weather. Lord Jeesaaas!

Apparently, a more exciting thing happened to us when we explored Sapi Island.

Yancy, Diego and I decided to chill at Sapi Island. The beach there is great and the water current's relatively calmer thus it is safer to swim.

Kota Kinabalu
Me, Brenna and Diego at Sensi's lounge.

We thought that the weather would get worse. At around three in the afternoon, the weather cleared. Yancy and I were a bit furious about it. But yeah, we always tell ourselves that 'maybe today is not the right time to ride one'. Pfft, pathetic.

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu


After eating our snack at a local restaurant (nomnomnom Malaysian food is the best!!!!), we met up with the two Dutch girls. Well, actually we didn't know they were there; we were a bit surprise when we saw them. And because it was still early, we decided to explore Sapi Island. While exploring we saw two to three monitor lizards (as in MONITTTOOOOOR LIZAAAARDS), at least a meter or two in length. One of them was eating meat.

Monitor Lizard Sapi Island
And we all thought that we were going to be eaten alive by them!

Monitor Lizard Sapi Island
Once threatened, this slow-moving creature will turn into a fast-moving hunter.

And because all of us wanted to have a decent ala-Nat-Geo shot of this amazing creature, we followed one. We walked slowly, just like the creature. Slowly but surely. It was like a scene in Nat Geo Wild (lol, effect na ata to sa sobrang panonood ng NatGeo sa hostel)! We saw their sanctuary, guarded by a meter-high fence. We spotted at least twenty of them! The one we followed met up with another monitor lizard, more or less about the same size. It seemed that they were secretly talking to each other.

AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN, the two of them started to chase us!!! ADRENALINE RUSH! The once slow-moving creature suddenly became a ninja. We all thought that one of us would be bitten by them. Luckily, we escaped unscathed and unharmed. We ran SO FAST that we could have actually won gold medals each from a 50-meter mad dash. We literally ran for our lives.

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu
SMILE despite everything! Haha! Me and my Euro friends!

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu

Sapi Island Kota Kinabalu
Apparently, Diego broke the law. Tourists ARE NOT allowed to dive at the port.
But since there were no speed boats during that time...

We all laughed after that incident. It took us an hour or two before we finally got over with it. It was really funny and scary at the same time. But seriously, those carnivorous reptiles scared the shit out of me! I would never, EVER go near them without an expert, a Herpetologist to be exact.

What an adventure. What an experience!

______________________

Read more of my Kota Kinabalu adventures here!

26 comments:

  1. Funny adventure! gusto ko ding magpahabol sa kanila.. kewl! :)

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  2. Why do they allow those creatures to walk around if there's always a possibility they chase people and bite them. You had quite an adventure there =)

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    1. Because... it's their natural habitat! Apparently, they are harmless. They can coexist with humans. However, once they feel they're threatened or may sumusunod sa kanila (like what we did), hahabulin niya to intimidate it. Defense mechanism nila. But still, it scared the shit out of me! Hahaha

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  3. Yes, Malaysian food is the best, couldn't agree more.

    Kadako sa HALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I thought harmless sila :)

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    1. Harmless sila kung dili nimo sila i provoke. Haha! Anyway, ultimate fave ko talaga yung Nasi Lemak!

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  4. That was quite the adventure being chased by a monitor lizard. I saw one in the area going to the underground river in Palawan, fortunately it was just walking around and not chasing anybody.

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  5. What an adventure...talagang tinalo nyo pa sa takbuhan ang mga monitor lizards...hahahaha

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  6. wow! love the quality of the pictures :)
    great job!!

    Michael Macalos
    http://michaelmacalos.blogspot.com

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  7. Lord Jeesaaas! Hahaha.. that was adventure packed -- even if the trip was highlighted more by those monitor lizards! I was actually able to see one back in Puerto Princesa. But I was too scared to even go near it.. Good thing I didn't, as I didn't want any marathon-speed runs happening to me! :P

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    1. HAHAHAHA! But the Biologist inside me wanted to hold ad examine it... but no... I didn't have any extensive background about Herpetology (study of reptiles). :D

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  8. East Malaysia! I have never been there and I heard maganda rin ang beaches like in the Philippines.

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  9. I enjoyed reading your post. Super fun experience!

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  10. I love this "nomnomnom Malaysian food is the best!!!!"
    hahaha! ang saya naman ng post mo Renz!
    I hope to do this trip too, haist!

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  11. wow! that very nice! its good to be travelling with your friends! xx

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  12. Monitor lizards roaming around the sea shore close enough to people having great time on the beach... what an exciting experience!

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  13. Good to see you enjoyed yourself in Msia. Having spent half of my life there (and in Sarawak, which you mentioned), one lives very close with nature. Some very big national parks are about 30 minutes' away by car, or even less.

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  14. great adventure you have here! Yahweh bless.

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  15. nice adventure! laugh so hard sa linya na "The once slow-moving creature suddenly became a ninja." grabe lang! may ganyan sa underground river pero as they walk slowly hindi kami natakot. siguro kung ako yung hinabol, mega panic mode din ako! hahaha

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    1. Jusko! Imagine yung kaba na naramdaman namin during that time. Add the fact na lagi naming pinapanood ang NatGeo Wild sa hostel! HAHAHA

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  16. Hello everyone! Thanks everyone for your comments! Really appreciate it! :D

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  17. Hehehe... ok din ang trippings nyo ah! hihihihi.... Cool photos, btw.

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