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.

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.

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.

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.

And we all thought that we were going to be eaten alive by them!

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.

SMILE despite everything! Haha! Me and my Euro friends!

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!

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Read more of my Kota Kinabalu adventures here!