Having never been on any river cruise in Sarawak and have been always desiring for a chance, my dream came true after I managed to sign up for the Kuching Wetlands / Santubong River Cruise…

I was all bright eyed and bushy tailed as I clambered on the van with some other Indonesian and well known Malaysian bloggers as well as a couple of foreign media, which whisked us off to a small boat club in Santubong village…

Just for your information, the a Kuching Wetlands is about 15km from Kuching City and 5km from the Damai Beach Resort… The park is pretty interesting with a saline mangrove system where Sarawak rivers and the ocean meets and it is also where we can see both marine and mangrove wildlife…

Our boat was taken out from where it was parked and we got on it before it was set in the water.. Kind of an interesting and fun experience…

From there, our boat took to a small fish farm where we got to get off and gingerly step onto the floating farm…

We got to see glimpses of the various kind of fishes they reared there.. And while on the fish farm, David Hogan (from http://blog.malaysia-asia.my) whisked out his camera and pointed to the river saying he spotted a juvenile croc crossing the river.. Being short sighted, I am afraid I missed out on it….

After that, our boat cruised along the river to the mouth of the Santubong River where many fishermen were hard at work hauling in their catch and throwing out whatever they did not want back into the sea… It is said that you can spot the Irrawaddy dolphins here…

You have to keep a sharp eye out to spot the dolphins… and if you are lucky, you can see them..

The very last time I saw dolphins in the wild I had to travel 12 hours from Perth to Monkey Mia to see them… So when I finally spotted one or two.. I was beyond thrilled… And yes, we did spot a few… Though not that many, this said , keeping in mind that wildlife sightings are never guaranteed and it depends on your luck…

After staying there for a good 30 to 40 mins or so and watching the fishermen clear their nets while keeping an eye out for the playful dolphins, we then headed to the mangrove-lined rivers to look for other wildlife…

We were pretty fortunate to catch a proboscis monkey swinging in the trees… After taking a few pictures, the boat cruise a little bit more into the mangrove area, but we did not see any other wildlife..

The boat then headed back to the little boat club jetty, marking the end of our little tour.. We were sun burnt (since I forgot my sunblock as well) but happy as our main objectives to see a proboscis monkey and the dolphins were pretty much realised….

My deepest gratitude to Sarawak Tourism Board for arranging this tour and giving me the opportunity to experience the Kuching Wetlands /Santubong River Cruise…

For more info, do check out https://stb.sarawak.gov.my and
https://sarawaktourism.com/

Note: The tour might not happen if the sea is deemed too rough or during heavy rain… As mentioned, wildlife sightings are not guaranteed as it cannot be controlled… However wildlife spotted on this cruise normally includes Irrawaddy dolphins, proboscis monkeys, crocodiles, silver-leaf monkeys, fireflies (at night) , the common brown long-tailed macaque, monitor lizards and a range of birds, including egrets, white-bellied sea eagles and kingfishers