The smell was the first thing to hit us as we entered the “crocodile farm” in Sandakan, Borneo. We crinkled our noses as the mix of cheap cigarette smoke, rotting croc food and sweaty humans made us wonder if we’d just entered some B grade movie set. Some of the crocs looked like part of the set too, lying perfectly still under the sun, till of course some visitor would taunt them and they would react as any good croc should, with a massive bite.

Bred for their skins and skulls, these crocs spend their day being taunted by visitors.

If you’re seeing this on rss watch the video for more.

One of the main reasons we pressed on through the rain was to see the giant pitcher plants that can be found at higher altitudes of Mt Kinabalu. These are some of the largest pitcher plants in the world and some can be nearly a foot in length. The ones we saw were clustered together on a ledge about 4 meters above where we were, so with the rain, it was a bit difficult to get as clear a shot of them as we would have liked.

Here’s a group of 3 of these pitcher plants, you can see the one jutting out at the top has its “mouth” open ready to lure insects in. Once they are inside it will shut its mouth and slowly digest them as they drown in the water accumulated in the “cup” below.

While the climb started on a dry, albeit misty day, as the day progressed the mist turned to full blown rain clouds and we experienced why it is called a rainforest. The rain however, did give a mystic aura to the climb. And while it seemed cool and rainy, we were sweating under our raincoats.

Don’t I just look so photogenic here I’m sure you can tell I’m enjoying every moment in the rain Watch the video aobve to see that I’m really enjoying myself!

As we continued our ascent of Mt. Kinabalu we started feeling out of breath. This wasn’t because we weren’t fit as a fiddle (or so we’d like to think ) but because of the thinner air as we climbed higher and higher.

The higher we climbed the more interesting the flora. Here you can see one of the Pitcher plants we saw while climbing. These plants catch insects and drown them in that “pitcher”, before eating them. Sounds like something we could use around our home

On a different note, remember that the Sony Photo Printer Contest, so sign up now to our email rss feed to take part!