a calm before the feeding frenzy began. a laidback huge monitor, together with hundreds of its kind, co-owner of sapi island with sabah parks management, off the coast near kota kinabalu, lazily basking under the blistering sun. quite a few (the huge, old and wise ones including this one) are deemed friendly enough to be permitted to roam freely among the visitors and been fed food excess regularly by the local tour operators. i took my love hate relationship with the ugly creatures to another level that day. mid june 2011.

the location: