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| Black Hornbill |
After an amazing time away in Indonesia, I
planned to have a few days off by my self to “recharge”. So with the permission
of my most amazing and adorable wife, I was released for 5 days to do what ever
I liked as part of my 50th Birthday celebrations.
This time I decided on the eastern part of
Sabah - the northern, Malaysian province of the island of Borneo. So using my
trusty iPhone, I quickly organized flights, accommodation and guides/transport
and was set to go. I only had 4 full days and so didn’t do any of these regions
justice but decided to go hard anyway and see as much as I could. This required
early mornings and late nights but would be well worth it.
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| Bushy-crested Hornbill |
The plan was:
- Wed – Fly to KK, fly to Sandakan, do the Rainforest Discover Centre (RDC) in Sepilok. Overnight in Sepilok B&B.
- Thurs – RDC until lunch, 2 hours by bus to Kinabatangan River to see Proboscis Monkey etc. Staying at the Kinabatangan Nature Lodge (KNL).
- Friday – Bird around KNL in the morning then back to the RDC until my late flight back to KK.
- Sat – Early 1.5 hour drive up Mount Kinabalu to bird the forest all day.
- Sun – Leisurely morning before departing back to Singapore at lunchtime.
Well that was the plan.
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| Squirrel |
Ilona and I had just flown into Singapore
from Bali the night before and I only had 8 hours to unpack, repack, sleep,
travel back to the airport and fly out. Whew. I decided to check the Australian
Govt. travel advice for this region considering I had never been there.
Unbeknown to me, a month beforehand a terrorist group from another country,
know for kidnapping tourists, had attempted a take over in the next city and so
the travel advice was: “Eastern Sabah, including nearby islands and
dive sites – Do Not Travel”. Yep that’s about right for
a Steve trip. Off we go!
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| Fire from lightning strike - KK airport |
First stop Kota Kinabalu in the West of
Sabah. I flew Silk Air and arrived at 11.00am. I had to change terminals to get
to my Air Asia flight on to Sandakan in the East, easy enough by taxi at 30RM
($10). Whilst waiting in the terminal a military helicopter descended and
landed right in front of us. As it did, a huge flash appeared coinciding with
an ear-shattering bang. 90% of those waiting in the lounge hit the floor. I,
mean while, casually glanced up from my current iPhone game of Solitaire. Gee the locals are jittery!! What had
happened was a bolt of lightning had struck the ground not 100m away and
started a fire only 3 m from the runway. “Attention: Air Asia flight to
Sandakan has been delayed…” Fortunately only until they put the fire out.
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| Collared Kingfisher |
I arrived in Sandakan and quickly grabbed a
taxi to Sepilok where I stayed at the Sepilok B&B ($30). Awesome place.
Well run with air-con, great food and only 400m from the RDC - Birding heaven.
I quickly downed some lunch, grabbed 2 bottles of water and set off into the
park. Surprising to me, this is very well set out with excellent paths, maps
and huge towers that connect a skywalk in the tops of the trees. As it was mid
afternoon, the birds were quiet in the forest but around the skywalk and the
open area’s I quickly got onto some crackers including Yellow-rumped
Flowerpecker, Silver-rumped Needle-tail, Black and Yellow Broadbill,
Ruby-cheeked Sunbird and a swag of Bulbuls.
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| Brown Barbet |
I then met up with a group of young
American researchers who were also staying at the B&B. We ended up having
dinner together there and then headed back into the RDC for a night walk. Here
we got onto Brown Hawk-Owl and a “Slow Loris” - a nocturnal mammal that I would
have called a Cuscus. Early to bed in anticipation of the dawn bounty.
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| Black and Yellow Broadbill |
The next morning I was up in the dark to
ensure I was at a certain point to get onto one of the 6 Pitta in the area. I
dipped entirely on Pitta but picked up some other great birds including 2
Malkoha, and a perched Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot. Bird waves are a treat in
Asia. You can see nothing for a while and then in the next moment you are
surrounded by 10-15 different species of bird and then as soon as they arrived,
they are gone. This is where the camera comes in handy!
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| Red-naped Trogon |
I headed back to the skywalk and it was
large bird time with Bushy-crested and Black Hornbill arriving as well as
Jerdon’s Baza. Sweet. I then decided it was back into the forest time and was
rewarded with one of the major targets, Red-naped Trogon. This bird was
magnificent. I can’t describe how amazing it looks in the flesh. I would have
to say that Trogons now would be a close second to my favorite birds – Pittas.
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| Flying everything! |
At lunch time I had to quickly depart the
RDC and pack, as my transport for the next part of the adventure was soon
arriving. This was the 1 day/night in the Kinabatangan River region. See next
section.
On my return from Kinabatangan I had 6
hours to kill and what better way to do that than to head back into the RDC.
So, after a brief and awesome lunch, water in the bag I set off again. This was
rewarded with crackers like the unusual and MEGA tick of the Bornean
Bristlehead. I took a very bad photo… from miles away… in the rain. I also
picked up Fiery Minivet, Thick-billed Spiderhunter, Red-throated Sunbird and
Blue-eared Barbet.
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| Very bad photo of Bornean Bristlehead! |
As the light faded, I farewell a most
beautiful and special place, had my last great feed at the Sepilok B&B who
kindly let me grab a shower etc and then headed back to Sandakan for my flight
to KK.
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| Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker |
Birds seen in the Sepilok RDC (L – Lifer)
- Oriental Darter
- Oriental Honey-buzzard - L
- Jerdon's Baza - L
- Raffles's Malkoha
- Chestnut-breasted Malkoha
- Greater Coucal
- Brown Hawk-Owl - L
- Silver-rumped Needletail - L
- Glossy Swiftlet
- Edible-nest Swiftlet
- Red-naped Trogon - L
- Blue-throated Bee-eater
- Black Hornbill - L
- Rhinoceros Hornbill
- Bushy-crested Hornbill - L
- Brown Barbet
- Blue-eared Barbet - L
- Grey-capped Woodpecker
- Rufous Woodpecker
- Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot
- Black-and-yellow Broadbill
- Bornean Bristlehead - L
- Fiery Minivet - L
- Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
- Pied Fantail
- Black Magpie - L
- Slender-billed Crow
- Yellow-vented Bulbul
- Cream-vented Bulbul
- Red-eyed Bulbul
- Spectacled Bulbul
- Hairy-backed Bulbul
- Buff-vented Bulbul - L
- Ashy Tailorbird
- Black-capped Babbler - L
- Oriental Magpie-Robin
- Asian Glossy Starling
- Common Hill Myna
- Lesser Green Leafbird - L
- Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker - L
- Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
- Ruby-cheeked Sunbird - L
- Plain Sunbird
- Red-throated Sunbird - L
- Eastern Crimson Sunbird
- Thick-billed Spiderhunter - L
- Little Spiderhunter
- Spectacled Spiderhunter
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow
- Dusky Munia - L
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| Thick-billed Spiderhunter |
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