Sabah, Borneo May 2013 Part 2 - Kinabatangan River and Nature Lodge

Proboscis Monkey

After an amazing day morning at the Rainforest Discover Centre in Sepilok I jumped on the bus to the Kinabatangan River area. My goal here was first and foremost to see the Bornean Proboscis Monkey, and .. as many birds as I could find in 1 day.

Accommodation

The bus trip down whilst uneventful was on time and very comfortable. After an hours and a half, and a short river crossing by boat we arrived at the Lodge. I engaged a couple of tourists who looked as if they had been there a while and asked if they had seen much. The taller one with the strong European accent complained “Nothing. Nothing but birds. Who wants to see the birds? We go out in the boat, nothing but birds and the monkey. No Elephant. No Crocodile. Nothing.” 

I was going to explain to him he was in Sabah not the Masai Mara when he quickly let fly with another rant. “Then we do the night walk to see the Ghost Monkey. Again, nothing. All we see is some Shiant Peter” I’m sorry, I said, what did you see? “A Shiant Peter, asleep. What is this Shiant Peter, here, here is a photo” Sure enough and too my disbelief, here he shows me a photo on a pocket camera from less than a meter a way, a GIANT PITTA curled up in a ball, asleep.

Board-walks around the lodge

I immediately set out hunting for birds and discovered …. very little. Unperturbed I jumped on board the afternoon cruise up the river to see the wildlife. As per usual I was the only one interested in birds but I still stopped the boat whenever I saw something interesting. This I discovered was much to the annoyance of some of the other passengers. I therefore decided that, as I shall never see these people again and I am not endangering their health, I shall take the attitude that they need an education and often in my experience that can be inconvenient. So continue I did! I even won some of them over! 

Proboscis Monkey - female

We eventually came across a number of troupes of the legendary Proboscis Monkey and enjoyed watching them for sometime. Also along the river where Long-tailed Macaques. We connected with a few wetland birds but nothing to get too excited about. After a few hours we headed back to the lodge for a clean up and some dinner.

Proboscis Monkey - Male

After dark there was a guided night walk on so after the report from yesterday’s "Shiant Peter" I was in. Cameras in hand with leach proof socks and rubber boots on, we headed into the jungle. Giant Pitta here we come. Expectations were high but unfortunately reality was uncooperative. We did happen upon a sleeping Black-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher. Nice.

Black-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher

I decided to not do the morning cruise and opted instead for an early start and a walk around the grounds. Again, nothing too exciting except for distant views of Rhinoceros Hornbill.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Kinabatangan Nature Lodge is one of many great stays along the river. The lodge is well set up, clean and very accommodating. I highly recommend them. I left again by bus and they had me back in Sepilok in good time. I spent the next 6 hours waiting for my plane wandering around the Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre once again.

Long-tailed Macaque

Birds seen in the Kinabatangan Nature Lodge (L – Lifer)

1. Oriental Darter L
2. Purple Heron
3. Great Egret
4. Green Imperial-Pigeon L
5. Glossy Swiftlet
6. Blue-eared Kingfisher
7. Black-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher L
8. Stork-billed Kingfisher
9. Rhinoceros Hornbill L
10. Rufous Woodpecker
11. Crimson-winged Woodpecker
12. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
13. Pied Fantail
14. Slender-billed Crow
15. Red-eyed Bulbul
16. Hairy-backed Bulbul
17. Rufous-tailed Tailorbird
18. Yellow-bellied Prinia
19. White-crowned Shama L
20. Little Spiderhunter
21. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
22. Dusky Munia

Pied Fantail