Zooboy28 Goes to Borneo

Day Seven:

We were up before dawn, and raced down to the breakfast buffet for our last meal at the Hyatt Regency Kota Kinabalu. It was as spectacular as ever, with waffles and coffee, eggs and sausages, pastries, curry puffs and smoothies. Then we headed to the airport, and after navigating the rather complex security, went back out to check in and then went through security again. We were flying east across the north of Borneo, to the second-largest city in Sabah – Sandakan. Our flight was brief, but included spectacular views of the top of Mount Kinabalu, the only time we saw the peak of South-East Asia’s tallest mountain.

Upon arrival at Sandakan, we were greeted by Rahman, a guide from Borneo Eco Tours, who would be with us for the next few days. I’d organised a private tour as a) we didn’t want to drive ourselves; and b) there weren’t any existing tours that covered everything I wanted to see. Our first stop was Sepilok, which is a little way inland from Sandakan. We arrived a little before 9am, and had a look around the entry area of the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, before entering a small theatre and watching a video on the Centre’s work. Which is pretty impressive, with over 200 Bornean Orangutans rehabilitated in 50 years of operation. The Centre includes 43 square kilometres of rainforest, adjacent to a larger forest reserve, and there are 60-80 orangs in the area. Most were orphaned through deforestation or other conflict with humans. We set off along the boardwalks through the jungle to catch the morning feeding, where supplemental fruits are offered to the more-or-less wild orangs. After waiting a while in the drizzle, one sub-adult male appeared, swinging down from the gloom of the surrounding trees. This was awesome to see, and we watched him until he was full, and faded back into the green.

We continued further into the forest, reaching the nursery area, where young orangs (2-6 years old) transition from full time care to independent jungle life. There was an extensive playground for them here, with ropes out to the surrounding forest, and we watched them from a large viewing building. After half an hour here, we returned to the entrance, seeing another adult en route, which was building a nest to shelter from the rain. While orangs were the only animals we saw here, we did hear an elephant – a young male that had become separated from its herd locally and was reared at the Centre, although not on display.

Next door is the much newer Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, which opened to the public in 2014 on land that was used for a Sumatran Rhino breeding programme. This currently houses 38 Bornean Sun Bears, which had usually been found as orphans, pets or in the restaurant trade. A boardwalk takes visitors up from a small visitor’s centre, past a series of excellent educational signs, to a viewing platforms that looks directly over two enclosures, with others visible further back. These are essentially fenced off sections of rainforest, and are superior to the vast majority of sun bear enclosures I have seen in zoos. The bears are kept in compatible groups or singly, and in the front exhibit we could see a young female, who was searching for bugs, climbing stumps and being rather playful. In the enclosure behind, we could see a dark shape about 20 metres up a tree – an adult bear snoozing. They are currently building a boardwalk extension, to allow visitors to see more enclosures. Overall, a superb facility and well worth a visit.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, before heading to our final stop in Sepilok, the Rainforest Discovery Centre. Fortunately, the rain had cleared and the air was getting very warm. The RDC includes trails through primary rainforest, with elevated walkways and viewing towers. I hoped to spot some birds here, but the heat of early afternoon and our minimal time meant we saw no notable birds. But we did spot a skink, as well as Prevost’s Squirrel, before things started to get exciting – starting with a Bornean Colugo (a different subspecies to that seen in Singapore). Remarkably, we were able to view this (very green) animal extremely closely, as it was clinging to a trunk at eye level from the elevated boardwalk. A little further on, we spotted an adult female orangutan, much further from the boardwalk, but at a similar height. She rapidly climbed up into the canopy, and her toddler (~3 years old) followed briskly. She was likely a rehabilitated animal from the nearby Centre that had moved out into the wider surrounding reserve. The final mammal we saw here, and probably my favourite, was also almost at eye level – a Bornean Giant Squirrel. This animal was foraging out on an exposed branch, and was huge!

We then drove another half hour or so, leaving the rainforest and entering the monotonous oil palm plantations. These were mostly flat, straight dirt roads, so we went quite fast apart from the occasional heavy breaking for water monitors. Our destination was one particular oil palm plantation, located on the coast, which doubled as a small tourist attraction – the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Unlike the orang and bear rehabilitation centres, this was a privately-owned attraction, and the monkeys were wild. The story goes that when the forest was cleared for the plantation, some workers left pancakes on the windowsill of their hut, and the monkeys stole them. The workers then began making more pancakes than necessary, so they could feed the monkeys too, but this attracted more monkeys and eventually became untenable, so they turned it into a tourist attraction.

On arrival, we followed a boardwalk through the plantation, passed a pet cat, then entered the mangrove forest and eventually reached the feeding area. Here was a building and a large viewing deck, with fake tree stumps and platforms surrounded by mangroves. And a heap of proboscis monkeys. On one side was a large male and a harem of females, with a couple of babies, probably 30 individuals all up. On the other was a bachelor group, with around 20 males. The staff first fed the harem, with ‘pancakes’. The pancakes are not what I would call pancakes, but rather are doughy cakes. The first to feed was the dominant male, who was given a few pieces of cake that he ate on the railing of the viewing deck. He was huge, but we were encouraged to get very close (< a foot away) for photos with this impressive animal. The harem and bachelor groups were then fed with pancakes scattered on the platforms. We spent around half an hour watching these animals, which were generally calm and food-focused, but there were occasional interruptions caused by some of the bolder bachelors coming too close to the harem. When this happened, the dominant male would run across the deck, slapping the boards loudly to scare off the intruders, then return to the harem and make some low calls to reassure the females.

After an hour or so, we returned to the van and drove back to Sandakan, where we checked in to Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan. This was a large modern tower located right on the coast, giving views of the Sulu Sea and over the city behind. After coffee, we headed to the infinity pool, where we swam as the sun edged lower. I hadn’t been in an infinity pool before, and this one was on the 13th floor so was rather high. Once I was sure I wasn’t going to fall out I enjoyed the pool and views, including of a White-bellied Sea Eagle soaring above. We had dinner at the hotel bar, which was on the second level, and had views of both the streets and shore below. Unexpectedly, I managed to see two more mammal species from here, a Norway rat on the pavement and an otter (I think smooth-coated) in the water. This was one of the longest days of the trip, so it wasn’t long before we were off to bed, excited about the next day’s adventure into the jungle proper.

Borneo Wildlife Species Lists:

Birds:
24 White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster

Mammals:
2 Bornean Colugo Galeopterus variegatus borneanus
3 Bornean Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus morio
4 Bornean Giant Squirrel Ratufa affinis baramensis
5 Proboscis Monkey Nasalis larvatus
6 Plantain Squirrel Callosciurus notatus dilutus
7 Norway Rat Rattus norvegicus
8 Smooth-coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata

Photos below show: a male Bornean orangutan at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre feeding platform; a young Bornean sun bear at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre; Bornean colugo clinging to a tree trunk at the Rainforest Discovery Centre; Bornean giant squirrel foraging at the Rainforest Discovery Centre; and an action shot of the proboscis monkey harem at the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary.

 

Is the green of the colugo the actual colour of the animal's hair or algae or something growing in it (like sloths have)?

(I've been enjoying your thread by the way! )

 

Thanks LD. As far as I can tell, the green is the fur colour rather than due to algae (as in sloths).

 

I didn't see the Silvered Leaf Monkeys there sadly (or anywhere else), I'm not sure if they normally come to that feeding platform or the other one (there are two feeds a day in two different locations). We actually saw very little wildlife there, just the proboscis and plantain squirrels, and I think a pigeon (but the photo is too bad to ID it). It was very hot and 2 pm so not an ideal wildlife viewing time.

The otter spotting there was very lucky. I'm assuming it was a smooth-coated as that's what my guide later said was more likely, but apparently hairy-nosed are also present. I didn't see any more otters after that one.

 

Well if you want to give it a go you can! There are two shots attached, and I just realised there are two birds present, and I'd only seen one before!

 

Bulbul, pigeon, is there a difference?
I don't know how I'd missed the second bird (the one where you can see the head) before, but I maintain the second one looks potentially pigeon-shaped.
Olive-winged fits, and seems likely given it is the "second-commonest bulbul in coastal areas".

 

What a great thread! I`ve been in Sabah a few years ago and I want to go back, so it`s great reading this report.

One remark for others who would like to visit Sabah one day (and you should, it makes for fantastic wildlife experiences!!): you can do the Malaysian part of Borneo very easily without a tour or private guide. You won`t even need to hire a car, you can do it with taxis, organising transfers from your lodges and a bit of public transport/ group taxis. We (2 women travelling alone) did it and we had no problems at all, and saved a ton of money.
For example: we flew to Sandakan, took a taxi to our hotel in the city. Next day, we visited Selingan Island ("turtle island"), you can book the accommodation directly with the company managing the only lodge, and all meals, activities and the boat transfer is included. We just had to take a taxi from our hotel to the pier (very cheap). I`ve seen offers for overnight trips from tour companies to Selingan Island in combination with Sepilok and they charged 4-5 times as much as we paid. Total rip off. After the island trip, we had arranged with our lodge from Kinabatangan River to pick us up, which they did. At Kinabatangan, you won`t need a guide or transport, because all boat trips are organized by your lodge. After our time there, they drove us to the junction where the group taxis to Lahad Datu stop, and even did the negotiations with the driver for us. In Lahad Datu, we went to the Lodge in Danum Valley, and they picked us up at our hotel and delivered us back at the end of our 3 days in Danum. You don`t need to be as adventurous as Chlidonias to do it without a tour or private guide!

I spent only half an hour in Sepilok (stop on the way to the Kinabatangan to pick up more guests from there), but next time, I would stay there for a few days. There are serveral options of accommodation available, and the area is very relaxing and nice. And the forest is great for birding and spotlighting to see nocturnal mammals! You can take a taxi from Sandakan and once you are in Sepilok, you can reach the rainforest discovery center and the orang utan sanctuary by foot. To go and see the proscobis monkeys at Labuk bay, you can again take a taxi. It gets even cheaper if you share it with other travellers.

Zooboy28, is there a special reason why you decided to spend so many days in Kota Kinabalu? I liked it there, but I would far prefer to spend more time at the Kinabatangan, at Mt. Kinabalu NP or in Sepilok, where it`s possible to go birding on your own at the time of the day when it`s best. I went for 2 day trips to the islands off K.K., and was very dissapointed: totally overrun by tourists, and the visibility was terrible so snorkelling was pointless. I think there are no intact corrals left there, anyway.

 

I missed this when I was traipsing around looking for a money changer so I could sleep in my hostel that night, and also the second evening when I was looking for leech-socks (which never encountered a single leech I believe). Next time I'm in KK I'll definitely check it out.

 

I would like to do that. I keep thinking 'oh, I could have a relaxing afternoon writing and reminiscing about the Kinabatangan', and then I remember how much other stuff is on my to do list...

I don't think I'll get it done this year, but maybe some progress will occur. I would like to know how many species I saw at least.

 

Day Eight:

We got picked up around 8am by Rahman and the driver (following an excellent buffet breakfast!), and headed off for a morning tour around the city of Sandakan. This was a bit of a time-filler for me, but my partner was quite interested in the city sights, and there were some interesting things to see. We started off by driving along the coast, and passing the “floating village” slum area, which looked much larger than the one off Kota Kinabalu. Our first stop was the Sandakan Memorial Park, which commemorates the prisoners of war and local people who died during the occupation of North Borneo in World War Two. It is built on the site of the prisoner of war camp, and has a small museum and various relicts. Very sombre place, but quite tranquil in the early morning, with lots of shady trees. Wildlife was minimal, many dragonflies and a few egrets in the ponds. The one new species was a Brahminy kite flying overhead.

We then headed into the older part of the city, and up a hill that overlooks the harbour, to the Puu Jih Shih Temple. This majestic Buddhist temple looks over the city, and has a massive garden too, but the pouring rain meant we were confined to the temple itself and its extensive balconies festooned with lanterns. Nevertheless, there were some birds about, with house sparrows inside and out, house swifts darting about outside, and Asian glossy starlings and a white-breasted woodswallow on the power lines. There were tons of glossy starling at the next stop too, a stone church on another hilltop, apparently the state’s oldest stone building, started in 1893 but not completed until 1925. Our final stop was the Agnes Keith House, named after its most famous occupant, the American wife of the Conservator of Forests in North Borneo, who wrote about her time in Sabah (including as a POW) in several books, which are apparently very good. Very interesting house architecturally, and set up as it would have been in the early 20th Century. We then returned to the hotel for (buffet!) lunch and to pick up our bags, and then went down to a nearby jetty, to start the next part of our adventure.

We had to wait a while for our next adventure to start, so followed the monitor lizards around for a bit, and contemplated the complete lack of any sea birds around Sandakan, which I still can’t really understand. Why are there no gulls or terns or anything? After our travelling companions arrived (two couples - one retired British/Greek and the other young Americans), we jumped on a boat, and headed out across the harbour. Fortunately, the morning rain had cleared, although it was still overcast, but the journey was uneventful, with birds limited to kites and sea eagles. After a while, we entered a mangrove-lined channel, usually with oil palms behind, and eventually turned up into the longest river in Sabah, the Kinabatangan.

Apart from a few spots of drizzle, the rain held off and we cruised up the river for another hour, and spotted a couple of proboscis monkeys on some of the taller trees. There were a few boats buzzing up and downstream, as well as a hospital boat that visits the local communities, which was a brilliant concept. There were a few birds around too, the egrets being the most obvious, but at one point a lesser adjutant stork flew over, and I also spotted a rhinoceros hornbill perched on a tall stag at the water’s edge. Our destination was the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, which includes a restaurant verandah overhanging the water, an open central lodge area, and two rows of units, all connected with wooden boardwalks through the riparian forest. We were staying here for two nights, so after dumping our gear in our room we headed out for an afternoon cruise on the river to look for wildlife.

This was on a much smaller boat, more or less a large canoe, with six passengers and the guide, which could manoeuvre the small channels and tributaries of the Kinabatangan River. Birds were excitingly abundant, with house swifts and silver-rumped needletails zooming over the water, and Pacific swallows nearer the banks. Perched in the trees, and occasionally swooping across the river, were hornbills, mostly Oriental pied, but also pairs of white-crowned and Asian black hornbills. Rahman reckoned the latter had a call like a T. rex, but I’m not sure how he knows what those sound like. Possibly the most attractive bird was the black-and-red broadbill, a truly stunning species with its dark plumage and comically big, bright blue and yellow beak. The other passengers were more interested in mammals however, so we spent most of the cruise watching long-tailed macaques and proboscis monkeys, as well as a couple of southern pig-tailed macaques. Returning to the lodge, we disembarked and explored the tranquil lodge area. From the boardwalk, a perched Wallace’s hawk-eagle was visible, while in another spot we watched a plain pygmy squirrel dart along the railing.

It gets dark quick in the tropics, which is a little frustrating, but after a drink in the bar and (buffet!) dinner overlooking the river, we headed out on a night cruise, to spotlight for birds. I’m a little unsure about the ethics of this, as it basically involved cruising along the river’s edge, and then blazing a spotlight at sleepy birds. Apparently it won’t have a major impact if it only occurs rarely, but a clever predator could get some easy meals by following the boat. The first creature we spotted wasn’t actually a bird, but a tiny saltwater crocodile, my first ever sighting of a wild crocodilian. The rest were mostly species seen earlier during the trip, but there were a few new water birds, including blue-eared and stork-billed kingfishers and yellow bittern, as well as a grumpy-looking buffy fish owl.

After an exciting but rather exhausting day, I went to bed very happy with 18 lifer birds and mammals, and fell asleep without needing to count the many geckos dashing across the ceiling above.

Photos below show: the view over the city of Sandakan from the steps of the Puu Jih Shih temple; the front of the Sukau Rainforest Lodge, with restaurant deck overlooking the Kinabatangan River; the small boat we cruised up the river in search of wildlife on; an oriental pied hornbill in a palm tree; a southern pig-tailed macaque peering through the leaves; and a blue-eared kingfisher spotted and spotlighted on the night cruise.

Borneo Wildlife Species Lists:

Birds:
26 Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus
27 White-breasted Woodswallow Artamus leucorhynchus
28 House Swift Apus nipalensis
29 Lesser Adjutant Stork Leptoptilos javanicus
30 Little Egret Egretta garzetta
31 Rhinoceros Hornbill Buceros rhinoceros
32 Asian Black Hornbill Anthracoceros malayanus
33 Black-and-red Broadbill Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus
34 Oriental Darter Anhinga melanogaster
35 Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica
36 Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris
37 Silver-rumped Needletail Rhaphidura leucopygialis
38 White-crowned Hornbill Aceros comatus
39 Wallace's Hawk-Eagle Spizaetus nanus
40 Stork-billed Kingfisher Pelargopsis capensis
41 Blue-eared Kingfisher Alcedo meninting
42 White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus
43 Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupa
44 Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis


Mammals:
9 Crab-eating Macaque Macaca fascicularis fascicularis
10 Southern Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca nemestrina nemestrina
11 Plain Pygmy Squirrel Exilisciurus exilis

Puu Jih Shih Temple overlooking Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:42 PM

Sukau Rainforest Lodge on the edge of the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:42 PM

Wildlife Watching Cruise on the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:42 PM

Oriental Pied Hornbill in a Palm Tree on the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:36 PM

Southern Pig-tailed Macaque in a Tree on the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:36 PM

Blue-eared Kingfisher in a Tree on the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Borneo by zooboy28 posted 6 Jan 2017 at 10:36 PM

 

See? That wasn't so hard to write, was it?



Hix

 

Regular readers of this thread will be intrigued to hear that I enjoyed a Bornean Breakfast Buffet this morning...

 

Where?



Hix

 

Sounds good @FunkyGibbon, I could go a Bornean buffet breakfast right now. Any photos? I don't think I actually got any shots of any of my breakfasts, but will have to double check.

And, yes, repeating @Hix, where?

 

I do have a picture; I'll see if it uploads off my phone easily. I was in Kota Kinabalu for two days, now I'm in Lahad Datu. Tomorrow I will be going to Danum Valley Field Centre for the weekend. I'm going to try and do a combined thread for the two Sabah trips I've done done so far as well as any future ones.
This time there is less nature watching and more social stuff based in KK as the primary reason for returning so quickly is my partner now lives there. I'm also going to spend a few days getting my PADI Open Water license because that is really going to open up some possibilities in the future given the kind of places I seem to end up.