Birds, Beasts and Bugs- Trekking in Sabah, Borneo

[Thursday's Child]

Great sightings & a really helpful report, thanks for all the effort you put into it. Particularly loved the photos of the red leaf monkeys & the orangutans & the Malay civets...& the leopard cats...& the pig tailed macaque sequence...& the flying proboscis monkey...

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks everyone! @@Kitsafari sure! Always nice to team up with folks on here.

 

Friday 4^th April

Our last morning in Tabin before heading back to Kota Kinabalu and I started with a walk around the lodge to look for gibbons. I was delighted to find the whole troop feeding right out in the open in a single tree near to the conference rooms Pitta Room and Trogon Hall. I tried to film them but the humidity quickly steamed up my lens! It was wonderful just standing there watching the gibbons feeding and playing and swinging from the branches. As I headed back towards the lodges, I spotted a velvet-fronted nuthatch making it's way down the trunk of a tree and then a pair of squabbling Prevost's Squirrels raced around the tree trunk.

P4045679 Bornean gibbon by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045704 Bornean gibbon by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045711 velvet fronted nuthatch by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045713 velvet fronted nuthatch by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

It was just Paul and myself with Mohammed and another guide and we first took a trip to a cave so that we could look for bats. Once we arrived at the end of a trail I realised that this trek would require another wade out along the river, then a scramble along a slippery rock face. So I decided not to bother and just relaxed with my feet dipped in the cool water as Paul and Mohammed braved the trek. No bats were seen, just swiftlets so I wasn't too disappointed to have given it a miss. We then took a drive back along the track past the Rhino enclosure in the hope of spotting the grey leaf monkeys that Paul had seen the previous day.

We had no there, but over the course of the morning we did see a few birds, including blue-eared and stork-billed kingfishers, black-headed bulbul, Asian fairy bluebird, yellow-bellied bulbul, crested serpent eagle, pied and black hornbills, short tailed babbler and red-billed malkoha.

P4045738 black hornbill by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045745 Angle-headed lizard by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045749 Angle-headed lizard by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4045778 butterfly by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

We had time for lunch before we left Tabin behind for our flight back to Kota Kinabalu. We boarded the minibus for the trip back with a bunch of other guests. We also had one rather unwelcome stowaway, a rather vicious-looking spider that ran out from Paul's bag across the floor of the bus, causing a bit of a commotion amongst the passengers! Paul later told me that he believes he was actually bitten by this spider, apparently it didn't hurt but left a rather nasty mark!

We had some amazing views of Mount Kinabalu on the way back. After checking in at the Cassuarina Hotel we had a rather posh farewell meal at the Sheraton Hotel, I even managed to get my first cider of the trip there!

Mount kinabalu by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

Saturday 5^th April

Today I went in search of a chicken. Well that's how Ian described my last day. After having breakfast with Paul and saying goodbye (he had an earlier flight than me), I got a taxi to the harbour and got myself a ticket for the island, Palau Manukan. I was actually going in search of the Philippine megapode. This large-footed chicken-like bird is also known as the Philippine Scrubfowl or the Tabon Scrubfowl. Megapodes have big feet which they use to create mounds in which to incubate their eggs. Paul has seen them prior to my arrival along the paved running track that leads up to a viewpoint. I walked the entire length of the track, carefully listening out for every little rustle of dead leaves. Unfortunately for me there were plenty of little critters making rustling noises in the leaf litter. The majority of which turned out to be lizards of varying sizes, including some spectacularly large monitors!

P4055793 Asian water monitor by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055797 lizard by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055798 Lizard by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055803conv79 grey imperial pigeon by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

On the way back I heard scrabbling down at the bottom of a steep slope and upon further inspection realised that I had found my quarry. A pair of megapodes were scraping through the vegetation looking for tasty morsels. As I followed them, they made their way up the slope and appeared on the track ahead of me so I was able to appreciate them a bit better.

P4055805 adj Philippine Megapode (tabon scrubfowl) by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

After watching the megapodes I headed back to the beach and decided to take a dip as I had plenty of time before the boat came back. In fact more time than I was expecting because there was a substantial delay in getting me off the island.

Palau Manukan by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

Palau Manukan by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

Not to worry though because I had allowed plenty of time before my evening flight. After grabbing a lunch of waffles at the harbour I took a taxi back to the hotel. For my last few hours I decided to check out the local beach-side bars and settled down with a nice cold cider, watching out for any birds that might happen by.

P4055820 zebra dove by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055827 White breasted wood swallows by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055835 Chestnut munia by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

P4055845 Asian glossy starlings by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

Sadly it was soon time to head back to the hotel, grab my bags and head to the airport. Flight was on time and I arrived home around lunchtime the next day. I think my feet have just about recovered now..

THE END (next stop China! ).

sunset by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

[Big_Dog]

Wonderful trip! Very, very productive night excursions it seems. Very cool shots of the little carnivores and the pygmy elephant must have been a real winner.
Fantastic artwork too!

[kittykat23uk]

Thank you @@Big_Dog well I may not have succeeded in my quest for a clouded leopard, but we managed to see nearly everything else I could have wished for!

[michael-ibk]

Great trip report, @@kittykat23uk , thank you for sharing.

 

Lots of Orang-Utans, must have been a delight. I espeally liked the Leopard Cats, beautiful animals! And glad you found the elephants after all. Your artwork was impressive, you are very talented.

 

Clouded Leopard would have been fantastic, of course, but you will just have to keep trying. Are there no specific offers/tours for finding this most elusive cat?

 

So, what animals are you going for in China? On the tracks of Coke Smith?

[kittykat23uk]

@@michael-ibk Thank you. Yes I'll probably have to go back to Borneo at some point for the leopard as I think that is the one place where there is a realistic chance of getting one. I'm not aware of any tours that offer a reliable chance of clouded leopard and the majority of sightings that I am aware of come out of the the main sites we tried there (particularly Danum and Kinabatangan).

 

In China yes sort of following in Coke's footsteps, planning to do Sichuan for Tibetan wolf and fox, various pikas and Takin and hopefully if the site reopens and is not affected by disturbance we might also get red panda (please please please!!!). Finishing with a trip to the giant panda breeding centre at Chengdu and picking up whatever else we might find on the way. I'm taking @@BigBaldIan with me this time.

[Big_Dog]

I too have heard the Danum Valley is a good place for Clouded Leopard, I think there is / was a camera trap survey done there also.
China trip sounds great, look forward to that trip report!

[Kitsafari]

@@michael-ibk

 

In China yes sort of following in Coke's footsteps, planning to do Sichuan for Tibetan wolf and fox, various pikas and Takin and hopefully if the site reopens and is not affected by disturbance we might also get red panda (please please please!!!). Finishing with a trip to the giant panda breeding centre at Chengdu and picking up whatever else we might find on the way. I'm taking @@BigBaldIan with me this time.

Ooh that China trip sounds intriguing. When are you going? Red pandas are so cute!

[kittykat23uk]

November 5th

[Kitsafari]

cant wait to see that report - that will be so exotic. i'll be rooting for you to see red pandas!