Day 3
Arise and shine at 06.00 and dawn is at 06.30, walk around the Sepilok Jungle Lodge gardens, then walk to the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) again, I'm missing the included breakfasts each morning but I don't want to miss anything so c'est la vie. The usual suspects were in the gardens but there were some interesting (though not possible for me to shoot or ID) flyovers .... I'm missing some ticks here !
On the walk to the RDC it's also possible to pick up Hooded and Dusky Munias feeding in the the long grass and flowerpeckers/sunbirds flitting about in the canopies of small trees or bushes lining the roads. As well as the fore-mentioned, it's possible to pick up Collared Kingfisher, Starlings, Pigeons and Bulbuls plus any of the birds from the RDC - they are not contained there of course
With a few hours birding to get in before I had to get back to the Sepilok Jungle Lodge for my pick up and 3 hour bus drive to Sukau I didn't hang around and quickly walked to the RDC (again before opening) to get up on the Canopy Walkway (looking for Bristeheads - I didn't see any and there was no response to playback here, though from the Broadbill Tower, at the Birder's Rest, there was a response from what sounded like a fair distance away, but no showing) and onto the Kingfisher Trails for the Pittas. Unfortuantely I dipped both. I didn't add any more Lifers at the RDC and left to tack a taxi back to the Sepilok Jungle Lodge at 11.30, leaving time to shower, change into shorts and check-out.
Upon check-out the girl at reception told me earlier that morning I'd had a call from the guy who organised my 3 days / 2 nights at the Nature Lodge at Sukau on the Kinabatangan river, and she called him back ..... it seems there had been an electrical fire in my room, which now had to undergo repairs and wouldn't be ready in time for my first night .. so if I agreed then I was to switch to their sister lodge 2 mins across the river, I was assured the Bilit Rainforest Lodge was of equal standard (which later proved not to be the case).
Whatever, so long as the river trips were the same (they were) I was OK with this (not much choice really as they said the Nature Lodge was fully booked) though in review this ended up costing me views/photos of wild Orang-Utan and a Civet Cat (which the people in the Nature Lodge's boats saw and those from the BRL boats didn't - timing was slightly different though places visited were the same), luck of the draw could have gone either way of course but that thought still doesn't dull my pangs of disappointment at dipping the mega Orang-utan (a large male that disappeared with a minute or two of the boats turning up).
The bus arrived on time, and I was really surprised at how comfortable it was (though it needed to be as some of the roads were
very bumpy)
We stopped to pick up guests for the Nature Lodge from 3 or 4 other locations (one of which had a lovely little pond where a Striated Heron was busy finding lunch), and then stopped for 10 mins at a store (with a decent little bakery next door - cheese sticks, Chinese custard tarts & peanut butter pastries somehow found their way into my pack) to replenish our supplies of drinks and snacks and were soon back on the road and on our way past never-ending Palm Oil Tree plantations, the scourge of wildlife in Borneo but
maybe a necessity for the economies of countries farming them.
The damage to the wildlife that the 'slash and burn', logging and these palm oil plantations have done is incalculable though ... and still it continues, ravaging Borneo (especially in the larger, Indonesian owned, parts of the island called Kalimantan) and sending many plants, reptiles, mammals and birds to extinction.
I don't remember seeing a single bird on the trip to Sukau (though I did doze off a few times) ! The amount of birds that live in the Palm Oil plantations are just 9 - 14 species whereas the original vegetation typically supported 200+ species (@ Phillipp's, who describes Palm Oil Plantations as 'Green Deserts') ... to say nothing of course of the mammals of which very few (mainly bats & rats) find solace in the plantations.
On arrival at the Nature Lodge Kinabatangan (NLK) I was immediately transferred to a boat to cross the river to the Bilit Rainforest Lodge (BRL), after being told that on the morning after my second night there my bags would also be loaded into the boat for the 06.00 river trip but that on return I'd be dropped off for breakfast, given a room to shower and change at the NLK instead of the BRL, and would then take the bus to Sandakan airport for my 50 mins flight back to Kota Kinabalu to begin the mountain stage of my trip. This worked just fine for me.
NLK or BRL
Just a little on the difference between the two lodges that I was told were 'basically the same'.
The food at the Nature Lodge where I had breakfast on the final day (Western and Malay/Chinese and a
Toaster ! ) was so much better than at BRL (two oil laden Chinese vegetable dishes, Chinese style fried chopped chicken on the bone, fried fish that no-one seemed to like, boiled rice, fried rice and fries was pretty much it for the evening meals, breakfast was not much better though the omelette was filling). The single breakfast I had at the NLK told me all I needed to know about the cuisine there ; toast, beans, bacon, fried eggs, a range of cereals and so on and so on....... simply no comparison. The tables were clean and properly laid at NLK (one morning at the BRL, when we had been told to arrive at 05.30 for breakfast, the tables were still covered with cans and drinks from the night before, breakfast was 15 mins late and the the fries arrived 15 mins after that.
NLK was better managed & organised (try getting cold drinks at BRL when the manager was not around), cleaner and with many more paths to walk to spot birds when not on a river trip, there were NONE across the river at BRL unless you went into the leech-infested jungle (terrible for birds during daylight, I spent 2 hours in there) and you were basically confined to an 80m boardwalk, which is where I was directed to when I asked about where to find birds. I did see a few birds there (maybe 5 species) and one troop of Macaque monkeys came through too.
Compare that to the NLK, just as I was preparing to leave, I met one of the staff there who saw my long lens and came over, he is a birder (I think he called himself A.J.) and said if I came back to ask for him and we could work out a more dedicated birding program. Definitely worth an enquiry next time !
Trips on the river, night walks and jungle walks are the same though and the people at both places were friendly and helpful even if the procedures and professionalism varied considerably.
Despite what some reports I've read on Trip Advisor say, the accommodation, food and the complete resort is much better at NLK :
http://www.naturelodgekinabatangan.com/index.php
http://www.bilitrainforestlodge.com/home.html
Book through
[email protected] (Nasalis Larvatus Tours in KK). He seems really good and everything was arranged well (pick-up in Semilok and dropped back at Sandakan airport in time for my 12.50 flight - after an early morning river trip). These are reasonably priced safari tours though - if you want to go upmarket then get your wallet out and you'll find better.
Skip the Jungle Walk and book another boat for yourself instead, the JW is
awful, an hour slog through the Jungle (leeches, roots, deep mud) stay 20-30 mins by the lakeside (which looks like the river but without any birds) and then slog back again.
Within minutes of arrival at BRL (basic accommodation with paper thin walls & a single strip light that barely lit the room - but a private shower and toilet both functioning well) I was back on the dockside for the first of 4 River Trips (about 1.5 hrs each I guess, so engrossed the time flew by) !
The early morning trips go up-river and seem to be excellent for birds, the late afternoon trips go downstream and then up a much narrower tributary - these are great for primates and birds and overall seem to be the better trips. Luck of the draw still applies of course
With the bulky long lens set up on a monopod I was (for each trip) given prime location in the bow of the narrow boat (two people per aisle except the bow) where someone from another boat later said I looked like one of those machine gunners during the Vietnam war ! Err not sure what to say to that
So downstream we went, other than a couple of Hornbills and an eagle or two it was quiet for mabe 15 mins .. then suddenly the whole boat exploded with excitement for there on the banks of the river was a herd of maybe 15 Bornean Pygmy Elephants !!!
In our boat we had a guide, Anil, in addition to our boatsman, and he was quick to tell us how lucky we were to spot these wonderful animals since not only are they rare (estimates vary from 1,000 to 3,500 covering the whole of Borneo, the world’s 3rd largest island) but they also only see them 5-6 times a year.
I'm not sure whether all that is true, maybe he was just trying to make us feel privileged to see these elephants but whatever I didn't care, I was just delighted to see them and didn't take my eyes off them for the 15 glorious mins our boat stayed with them.
http://worldwildlife.org/species/borneo-pygmy-elephant
However, with more things to see we moved on and into the aforementioned tributary and here again the excitement levels rose with Macaque Monkey troupes, Blue-Throated Bee-eater, a Mangrove Snake (venomous but arboreal) and a Reticulated Python (this one the guide estimated at about 6.5m - about 21ft) - these snakes are the longest in the world (longer even than the Anaconda) growing up to an amazing 10m (33 ft) in length !
On the trip back to the lodge we spotted excellent birds in Rhino & Pied Hornbills and a Brahminy Kite whilst large numbers of swiftlets strafed the river.
After a meal that, whilst not great, still hit the spot it was back to the room for a quick shower and to prepare.
But wait .... we are still not finished on this long 3rd Day ! Next up at 20.00 came the Jungle Night Walk. Outfitted with leech socks, wellies (USA : gum boots) and long sleeved shirts, long trousers, camera with Better Beamer, and plenty of mosquito repellent we hit the hour long loop trail with 4-5 people per guide. It was hot, sticky work as we dodged winding roots intent on tripping you up, slippy mud puddles and swinging vines trying to strangle you ! My tip is to watch your step and let the guide find the wildlife
Our guide made it a successful outing as swung the spotlight on Blue-Eared Kingfishers, White Crowned Shama and the highlight a super-cute
Tarsier clinging to the base of a young tree.
Now I could go to bed happy after 3 species of kingfisher, Rhino Hornbill, a Tarsier, Reticulated Python and the Pygmy Elephant herd all in one day !
28 Species (10 Lifers)
Bee-Eater, Blue-Throated (Kinabatangan)
Blue-Eared Kingfisher (Kinabatangan)
Bulbul, Yellow Vented (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Dollarbird (Kinabatangan)
Dove, Zebra (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Egret, Little (g.nigripes) (Sepilok)
Fantail, Pied (Kinabatangan)
Flowerpecker, Yellow Eared (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Heron, Striated (Sepilok)
Hornbill, Pied (Kinabatangan)
Hornbill, Rhinoceros (Kinabatangan)
Kingfisher, Blue-Eared (Kinabatangan)
Kingfisher, Oriental Dwarf (RDC)
Kingfisher, Collared (RDC)
Kingfisher, Stork Billed (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Kite, Brahminy (Kinabatangan)
Magpie-Robin, Oriental (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Munia, Hooded (Sepilok Jungle Lodge & RDC)
Oriental Darter (Kinabatangan)
Pigeon, Pink Necked (M&F) (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Shama, White Crowned (Kinabatangan)
Sparrow, Tree (Sepilok Jungle Lodge, RDC)
Spiderhunter, Plain (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Starling, Asian Glossy (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Sunbird, Brown-Throated (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Sunbird, Plain (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Swiftlets (sp.) (Sepilok Jungle Lodge, RDC, Kinabatangan)
Woodpecker, Buff-Necked – M&F (Sepilok Jungle Lodge)
Mammals & Reptiles
Bornean Pygmy Elephants (Kinabatangan)
Macaque Monkeys (Kinabatangan)
Mangrove Snake (Kinabatangan)
Reticulated Python (Kinabatangan)
Tarsier (Kinabatangan)
Black Squirrels (sandy coloured underneath, black heads)
Other Squirrels (there are 34 species in Borneo and I have no idea which ones I saw) !
