RFI - Brunei and Sabah (1 Viewer)

Jeff Hopkins · Mar 14, 2009

All:

I've got a trip to Sabah/Borneo booked for June/July with Tropical Birding and I'm going to stop in Brunei for two days on the way. I've got a few questions which I hope some of you can answer.

Brunei:

I'll spend my first day seeing the sights of BSB. The second day will be available for birding. Does anyone know of good birding spots in Brunei where I can spend that day, especially where I might see birds that I won't see in Sabah? I've driven in Malaysia before, so hiring a car for a day is an option.

I've seen companies offering a day trip to Ulu Temburong Natl. Park. Anybody done one? Is it worth it?

Are there any birding guides in Brunei? Any local birders who want company on a Friday?

Sabah:

The main part of the organized trip goes to the usual places (Danum, Poring, Mt. Kinabalu). There is an extension to Sandakan/Sukau, but so far I'm the only one registered for the extension. Tropical Birding have suggested that if nobody else signs up, they can still book me for a general nature trip to Sukau. I assume that this general tour would include Sepilok, Sukau, Gomontong Caves (though I'll confirm, of course).

Has anyone taken one of the generalist tours? If so, how was the birding?

Are there any other "don't miss" places in the Sandakan/Sukau area?

TB has said their usual place to stay is Sukau Rainforest Lodge so that's where they'll probably book me. Any recommended guides there, especially a birding specialist?

Is there a better place to stay if I'll be birding without a guide? How about spending the time in Sukau split between two lodges? Does that make sense?

Any day trips associated with the lodge that you'd recommend?

Any hints on locations to find Sandakan area specialties?

TIA,

Jeff

schiffornis · Mar 15, 2009

Hi Jeff

I went to Borneo for my honeymoon at the end of 2007, as part of the trip we did a 'wildlife week' tour with a local opperator that took us to the Sukau area I'm pretty sure we stayed in the Sukau River Lodge too (I'd probably stay at one base here), it was a very good location for birding, and fairly easy birding too (Storms Stork, lots of hornbills, kingfishers, endemic falconnets, Buffy Fish Owl, Hooded Pitta plus lots of Bulbuls/Babblers etc recorded). There wasn't a 'bird guide' as such here when i stayed but the boatmen were excellent at finding and pointing out all of the wildlife of the area, including otters, wild orangs, snakes, monkeys (inc. Prob), crocs, bearded pigs etc etc. and once they knew you wanted to see birds they were more than happy to take their time to find them. This location was one of the higlights of our trip, (after the mountain) - we really enjoyed it and the boat rides were awesome!

We also went to Gomantong Caves which were breathtaking, literally! A pretty impressive bunch of sights and sounds! Also wild orangs here too.

We went to Sandakan briefly, the Orang centre at Sepilok was good for wildlife too.

If you see a sign for Rafellesia blooming i'd go as they are pretty cool to see and you may be rewarded with something unexpected like an Emerald Dove like i was!!!

Hope this helps a little

Andy

Jeff hopkins said:
All:

I've got a trip to Sabah/Borneo booked for June/July with Tropical Birding and I'm going to stop in Brunei for two days on the way. I've got a few questions which I hope some of you can answer.

Brunei:

I'll spend my first day seeing the sights of BSB. The second day will be available for birding. Does anyone know of good birding spots in Brunei where I can spend that day, especially where I might see birds that I won't see in Sabah? I've driven in Malaysia before, so hiring a car for a day is an option.

I've seen companies offering a day trip to Ulu Temburong Natl. Park. Anybody done one? Is it worth it?

Are there any birding guides in Brunei? Any local birders who want company on a Friday?

Sabah:

The main part of the organized trip goes to the usual places (Danum, Poring, Mt. Kinabalu). There is an extension to Sandakan/Sukau, but so far I'm the only one registered for the extension. Tropical Birding have suggested that if nobody else signs up, they can still book me for a general nature trip to Sukau. I assume that this general tour would include Sepilok, Sukau, Gomontong Caves (though I'll confirm, of course).

Has anyone taken one of the generalist tours? If so, how was the birding?

Are there any other "don't miss" places in the Sandakan/Sukau area?

TB has said their usual place to stay is Sukau Rainforest Lodge so that's where they'll probably book me. Any recommended guides there, especially a birding specialist?

Is there a better place to stay if I'll be birding without a guide? How about spending the time in Sukau split between two lodges? Does that make sense?

Any day trips associated with the lodge that you'd recommend?

Any hints on locations to find Sandakan area specialties?

TIA,

Jeff

Rob Hutchinson · Mar 15, 2009

Hi Jeff,

I would recommend asking TB to book you a private boat with one of their guides who know the birds or at least the best areas to look for them, it might cost extra but worth the money - I suspect that their general wildlife tours would be frustrating with noisy tourists only interested in seeing monkeys. We don't use SRL on our tours so I can't recommend any particular guides.
All the birding here (unless you land for something special) is from boats so there is no advantage splitting your time between lodges.
Also worth visiting Gomantong for swiftlets, Bat Hawk and some good lowland birds in the small patches of forest.
Sepilok has some good birding but I suspect a general tour might only visit the Orangutan feeding area which isn't so good for birds.

Rob

Jeff Hopkins · Apr 1, 2009

Good news. I just received confirmation that the extension is definitely going.

Thanks to all who responded to the inquiry on Sabah. If anybody knows anything about Brunei, I didn't receive any replies on that front.

RFI - Brunei and Sabah (1 Viewer)

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Jeff Hopkins

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schiffornis

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Rob Hutchinson

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Jeff Hopkins

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