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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Best time to visit Borneo ? Any sites to add ? (1 Viewer)

Personally, I would drop Tabin altogether. Nice place but extra driving time for no additional specialities (other than Sabah Hose's Langur), all the birds found at Tabin are at Danum Valley, so it's a bit of a waste of 6 hours driving. It is nice general birding and mammaling though.

As Duncan says, more time at Mt K the better. I'd be tempted to skip Sepilok altogether too, and replace it with more days for Mt Kinabalu, if it's the endemics you're after.

James

Thanks James. I'm not chasing the endemics as such, just trying to to get as wide a selection of birds as possible while there. My wife isn't a birder but tolerates a certain amount of pure birding but she's after the mammals primarily I take a lot of wildlife and bird photos (see Flickr website link) and have read that tabin is great as there is more light than Danum so birds are easier to see and photo. Spending more time at Danum than Tabin though (3 full days vs 1). Night drives are also supposed to be great for cats at Tabin.

With 2 days at Kinabalu which sites/trails should we aim for to cover a variety of habitats and scenery?

Thanks for the advice guys.
Tony
 
Thanks James. I'm not chasing the endemics as such, just trying to to get as wide a selection of birds as possible while there. My wife isn't a birder but tolerates a certain amount of pure birding but she's after the mammals primarily I take a lot of wildlife and bird photos (see Flickr website link) and have read that tabin is great as there is more light than Danum so birds are easier to see and photo. Spending more time at Danum than Tabin though (3 full days vs 1). Night drives are also supposed to be great for cats at Tabin.

With 2 days at Kinabalu which sites/trails should we aim for to cover a variety of habitats and scenery?

Thanks for the advice guys.
Tony

Tabin is good for Leopard Cat on the night drive as it borders oil palm (a habitat where Leopard Cat thrives and is fairly common and easy to find), likewise Common Palm Civet. So it's a good choice for general nature-watching. There is more light than Danum as it's been logged more heavily so has a more open and lower canopy.
Best area for mammals though, especially for viewing, is the Kinabatangan River, there and Sepilok are the best areas for birder + non-birding spouse in my experience.

Mount Kinabalu - for scenery and habitats then Silau-Silau Trail is a nice one. If you fancy a good walk (talking over half a day), then the Liwagu Trail is by far the most scenic as it's the least visited - it's 5+km. There certain areas are more reliable than others for species, in general vast majority of birds can be found on any trail at any point in time - it's a relatively small area the accessible areas. It's generally slow birding compared to montane birding elsewhere in Asia.

James
 
On Kinabalu, weather will likely determine your activity. Go before sunset to Timpohon Gate and bird on any of trails there going down. When fog or rain starts, birding comes to a halt. Then immediately move downhill a good distance to have some time birding before the fog gets there too. You will be able to see clouds forming on the mountaintop and slowly descending downhill, to stop your birding. Most typical is that by mid-morning you have to go downhill and in the afternoon the rain starts downhill, too.
 
Try the Sayap Substation at Kinabalu on the Kota Belud district. Then also go to Trus Madi Gate via Tambunan district. Deramakot Forest Reserve is a good place to visit too for birds and mammals.
 
Try the Sayap Substation at Kinabalu on the Kota Belud district. Then also go to Trus Madi Gate via Tambunan district. Deramakot Forest Reserve is a good place to visit too for birds and mammals.

Thanks. How would I best fit these into the itinerary I currently have ? Is there much at Deramakot that I wouldn't see at sepilok, Tabin or Danum, bird or mammal wise ?

Tony
 
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