My brother and I visited Sabah May 22 to June 5, 2011. We spent four days at Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp, then joined guide Yeo Siew Teck for another 10 days, visiting Sepilok, Poring, Mesilau, KNP HQ, Kota Belud, and Palau Manukan. Then on our own we visited the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Center and did a Klais River dinner cruise.
Uncle Tan's was nice enough, though rustic, and flooded. It is not at the same location as it used to be, but is further up the Kinabatangan River. There were many good birds, including Lesser Adjutant, Storm's Stork, Buffy Fish-Owl, along with wild Gibbons, Oranutans, and other diurnal primates. I had a fortuitous encounter with a pair of Hooded Pittas, just happening to be there when they were poking around in the open.
Yeo was a good guide, and it was very nice to have a guide to ourselves. I have not finished digesting and summarizing the bird list, which would be something just over 200. If that is short of expectations, it has to do with my shortcomings, not Yeo. I can be pretty slow.
Good birds included Blue-banded Pita, Friendly Bush-Warbler and Mountain Wren-Babbler in the highlands.
Kota Belud was great for filling out the list. We found a particularly nice rice field, where there was a Buff-banded Rail, Painted Snipe, many Whiskered Terns, and some Javan Pond-Herons.
I have posted a few photos of birds in the gallery, and could expand this account, if there is interest.
Good birding,
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
i know what a pain writing trip reports can be but i for one would be interested in anything you have to write about Sabah!
cheers,
James
Uncle Tan's Jungle Camp was a good place to go for a few days. Following the advice in John Bransbury's A Birdwatcher's Guide to Malaysia, we booked an extra day, for a four-day, three night stay. The location map in Bransbury is out of date, since the camp has moved.
This place was very inexpensive, at about MR460 each for the expedition, including meals and transportation, though beer is extra. And including evening and morning boat rides or "jungle treks". My brother Lee is a mammalogist, and was keen to see some of the primates, particularly ones he has written about. We were able to see and photograph all the diurnal primates he expected, including a wild orangutan and a troop of gibbons.
We traveled in with six others we had not met before, and it proved to be a congenial enough group, though no others were birders. the accommodations were not fancy, and got less fancy while we were there. The place has a string of huts along a suspended walkway on the way to the ablution facility. The huts have only foam mattresses and mosquito netting, but what else do you need? The lights and power outlets were a nice touch. The food was good, but I'm not that fussy. On the 3rd day the six we came with left, and about 20 "backpackers" came in, still not too many for the place, and they were all interesting folks - footloose young people mostly, from around the world.
It rained the first night we were there, a lot, and the water came up over the walkways, so the rest of the time a visit to the washroom meant wading knee-deep in murky jungle water. It was a little spooky at night, but an adventure in retrospect. Photos attached, including one taken by another traveler, Liz McGill, from the UK.
We went along with the canned program for everyone, then on the last day hung around and went on short excursions into the jungle nearby. The flooding limited us a little bit. I think more aggressive birders would see more, possibly by offering more direction to guides in the boats. A tour leader could well bring a small group here, direct the boat better and see a lot of stuff. I was more than happy with the whole experience, in any case.
Here's what we ticked:
Storm's Stork - Ciconia stormi
Lesser Adjutant - Leptoptilos javanicus
Oriental Darter - Anhinga melanogaster
Great Egret - Ardea alba
Intermediate Egret - Mesophoyx intermedia
Little Egret - Egretta garzetta
White-bellied Sea-Eagle - Haliaeetus leucogaster
Crested Serpent-Eagle - Spilornis cheela
Changeable Hawk-Eagle - Nisaetus cirrhatus
Little Green-Pigeon - Treron olax
Pink-necked Pigeon - Treron vernans
Large Green-Pigeon - Treron capellei
Green Imperial-Pigeon - Ducula aenea
Raffles's Malkoha - Phaenicophaeus chlorophaeus
Lesser Coucal - Centropus bengalensis
Buffy Fish-Owl - Ketupa ketupu
Glossy Swiftlet - Collocalia esculenta
black-nest Swiftlet - Aerodramus maximus (Lee only)
Red-naped Trogon - Harpactes kasumba
Blue-eared Kingfisher - Alcedo meninting
Rufous-backed Kingfisher - Ceyx rufidorsa
Stork-billed Kingfisher - Pelargopsis capensis
Dollarbird - Eurystomus orientalis
White-crowned Hornbill - Aceros comatus (Lee only)
Helmeted Hornbill - Buceros vigil (Lee only)
Oriental Pied-Hornbill - Anthracoceros albirostris
Black Hornbill - Anthracoceros malayanus
Rhinoceros Hornbill - Buceros rhinoceros
Bushy-crested Hornbill - Anorrhinus galeritus
Buff-rumped Woodpecker - Meiglyptes tristis
Gray-and-buff Woodpecker - Hemicircus concretus
Black-and-red Broadbill - Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos
Black-and-yellow Broadbill - Eurylaimus ochromalus
Hooded Pitta - Pitta sordida (Me only)
Scarlet Minivet - Pericrocotus flammeus
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo - Dicrurus paradiseus
Asian Paradise-Flycatcher - Terpsiphone paradisi
Slender-billed Crow - Corvus enca
Pacific Swallow - Hirundo tahitica
Dark-necked Tailorbird - Orthotomus atrogularis
Ashy Tailorbird - Orthotomus ruficeps
Rufous-chested Flycatcher - Ficedula dumetoria
Pale Blue-Flycatcher - Cyornis unicolor
Malaysian Blue-Flycatcher - Cyornis turcosus
Bornean Blue-Flycatcher - Cyornis superbus (Lee only)
White-crowned Shama - Copsychus stricklandi
White-chested Babbler - Trichastoma rostratum
Ferruginous Babbler - Trichastoma bicolor
Chestnut-winged Babbler - Stachyris erythroptera
Dusky Munia - Lonchura fuscans