BORNEO AFTER COVID (Well a small part of it anyway)

7 weeks Sabah and 2 on Peninsular Malaysia

The start of our trip already shows how Covid has changed things.  Applying for our Thai visa, we waited and waited – eventually rang and they informed us they were holding our passports till nearer the time as they do not issue much in advance currently (all very well but we needed passports to get to Malaysia).  Will have to get the visa in Kuala Lumpur later.

Bit of a worry whether we would get to go on time as lots of flights cancelled because of staff shortages and the weather. Choosing to fly the long way round (much cheaper), via Melbourne and Singapore to Kota Kinabalu we discovered not to bother paying for food on Scoot Airlines – the worst ever.  We had also tried to book our luggage all the way through from Melbourne as both flights were Scoot – OK Melbourne said.  Singapore though when we arrived said we had to pick up bags and go through immigration, then back into transit hall.  Only trouble is bags had vanished.  Lucky we had a few hours as it took customer service 2 hours to find them.  They had hundreds of lost bags near customer service (not ours though), never seen anything like it.

There are virtually no western tourists anywhere in Kota Kinabalu, so unusual to see in Asia. Not much water traffic either,

A visit to Kota Kinabalu Wetlands had an interesting path for a tropical climate.  Path had raised brick sides so when it rained the path became a river and as the path was through flooded grass you just had to wade.  Curved run off from path would possibly have been an improvement.

Many things in Kota Kinabalu are still shut from Covid, steam train, clock tower, trails etc, such a shame.

A trip to Prince Philip Park and Tanjung Aru Beach, a favourite for birders and sunset.  Easy and cheap to get there by taxi, silly us, thought we would be able to get one back.
Place was heaving, traffic jams everywhere and no taxis, they don’t come here as too busy!! After hanging around a bit and trying to find anyone who spoke English, someone took pity on us and took us back – not sure if he was a real taxi or not but we just paid him what it cost us getting here.

First out of town visit was to Tambunan and the Crocker Range.  Amazing for birds and better still we were lucky enough to be there when a Rafflesia Flower was in Bloom (rare and short term).

The waterfall here was also closed – I assume the walk had not been maintained during Covid.

https://www.sabahparks.org.my/crocker-range-park

Staying in a homestay in Tambunan, they had no restaurant so we drove into town at 5pm only to find every restaurant shut at 5, crisps and a glass of alcohol it is.  Steve put his glass down and the local dog came and drank it….
Birds and wildlife easy from balcony.

Borneo SpiderhunterBornean Black Banded Squirrel.

Drove up to go to Trus Mardi National Park, but at entrance informed we could not go in without permit (great views of Mt Kinabalu though) – back to Crocker Range and after a couple of hours trying to sort a permit, we were informed we could have one but had to camp there overnight.  Not an option at this stage so that was that.  Off to a substation of Crocker Range (different park section), no one on gate to pay, no one around for anything.  Eventually found a maintenance man who took our money but had no English for information.  10 mins into a walk the clouds came down so we could not even see 1 metre let alone find birds.

Another town we stayed in on route was Keningau – not our favourite place.  Lucky it was cheap as no sleep due to loud music (and Karioke), dogs, fireworks, shouting etc.  Advertised parking but only if you could find some on a street somewhere in the vague vicinity. (not easy)

Most of the National Parks have accommodation and they would be great and cheap places to stay – but finding out how to book is impossible.  I must have made about 15 calls to different departments to try and book Tawau Hills for later – no go.

The biggest thing we have found since being here is how little information we found before coming (not through lack of trying).  Many people we eventually met said the same thing.  It seems like the country as a whole only really want people to go on very expensive packages so keep information lean to dissuade independent travel.

Next to Maliau Basin – Sabah’s lost world.  I think the road in got lost too, half of it was missing.  Dreadful road to drive on, lucky we had a 4×4.  Quite a lot of accommodation rooms in this resort – but almost no-one here at all, 1 Swedish girl and 2 groups of Malay. Saw several Crested Firebacks here which was a treat.
Going on a night drive started off so well, many animals and birds but around half way the heavens opened really heavily, 30 mins to get back – we were soaked, lucky it’s a warm climate. On the next day’s walks we found more birds than the guide.
Turned out that our guide (you have to have one) was actually receptionist come maintenance.
He did spot this Bornean Pit Viper though.

Think they got rid of the more expensive, trained rangers during Covid.

https://maliaubasin.org/about-mbca/

If only we were younger coming here, I would love to have done the 5 day hike into the crater, pristine forest, lots of wildlife etc.  But it is very steep hills, camping and getting soaked in the tropical rain, not for us any longer. Never mind, we managed to find one of the rare birds that many people come for.  The Helmeted Hornbill – saw on day one in the mist and slightly better on day 2 – still not a great photo.

Also found a Forest Scorpion crossing our path.

Still trying to find a way to stay in Tawau Hills National Park, I came across a blog that mentioned 1^st stop Borneo.  Contacted Shavez (founder) as it mentioned their company could organise accommodation.  Initially no response.

Now we are in Tawau, (Great Indian here) and Shavez rings.  Met for a drink and next thing we know he is taking us to the park.  Amazing work, the organisation is doing so much for conservation and research.

https://www.1stopborneo.org/

1StopBorneo Wildlife is a conservation group based in Tawau, Sabah, Borneo. They do projects on Hornbills, Elephants and other fauna of the region by using the 4 E framework. Economy, Education , Enforcement and Enrichment of ecosystem.


It is really worth a visit to see what they are doing, there are usually some scientists working on different aspects so as well as a great park it is also very informative.

A great park to stay too, especially for insects, snakes etc.

Sabah Blue Tarantula

Mock Viper
File Eared Tree Frog

Here we saw a Clouded Leopard on a night walk (no photo).  Very unexpected.  We had to dash of to find the researchers to tell them where we saw it and then go back to look for poo or footprints (no luck there).  After that we found a Greater Mouse Deer and while looking at that a Malay Civet came chasing it.
Malay Civet

Wish we could have spent more than one night here, but at least we got to go.  The Red Leaf Monkeys were also easy to spot here.

Staying one night in Ladhu Datu our homestay was a bit out of town, the owners kindly dropped us in town at a restaurant/food court (Their restaurant closed due to COVID and lack of visitors).  On returning (walking) using google, we got totally lost.  We have discovered Google is useless in Sabah and often takes you to completely the wrong place.  In the end we had to ring and they came to pick us up.

Tabin Wildlife Reserve, although mostly secondary forest teems with wildlife and we spotted so much in 2 days. Gibbons,
Orangutan,
Pigtail & Longtail Macaque and many birds, reptiles and butterflies.
Black & Yellow Broadbill

Beautiful scenery too.

On a daytime walk with the ranger and 6 other people, Steve was luckily at the front of the group when they spotted a Clouded Leopard sitting in a tree.  Unfortunately the rest of the group not being very knowledgeable about wildlife just surged toward it with mobile phones to try and get a photo, scaring it off so that nobody got a picture.  The guide was very upset about that as they are so rare to see (and we have now seen 2 in 2 days).

A week’s break from Birds, WIldife and trekking and off to Semporna for Snorkelling.  So we thought……  Mabul Island and Sipidan are world famous for snorkelling and diving – but they should now be famous for how quick you can stuff up the environment.  So very disappointing.  We have never seen so much plastic and rubbish in the sea (and on land) anywhere in the world.  The coral is virtually gone apart from some man made structures where they are trying to re-grow it.  Mostly just starfish, lots of them.

The only 3 turtles we saw were so damaged from boats it was heartbreaking.  We did go to a more remote homestay next that did have some turtles and fair patches of coral but not as good as many other places in the world.

Orbiculate Cardinalfish under the jetty.

Good Sunset over jetty to further islands.

At one point around town we got asked if we wanted a taxi – a wheelbarrow -, could not come at that somehow. Even though it would earn the local money, I can not imagine feeling good about being pushed around in a wheelbarrow.

Danum Valley is more about Birds than wildlife – although there is plenty but harder to find as this is mostly primary rainforest and very dense. Also pretty wet and misty while we were here.

We did see a Slow Loris which was great, the guide also saw a Tarsier but it went before he could point it out (damn, they look so cute). No roads into the primary forest so everything is walking treks, or along the access road in.  Getting wet is a common issue, even with a mac, your legs and feet get soaked.

Blue Headed Pitta

Giant Millipede
One of many interesting Fungi
Grasshopper’s and Crickets are all shapes and sizes
Jumping Spider
Lantern Bugs

Red Giant Flying Squirrel

Wallace’s Flying Frog

Like Tabin the most common form of wildlife is Leeches – plenty of them. Leech socks help with Brown leeches, but the Tiger leeches climb and get inside your shirt and everywhere else.
On leaving Danum our driver out had a ute, but he had no cover so we, him and all our luggage had to be inside on this bumpy dirt road for 3 hours. So cramped it was not fun – but on the plus side, a large male Orangutang crossed the road in front – pretty special. Not so much the bulldozer and pile of earth blocking the road a little further on.

One of the surprising things to us on the island is the number of Catholic Churches – there are literally hundreds of them and plenty of giant Jesus too.

Tungog Eco Camp was our next stop on the Kinabatangan River – further up than the most touristy part.  You get to it by boat, there is no electricity, shops or supplies so take anything you may want.  Our boat driver and guide lives in a house with 42 other family members.  (A normal size small house).  Very common in the villages.
It was a lovely place and some nice birds and wildlife, especially on the river trips but certainly not in the league of Danum Valley and Tabin.  (But a lot cheaper too).
Tungog Eco Camp

I think one of the new problems for wildlife is people with mobile phone.  On the night walks in Tungog, most people use their phone and want to get the phone 1 cm from anything alive – its awful to watch.  Long camera lenses allow you to get pictures without disturbing things.

Oriental Bay OwlHard to tell size but this is a Bornean Pygmy Squirrel,  Tiny.

Another tiny insect, Leafhopper Nymph About 1/8th inch

Expecting the lower Kinabatangan around Sakau to be really heaving with wildlife we were surprised when this area was even quieter still.  BUT we finally found the Bornean Pygmy Elephants, not only once, but unexpectedly a second and then a third time, last was early morning when 2 swam across the river in front of our boat.

Quite amazing that all though most places we have been should have similar wildlife our experience and sightings have been to see different things in each place.

Having seen so many Orangutangs in the wild we did not go to the main Orangutang Centre in Sepilok, but did go to the Sunbear Rescue Centre, great job they are doing the stories of each bear they have are heartbreaking.  Lots of great birds and some wildlife in the Discovery Centre, spent many hours over a coulple of days wandering around.

Red Naped Trogon

Poring Hot Springs and Kinabalu Park – all part of the same National Park but different parts.  Poring is a much lower altitude.  We spent a day at Poring looking for birds, the hot springs being just concrete pools, not our cup of tea.  On the way from Poring to Kinabalu Park Main we stopped off at the Last POW camp in Sabah.  Horrific what happened on the death marches.

Kinabalu Park – another very popular hike that takes 2 days going from 1800 m to over 4000 m. (Although the record one way is just under 3 hours for the 8km).

There is a hut for the overnight, but not for us.  If there was almost no-one else doing it, it would be worthwhile as plenty of unusual wildlife and birds, but it is a constant stream of people (and there are currently only about 15% of the climbers from before Covid!!!). You also nearly always get soaked as it rains heavily most days in the afternoon.

Us birders walk the road from 1200 to 1800 metres, not only birds but plenty of Squirrels (8 species) and other interesting rodents like a Gymnure which I have never heard of.

Short Tailed Gymnure

Last stop in Borneo is North Borneo Bio Station, a lovely quiet place on the coast.  Sad for the family running it though, like everywhere.  Out of their 24 huts only 4 (inc ours) were being used and most like us just 2 night stays.

This is mainly a snorkelling destination but I was disappointed in the coral, although fish were in abundance.  After the first time out I asked the owner where better coral was.  I guess I did not understand his instructions fully,  as I did not find anything better. He had mentioned going out 20 metres and I went out at least 50 or so with no luck.  BUT the day we were leaving an English couple said they had not found it like me, so they took out Kayaks to find where it was.  Why did I not think of that???  Apparently, there was really good coral but more like 100 metres out.  Pity we had no time left to go out again.

Golden Travelly

Our last night back in Kota Kinabalu and we got a free upgrade to a bigger room.  The best thing was a shower that had not only a wall head but one over your head, both working together.  Pretty nice.

My general impression of Sabah was that what is left of the original rainforests and the areas that are now protected is amazing, pity the rest of the country is just covered in palm oil – but it may not be as bad as I originally thought, compared with Soya, if the signs are accurate.

People are generally lovely and very helpful and it was definitely worth visiting, just wish I had done so 40 years ago.

Kuala Lumpur visit to get Thai Visa – well that did not work, different rules to getting it in Aus so we did not have enough paperwork.  Damn will have to come back to the city again.

Next Stop Perhentian Islands

Short flight from Kota Kinabalu to Besut, then taxi to ferry. Ferry being tiny open boat.

Arrived at Big Island? Eventually found resort (sic). Room was about the size of garden shed with 2 fans to keep it cool (which it didn’t). Resort’s restaurant was closed like so many others due to Covid, but restaurant and bar next door where the food was pretty good and freshly cooked.

Went on snorkelling trip to 3 islands saw some very large bump head parrot fish, a ray and reef shark.

Coral wasn’t brilliant as so much has been killed by people walking on it with flippers, and too many boat anchors. In fact hotels and shops are now banned from hiring out flippers (although most do anyway). Still it was a great improvement on Mabul and Sipidan.

Next over to Small Island, better accommodation food a bit more expensive but really good Thai food. All great till 9.00pm local illegal bar decides to play really loud rap and other rubbish till 2.00am no sleep.

Had a quick snorkel around one side of beach few reef sharks and fish, not too exciting.

No hope of sleep again as bar starts loud music and locals screaming till early morning. Talked to Manager and he agreed to change rooms to a quieter spot, great stuff. Booked trip back out one of the Islands and a secret space but rain stopped play on both days. Had a snorkel under jetty and rocks beyond, lots of different fish and some coral which we weren’t expecting pretty good considering position and amount of people.

And great stuff couldn’t hear music that night yah.

Kuala Lumpur forced visit again for visa, not a lot doing for us.  We did visit the bird and butterfly parks which were very pleasant, but the traffic and noise….. 
Hired a car to get to a couple of National Parks, Fraser’s Hill and Bukit Tinggi.  On the way up to Fraser’s Hill (more very windy roads) we stopped at a waterfall.  Short stop – maybe not.  The car refused to start, or do anything, completely dead.  Funny, no phone signal either – or people anywhere.  Lucky Steve is a dab hand at sorting things out,  it was just loose battery terminal connections.
The road further up to Fraser is a one way system, used to be up alternate hours and down others but there is a new road now so up one, down the other anytime.  Very English place and really funny to watch the day trippers spend all day taking photos of pretending to phone from an old UK phone box. Great briding here though and some lovely old Colonial buildings.
Bukkit Tinggi, also great for birding – supposedly, except the road to the birding area was shut till 10.30 – not much use for birding.  Resorts here are all in a grand French theme, very odd place but an amusing last stop.

Off to Thailand.

Many more amazing bugs, insects, flowers etc in gallery pictures.

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