Borneo: the good, the bad and the ugly!

The subtitle here applies to many things: the trip itself, the birds (or lack of them!) and the mammals. I’ll explain…

First, I only saw 82 bird species in total, only 63 of which were lifers – and just 2 endemics. So, very bad if not decidedly ugly on this front (compared to other trips abroad). I’d stupidly gone for a general interest tour package with Rickshaw Travel – not the usual specialist birding tour. My fault, perhaps, but I was guaranteed by the company of loads of birds, and I assumed I’d run up a long list of them simply by gazing casually into the surrounding vegetation. Sadly, no. We did see a truly wild top-class primate in remote rainforest – my main objective – so this was definitely good, as well as some others, which were ugly in the extreme. (Presumably that’s where they got the idea of the Grinch from.) Other really good bits were the hornbills, sunbirds and the turtles – and some fabulous snorkelling, great food, stunning scenery and luxurious accommodation, whilst the insects and leeches were very bad - a real nuisance at times, along with the 95% humidity! These are my best 6 images from the trip, I think, and there are some more below which come a close second:

Swimming alongside the turtles and being amongst so many stunning fish species on the most amazing coral reef was perhaps a highlight of the trip, but the hornbills, kingfishers, the snake, the owl, those bizarre flying lemurs, the Crimson Sunbird, the Sabah Partridge and the Barred Rails were memorable, as well as the Leopard Cats. The main target primates, Orang-Utans, however, with a supporting cast of Proboscis Monkey and North Grey Gibbon, probably stole the show. If there’s a next time, I’ll go back better prepared and book with the right people at the right time (Jan-Feb?) to see the pittas – and a much longer list of other bird species!