Louise and I recently returned from our first birding trip to Malaysia where
we had a fantastic time. I will not post a full trip report here since there
have been quite a few Malaysian reports in recent months but, if anyone
would like a full report when I have finished writing it, please let me
know.
Our itinerary was:
March 29-31 Kualar Selangor on the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia
March 31- April 4 Frasers Hill north of KL in the Highlands
April 5 Travel from KL to Kota Kinabalu, with about 3 hours birding
around KK in the afternoon
April 6 Day trip up to Mount Kinabalu Park
April 7 Travel to Lahad Datu and Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley
April 7 - 13 Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley and travel back to
KL on the 13th
April 14 Morning birding at FRIM in KL before flying home
In our 16 -17 days of birding, we recorded 266 species of which 176 were
life birds. We saw 165 species in Peninsula Malaysia and 148 species in
Borneo (there were species seen in both locations of course). Birding
highlights were many with maybe the best being marvellous close views of a
male Great Argus in the rainforest at Danum Valley before he just
'vaporised' from sight never to be seen again. The six species of Broadbills
that we saw were all unbelievably stunning birds, particularly as we hadn't
seen one before. Three pitta species were all lovely particularly a Garnet
Pitta which just sat quietly on a log and called for us. Six species of
hornbill at Danum was another great highlight. Other than birds, to see 11
species of primate on the trip, including two orang-utans at Danum Valley,
was a real buzz.
Our impression of each location for those contemplating a trip to Malaysia
was as follows:
Kuala Selangor Very hot and humid but very productive and 'easy'
birding. Good place to start a trip.
Frasers Hill We loved the place. Beaut climate, terrific birding and just
a lovely place to be.
Kota Kinabalu Not an interesting birding location but worth half a
day's exploration. We saw the biggest grassbird we have ever
seen there (Striated at 26cm !!)
Mount Kinabalu Park Very dour birding but a lovely spot. We saw only 18
new species there in long day.
Borneo Rainforest Lodge Fantastic spot although pretty expensive. The
birding was spectacular although it slowed down a lot once the heat got up
at 10.30 to 11.00 o'clock. One big snag there to be wary of is that they
have increased the amount of accommodation to cater for up to 70 people but
are losing guides to other eco-tourism places in Sabah. When we got there,
there were 5 guides and about 60 guests (and we were the only birders). You
are not allowed onto the trails without a guide so we were put with a group
of non-birders for the first day, which just doesn't work. When I spoke to
the manager about our problem, he offered us his best guide on an exclusive
basis for an extra 150RM (A$75) per day. We took the offer but felt a bit
ripped-off - and the other guests only had 4 guides between the lot of them!
Having said all of that, we wouldn't have missed Danum for anything (and the
guide was terrific).
FRIM Probably not a place to go at the end of such an intersteing trip,
but a pleasant place to spend a morning, and we got two new trip birds
there.
We rented cars in Peninsula Malaysia and Kota Kinabalu. Although a bit
expensive by Aussie standards, it provided us with good flexibility and
Malaysian driving conditions, direction signs, etc were generally pretty
good.
Cheers
Roger McGovern
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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