I've just returned from a trip to Sabah, North-east Borneo from April 15 to
April 28.
The actual report is too long to fit within birding-aus's word limit so if
anyone wants the full report,let me know and I'll send it to you as a text
file attachment.
Some comments first. If I were going again, I would go a month earlier.
Although there would be more rain in March, by mid-April, the Pittas and
things like Wren-Babblers were very unresponsive. But the guides said that
there had been very vocal a month earlier. Mt Kinabalu was good and the
Borneo Rainforest Lodge was terrific. Ask for the guide named Wangkong at
the BRL. Poring Hot Springs was disappointing, and I think not worth the
visit. They close the canopy walk for repairs every April, at the height
of the tourist season, and lock the gates on the tracks leading to the
walk. So you are left with the one 4 km walk to the Lagunan Waterfall. I
did this at 6 am but did not see a single bird. Above all, do not be
misled by the glowing report in Bransbury's "A Birdwatcher's Guide to
Malaysia. I do not want to reflect on Uncle Tan himself, who is a great
human being, but the camp is a shambles.
The minibus dropped us off a kilometre short of the river, and having
lugged out cases through the rain, we found no boatman. We waited for an
hour and a half in a cattle-shed before he turned up. We were offered no
help in getting our bags onto the boat through deep mud. There was no dock
of any kind. It poured as we went down the river. There were no covers of
any kind either for the passangers or our baggage. The camp itself was a
morass of mud. The only activity is a boat trip from 6 to 8. Then the
boat goes upriver and does not return until about 5 pm. There are no trails
from the camp, contrary to Brandsbury's map. The staff are completely
unhelpful, and apart from serving meals, lie around singing all day and
half the night. It did not help that the huge downpour had raised water
levels half a meter and covered all the mudbanks, with the result that I
did not see Storm's Stork there. Luckily I had one fly over at Sepilok.
The worst point came on Friday night, when the camp leader announced that
the boat had not brought any paraffin (so we were down from two pressure
maps to one), no breakfast, and that he did not have enough fuel to get
back to the highway, so that the next morning's boat trip was cancelled. I
bailed out at that point, and we got to the highway only by dint of
borrowing petrol from a logging barge. If you want river trips and Storm's
Stork, go to the Sukau River Camp. It's more expensive, but it does have a
40 minute trail, and more than one boat!
>
John Penhallurick
Associate Professor John M. Penhallurick<>
Canberra, Australia
Phone BH( 61 2) 6201 2346 AH (61 2) 62585428
FAX (61 2) 6258 0426
Snail Mail Division of Communication and Education,
University of Canberra,A.C.T.2601, AUSTRALIA
OR (Private) PO Box 3469, BMDC, BELCONNEN, ACT 2617, AUSTRALIA
"I'd rather be birding!"
"Vivat,crescat,floreat Ornithologia" Hartert,Vog.pal.Fauna,p.2016.
"The market where possible,the state where necessary"(Margaret Thatcher)
"Sunt lacrimae rerum." Virgil, Aeneid,i,462.
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