Our final few days of our mammoth trip were spent at the easily accessible and walkable Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre, staying at the rather luxurious Sepilok Jungle Resort, treating ourselves for a change after 5-weeks on the 'road'. All of the below photos are by Emily.
20th December
We departed Osman's early morning, with Romzi boating us back to our vehicle where we headed directly for the Caves, but this time concentrating only on the final 500m of forest to the cave car park. Upon stepping out the car, we immediately heard a Western Hooded Pitta, and a short time later we were watching it, whilst another called nearby which Em also saw. Along this bit of forest, now in the rain, we also saw Red-bearded Bee-eater, Ventriloquial Oriole, Blyth's Paradise Kingfisher, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Grey-hooded Babbler, Sooty-capped Babbler, Thick-billed Spiderhunter, but best of all, a briefly perched Blyth's Hawk-eagle! As we returned slowly along the road, a brief stop turned into a prolonged one as a Black-crowned Pitta was heard close to the road, but try as we might, it remained invisible.
It was then a quick and easy two-hour journey to Sepilok where we had time for a quick jaunt around the local secondary forest which attaches itself to the main expanse of forest. We found a few things here, including our first and only Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo, Red-throated Sunbird and Yellow-eared Spiderhunter of the trip, but then a presumed 'rehabilitated' Bornean Orangutan appeared and showed nicely, but never too close. A further wander produced large groups of Black Hornbills before we called it a day.
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| Black-and-red Broadbill |
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| Blyth's Hawk Eagle |
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| Blyth's Paradise Kingfisher |
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| Red-bearded Bee-eater |
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| Western Hooded Pitta |
21st December
We awoke early and entered the Rainforest Discovery Centre in the dark, showing a guard our pre-purchased day tickets. We headed straight for the Hornbill tower and ascended the tower just as it got light, but the rain was pouring so it was nice to shelter and listen to the half-hearted dawn chorus. Once the rain had eased, over the next few hours we saw Asian Brown Flycatcher, Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Raffle's Malkoha, Lesser Green Leafbird, Green Iora, Changeable Hawk-eagle, White-bellied Woodpecker, Fiery Minivet, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird and Rhinoceros Hornbill.
The sun finally emerged so we walked one of the trails which took a good few hours, the best find probably being a Lesser Mouse Deer, but birds comprised, once in good habitat, a Black-crowned Pitta and Black-naped Monarch, but it was generally quiet during the heat of the late morning.
We headed back to base for a short time before returning for an afternoon vigil on one of the towers to try again for a Bornean Bristlehead, but only finding some of the usual species from this morning plus a Plain Sunbird and a Lesser Cuckooshrike. We also enjoyed a superb showing of some Black-and-yellow Broadbill, a quite incredible looking bird!
As the light decreased we made our way back to the reception area and waited for our group and guide to arrive for a two hour night walk, which turned out to be brilliant. We initially waited on the canopy walkway to observe the unveiling of a Red Giant Fly Squirrel, with two swopping across the night sky as they emerged from their daytime roost site. We then went in a hopeful hot pursuit of a Western Tarsier, but sightings being relatively infrequent we weren't holding out too much hope. Still, along our walk we came across many highlights, thanks to our two quality guides. Two Bornean Slow Loris showed for a prolonged period, and a roosting Rufous-collared and Rufous-backed Dwarf Kingfisher were found, some excellent scorpions, then right at the last knockings, a guide somehow spotted a Western Tarsier, which had promptly vanished. Rather incredibly, he re-found it and we ploughed into the bush (with me getting stung by something nasty) and watched this tiny mammal clinging onto a branch. It stayed for a good few minutes before hopping off, but what an incredible view and a fitting finale to our final evening away!
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| Asian Red-eyed Bulbul |
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| Crimson-winged Woodpecker |
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| Raffle's Malkoha |
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| Black-and-yellow Broadbill |
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| Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot |
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| Changeable Hawk-eagle |
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| Dragonfly sp. |
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| Lantern Bug sp. |
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Bornean Slow Loris (supporting a
Wryneck-patterned neck and mantle) |
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| Western Tarsier |
22nd December
Our flight back to Kota Kinabalu was just after midday which meant we would have another couple of hours back on one of the towers for a last chance saloon at a bristlehead. It sadly wasn't to be, but our walk to the tower and for most of the morning was being serenaded by a Bornean Gibbon. We did luck into one final new bird though, as a Long-billed Spiderhunter flew in for a brief spell. However, it was much of the same as yesterday in terms of species, not a bad thing though as it contained some good lookers, with a much better view of a Little Green Pigeon.
It was then time to call it a day, we packed and made our way to the airport, dropped off the car with no issue and flew back to Kota Kinabalu, onwards to Kuala Lumpur and back to Heathrow, arriving early morning on the 23rd.
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| Bornean Gibbon |
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| view from the tower and walkway |
