Day 1: Arrival in Kota Kinabalu (Borneo)

After arrival in Sabah’s capital, the sleepy city of Kota Kinabalu, you will be transferred to a local hotel for the night. The tour starts with a welcome dinner on this night.

 

Day 2: Kota Kinabalu to Mount Kinabalu

The first destination of the tour will be the distinctively shaped Mount Kinabalu, which can even dominate the skyline of the capital on clear days. Endemic birds dominate, as we walk the misty mountain trails. We hope to encounter some of the many very cool birds that are endemic to the Bornean highlands such as the White-head’s ha-trick: trogon, broadbill and spiderhunter, and some of the many other great birds that are present here. This night will be spent close to the park entrance.

 

Days 3-4: Mount Kinabalu

These days will be spent on this scenic mountain. Early mornings around the start of the Summit Trail in particular, can be good for large, photogenic birds like treepies, whistling-thrushes and drongos as they feed on insects attracted to the lights during the night. Thereafter we will hit some of the more challenging trails, walking and birding and hoping for some cooperative trogons, wren-babblers, flowerpeckers, or sunbirds. In the afternoon of day 4 we will travel back to Kota Kinabalu for a night, in readiness for our domestic flight out the next morning.

 

Day 5: Kota Kinabalu to Borneo Rainforest Lodge (Danum Valley)

On this day we’ll take a flight south in order to visit the Danum Valley Conservation Area, where we will stay 3 nights in one of the best lodges in all of Asia, the famous Borneo Rainforest Lodge, perched on the edge of the Danum River, and surrounded by tall, pristine primary rainforest. We will be hoping that some of the large fig trees are bearing fruit at this time, as they can attract some of Borneo’s most famous residents, notably the Red Ape, or Orangutan, as well as an array of fruit-eating birds, such as the dramatic Rhinoceros Hornbill. Three nights will be spent within this fantastic lodge, giving us plenty of time to shoot a variety of subjects in this large conservation area.

 

Days 6-7: Borneo Rainforest Lodge

Early mornings right around the lodge can be good to take in the resident group of Bornean Crested Firebacks (a stunning pheasant), as they patrol the grounds at this time. At night there will be options to take nightwalks and put your macro to use, as a myriad of rainforest bugs and frogs, such as Wallace’s Flying-Frog, can be found by prowling the jungle with our experienced naturalist guide. There will also be opportunities to take part in one of the famous night drives out of the lodge for larger subjects, such as Thomas’s and Red Giant Flying Squirrels, “Flying Lemur” (Malayan Colugo), or Bearded Pig. During the daytime, your local guide will also use playback to attract in some of the flashier rainforest birds like Black-and-yellow and Black-and-red Broadbills, trogons, or one of the attractive blue-and-red flycatchers that occur in the area, to name but a few. These two nights will again be spent at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge.

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Day 8: Danum to Sepilok

From Danum we will travel north, by road, to Sepilok, a tourist center, with great lodges which serve the main tourist attraction nearby, the famous Orangutan rehabilitation center. However, our focus will be the ground-breaking Rainforest Discovery Centre, which comes with wide open trails for easy access to the rainforest for seeing canopy birds and for photography; and a world-class canopy walkway. The latter is the centerpiece of this reserve, which allows eye level views of birds such as hornbills, trogons, kingfishers, woodpeckers, and broadbills. The quality construction of the walkway means that there is plenty of space for enjoying the canopy birds. We will be hoping for some fruiting trees to be present in the area, as these can attract a procession of frugivorous birds, as well as animals like squirrels. The night will be spent in Sepilok, just a few minutes drive from the Rainforest Discovery Centre.

 

Day 9: Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre

A full day will be spent at the centre so that we have plenty of time to explore the many easy trails, and the canopy walkway, which is the reserve’s most heralded facility. The walls of the restaurant on site are decorated with many fantastic images taken right within the reserve, and illustrates the enormous potential of the place. Another night will be spent in Sepilok.

 

Day 10: Sepilok to Sukau (Kinabatangan River)

The finale to the tour is perhaps the best part of all; a visit to the primate and bird-rich Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. The Kinabantangan River is flanked by lowland rainforest, interspersed with ox-bow lakes, mangroves and swamps, and is home to some of the most desirable photo subjects of the tour: Orangutan, Proboscis Monkeys,and Crab-eating and Pig-tailed Macaques, as well as all 8 species of Bornean hornbills. This is also the best area on the island for the amazing and rare Bornean Pygmy-Elephant. We will be staying at a high-end lodge, right on the banks of this enormous river. The choice of lodge has been made not only for the comfort of the lodge, which has won a number of eco-tourism awards, but also for the transport available. We will be mostly traveling around by motorized canoe to traverse the various waterways in the sanctuary. The canoes crucially though, come equipped with smaller electronic motors to allow a quiet approach when needed, vital when on a photography tour to get those incredible, intimate close-ups of subjects such as Proboscis Monkey families, a Blue-eared Kingfisher fishing along the river bank, or a fish-eagle standing sentry above. At night, there will also be the option to take a night cruise to search for roosting birds such as Stork-billed Kingfishers, and photograph the local Buffy Fish-Owls, which are surprisingly abundant and approachable near the lodge. We will travel into the lodge by speedboat.

 

Days 11-12: Sukau and Gomantong Caves (Kinabatangan River)

Two full days will be spent coasting the waterways of within the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, tracking down both the many avian, and mammalian, targets in the area. There will be options to go out at night too for further night cruises (there may be an extra fee for this). On one afternoon we shall visit the Gomantong Caves, home to millions of bats, and thousands of nesting swiftlets, which use echolocation, like bats, in order to navigate within the dark recesses of the caves. We will wait until dusk on this day to ensure we take in the awesome sight of the emerging “funnel” of bats, which often fall prey in these photogenic moments to a handful of waiting Bat Hawks.

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PLEASE NOTE: Gomantong Caves and the entrance road to it have been closed since 2020. Therefore, it may not be possible to visit that site, while they are carrying out boardwalk repairs. Gomantong is due to open again in 2024.

 

Day 13: Sukau to Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu

Although we will have come in to the Kinabatangan by boat, for the exit from there we shall drive out, passing again by Gomantong Caves, which shall give us another chance for a final session there, so that we can try to connect with the various hornbills, barbets, broadbills, and other birds, as well as animals such as Red Leaf-Monkey and Pig-tailed Macaque. Thereafter we shall pack up and drive to the city of Sandakan, to connect with a short domestic flight west across Borneo back to Kota Kinabalu on the west coast, where you can then connect with international flights out.