Borneo Kinabatangan River

This is the second of three posts summarising 3 weeks in Borneo; the lack of internet (and sometimes GPS) of some of the locations we were at prevented logging any Birda sessions live so this is put together from handwritten notes and memory. We visited three main areas in our time: Danum Valley, Kinabatangan and Gaya Island. The Kinabatangan river used to be a massive area of lowland rainforest and wetlands, extending out to an impressive and rich delta. Sadly, today, much of the forest has been felled and the fertile soil been claimed for massive, homogenous expanses of palm oil plantations. While this sight is deeply depressing, the region is still rich in wildlife, home to pygmy elephants (which we sadly didn’t see), proboscis monkeys (which we did), huge saltwater crocodiles and many birds. Unfortunately our time here had to be cut short as the state electricity company was doing improvements in the area which meant cutting off the electricity during the day and navigating the 39 degree heat and 90% humidity without any AC proved, unsurprisingly, to be not much fun. However, the relatively short list of birds seen here contains some pretty impressive entries, not least a surprise Storm’s Stork which is globally endangered and has one of its last hold-outs in this fragile corner of Borneo. We saw our only Black Hornbills here as well as our only Rhinoceros Hornbills - a pair who passed briefly through camp just minutes after we checked in. This serendipitous encounter was only my second ever experience of these magnificently strange birds and we had the chance to really appreciate them calling out in the open before they moved on. Brown Barbet and the ridiculously vibrant Temminck’s Sunbird were both seen briefly *by the roadside* and both Blue-eared and Stork-billed kingfisher were regulars on the river and I never tired of seeing either. We also had great views of White-bellied Sea Eagle and Brahminy Kite along the river, as well as the scarcer Crested Goshawk and Jerdon’s Baza. A constant background to all of this was an inexhaustible whirling of various swift species. Anyone who has been to SE Asia knows how frustrating it is to try and tell some of these birds apart and there were many times I simply didn’t and couldn’t bother but occasionally a close fly-by revealed a bird to be Glossy rather than Black-nest Swiftlet - moments that were very gratefully received as they represented a saving of hours of neck-straining observation. While we didn’t see the much hoped-for pygmy elephants, we did get to see some baby proboscis monkeys wrestling in the trees and down below a close-up view of a monitor lizard fight so Kinabatangan certainly wasn’t without its memorable wildlife encounters and I’d recommend anyone who has the chance to visit the area before it gets too drastically diminished.