Gomantong Hill is the largest limestone outcrop in the Lower Kinabatangan area, and contains at least nine caves. For centuries, the Gomantong Caves have been renowned for the valuable edible birds' nests made by two of the four species of swiftlets that roost in the caves. During the harvesting months, visitors may be able to witness the birds' nest collectors in action. This is an age-old tradition and the trade history of bird nest spans several hundreds of years. more...Birds’ Nests At Sabah’s Gomantong Caves
Gomantong Hill is the largest limestone outcrop in the Lower Kinabatangan area, and contains at least nine caves. For centuries, the Gomantong Caves have been renowned for the valuable edible birds' nests made by two of the four species of swiftlets that roost in the caves. During the harvesting months, visitors may be able to witness the birds' nest collectors in action. This is an age-old tradition and the trade history of bird nest spans several hundreds of years. more...
Jungle Trekking At Sabah’s Sepilok Forest
Conquering Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu
Covering 754 square kilometres, Kinabalu Park is one of the greatest attractions of Sabah, East Malaysia. Within its boundaries are found the lowland rainforest of the tropical zone as its lower level, the montane oaks and fig trees, the rhododendron shrubs and wild berries of the temperate zone at its medium level, and the conifers and other alpine-like associations of the summit zone at its upper level. Where else in the world can you find a complete climatic succession such as this, compacted in one small area? It is no wonder that a good number of its visitors are nature lovers eager to study, record and enjoy its richly varied natural resources. more...
Wildlife Viewing At Sabah’s Danum Valley
"Happiness is...curling up in a comfy deck chair on the balcony and relishing an aerial ballet performance by a troupe of graceful egrets. The virgin forest's lush, lofty trees serve as the backdrop, and the sounds of gurgling stream, chirping birds and hornbill calls make up nature's symphony orchestra..." more...
Night Safari At Sabah’s Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary
Those who have been on safari in the grasslands of Africa know about the "Big Five" must see animals such as the big cats and the elephant. Any trip to Sabah must include a similar safari tour to look for the animals of the rainforest. The best and most enjoyable way to see the wildlife is to go on a night samore...
Bird Watching At Sabah’s Tibow, Sapulut
Borneo’s Other Extraordinary Primate
Proboscis Monkeys have long fascinated the imagination of travellers. This is a monkey with a formidable snout and large belly and was playfully regarded by locals as being the "white man" of the forest. These monkeys are also special as they do not occur outside of the more...
Primate Paradise In Sabah’s Sukau River
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Bird Watching In Sabah’s Maliau Basin
From November 7th to 15th 2005, I had the opportunity to trek and bird watch in the Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA), Sabah, Malaysia. I was accompanied on the trip by Ian Hall, who is currently employed by Yayasan Sabah as an architect to identify and design ecologically-friendly visitor and research facilities within the conservation area.more...
Proboscis Monkey In Sabah’s Mangrove Forest
Monkeys of the Old World are divided into two groupings or subfamilies: cercopithecines - the familiar lively, generally brownish monkeys, which include baboons, macaques and vervets, and the colobines. Colobines are characterised by having enlarged and succulated stomachs, where the food is fermented by a vast array of bacteria in a manner similar to that of ruminant ungulates such as cows and goats (Bauchop, 1978).more...
Orangutans Survive In Forests Within Estates
Kota Kinabalu: New findings by the Borneo Conservation Trust (BCT) show that Orang Utans are surviving in pockets of forest within the oil palm plantations in Sabah and that it is possible for the Orang Utans to travel and live within the plantations.more...
Maliau Basin: Sabah’s Wildest Frontier
Maliau Basin is certainly a stunning area, with superb scenery, flora and fauna. It is unspoilt by tourism and remains a real wilderness. Unlike Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley, Maliau Basin caters to visitors who are prepared to rough it and do some tough trekking. Hopefully the basin will survive, as it needs protection from poachers and illegal loggers. Unfortunately the surrounding area is being heavily logged, and on the drive from the Security Gate back to Kalabakan we passed at least 50 logging trucks all heavily laden. This was quite a sad sight having just spent 5 days in the untouched "Lost World of Sabah".
Bird Watching At The Marine Park Near KK
Pulau Manukan is a 51-acre island found off the Sabah west coast near Kota Kinabalu. It is part of a group of five islands, all of which are part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park. One of the islands, Pulau Gaya, is also settled with a water village. Pulau Manukan is heavily used by day-trippers who come to watch corals in glass-bottomed boats or go snorkeling and swimming, and by tourists who can stay in wooden chalets. (It was noted that many visitors did not seem to take to heart the injunction "take nothing but photographs" apparently believing that dead corals and shells are not included in this prohibition.) more...
Centre To Help Sabah’s Sun-Bears
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Pygmy Elephants At Sabah’s Kinabatangan
Kinabatangan, Sabah (The Brunei Times): As the boat approached the riverbank I could see three grey boulders on top of the embankment. A large white egret flew by and distracted me, but out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the boulders moving.
Then it developed ears and a trunk and I realised I was looking at an elephant. My first sighting of wild elephants in Sabah!
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Hunting For Blooming Rafflesia In Sabah
One of the most accessible locations in Sabah to observe a developing bud or open flower of Rafflesia is near Ranau, in a small village called Kg. Kokob. The site is being conserved by a local resident of Kg. Kokob. Its a very laudable initiative as the Rafflesia, which was amazingly only discovered on their land in 1995, is entirely conserved within their 2 acres homestead.more...
Wildlife Safari On Sabah’s Kinabatangan
I have often been disappointed trekking through the jungles of Malaysia since the forest animals are so shy or cryptic; you often rarely get a chance to see any wildlife at all. Of course, you will often hear them or notice in the mud footprints that clearly belonged to a wild animal. On a recent trip to Sabah, this lazy naturalist was pleasantly surprised to discover that this is not always the case. The secret? Jungle safari by boat!more...
Dugongs: Sea Cows Of Sabah
The dugong circles me, propelling himself with powerful thrusts of his tail. He inspects me, interested yet wary of his fellow marine mammal, and confident in his swiftness and agility to escape should I pose any threat.
It is the young male dugong frequently seen in the bay at Mantanani Island. His solid body is scarred from skirmishes with other dugongs and I recognize him by the small nick in his tail fluke. So close, yet just out of arms reach, the dugong glides gracefully past and I can make out the whiskers on his jowls and the barnacles dotted over his skin. At last, he loses interest in me and resumes feeding, snuffling up the sea grass and leaving a trail of suspended sand in his wake.
Imbak Valley: Bird Watching In Borneo
I'm standing on a ridge where no other birder has stood, looking out over a valley of pristine, virgin, lowland dipterocarp rainforest that no birder has ever seen, and I'm on my own in paradise.
The sun is low over the distant western horizon, silhouetting huge trees that have never heard or suffered from the ripping buzz of a chainsaw. In the soft, orange light in the valley beneath me several hundred flying-foxes, the world's largest bat, flap slowly, gracefully and silently up from their roost down by the river. The light picks out the orange hue of their wings and heads. They circle a couple of times below me then split into squadrons and head out into the twilight in search of fruiting trees. I ponder why no raptor has evolved to take these slow flying, large (and fruit flavoured?) easy pickings from the evening sky.
More Development Around Kinabalu Park
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Information and Tourism Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, has urged the government to develop the areas around Kinabalu Park and Gunung Kinabalu.
"I call upon the government to allocate an urgent allocation of at least RM20 million to develop the area around Kinabalu Park, Gunung Kinabalu, Kundasang and Ranau as a leading global tourism zone," said Abdul Kadir in a Press conference held at Wisma Bernama here this morning.
Island Leopard Deemed New Species
Clouded leopards found on Sumatra and Borneo represent a new species, research by genetic scientists and the conservation group WWF indicates.
Until now it had been thought they belonged to the species that is found on mainland southeast Asia.
Rarest Elephants Protection Plans
Scientists helping protect the smallest and rarest elephants in the world are hoping to set up a fieldwork centre on the island of Borneo.
The Bornean elephant is only found in the northern part of the island and was recognised as a new subspecies in 2003.
Camera Spots Rare Clouded Leopard
Automatic cameras have captured images of a clouded leopard in Borneo's Sebangua National Park, an area where the cats have not been recorded before.
Researchers say confirmation of the leopards' presence highlights the need to protect the region's habitat.
Orangutan Ruse Misleads Predators
Wild orangutans in Borneo hold leaves to their mouths to make their voices sound deeper than they actually are, a new study shows.
The apes employ the leaf trick when they are threatened by predators, according to scientists observing them.
By holding leaves to their mouths, the orangutans lower the frequency of the sounds they produce.
New Bird Species Found In Borneo
A new species of bird has been spotted in the rainforests of Borneo.
Leeds University biologist Richard Webster first glimpsed the bird from a canopy walkway 35m above ground.
The spectacled flowerpecker, a small, wren-sized, grey bird, was feeding on some flowering mistletoe in a tree. On one sighting it was heard singing.
The bird has white markings around its eyes, belly and breast. It has not yet been given a scientific name because so little is known about it.
Orangutans Mine To Get Message Accross
An orangutan uses a palm to mime opening up a coconut, in the hope that her human companion will use his machete to do just that
Just like humans, orangutans will resort to mime to get their message across, scientists report.
A team from Canada found the great apes would sometimes use elaborate gestures to explain what they meant.
They mimed the action of being scratched to get an itch attended to, and enacted opening a termite nest to prompt a partner to do just that.
Smallest Frog In Asia Found In Borneo
Researchers on an expedition in Borneo have found a new and very tiny species of frog.
Male adults of the new species, namedMicrohyla nepenthicola, grow to approximately one centimetre in length.
The researchers first discovered the diminutive red and orange amphibian on an expedition to Kubah National Park in 2004.
Wild Sabah: Junaidi Payne
DR JUNAIDI PAYNE, a foremost authority on natural history and ecology of Sabah on Borneo Island, has voiced a word of warning that climate change may now start to bring massive changes to‘Wild Sabah’, title of his latest book.
Payne states, in the epilogue of the book that he calls ‘Final Thoughts’, that Sabah is facing the same threat “as elsewhere in the world”.
He feels this global climate change may have great consequences for marine ecosystems in the Sulu Sea off the eastern side of Sabah that forms the Coral Triangle region.
Orangutans At Ulu Segama Forest Reserve
THERE is a certain thrill attached to travels into the jungle. City folks like myself so accustomed with life in the comforts of modern Kota Kinabalu, going on a hunting expedition certainly conjures a special appeal and excitement.
Hey, don’t get me wrong, my travelling companions and I are not armed with riffles, double barrel shot guns, not even a bakakuk(homemade gun) or two, but with cameras!
Binturong, The Bear Cat Of Borneo
VISITING the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, some 25km from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah, on northern tip of Borneo, I had a face2face encounter with this rather friendly bear cat, better known as the Binturong (Arctictis binturong).
It is known by many names. Some call it the Malay Civet Cat, the Asian Bearcat, the Palawan Bearcat or just the bear cat. In actual fact, it is a species of civet.
Last Attempt To Save The Rhinos
THE Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) is making one last attempt to prevent the rapidly dwindling rhino population in this Malaysian state on Borneo Island from extinction. Dr Laurentius Nayan Ambu, director of the department, says the Sabah state government “is very seriously committed to save our endangered Bornean rhinoceros”.
Another Orangutan Sanctuary?
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Climbing Mount Trusmadi
Maybe it’s true what they say about being Number Two — nobody knows, let alone remembers you.
Everyone and his brother know Gunung Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia, and many, many people have climbed it. That’s how it is when you are Numero Uno. What about the second highest mountain in Malaysia?
Saving Sabah’s Carnivores
SANDAKAN: Four American zoos and several private donors from New York are jointly funding the Sabah Wildlife Department’s (SWD) efforts to understand better the conservation of a diverse variety of carnivores in the lower Kinabatangan floodplain.
The US zoos in Houston, Columbus, Cincinnati and Phoenix are supporting a programme called “Kinabatangan Carnivore Programme (KCP)”, which is being jointly researched and studied by SWD and its partners – Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), NGOs HUTAN and WildCRU.
Sabah Acts On Wildlife Corridors
KOTA KINABALU: Enough talk, says the Sabah Government, which wants a time frame for the establishment of urgently-needed corridors in forests divided by plantations.
State Tourism, Culture and Environ ment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the time for talking was over.
High-Rise Projects Near KK Wetlands Centre
KOTA KINABALU: Wetlands conservationists are concerned over high-rise development projects along the city’s Signal Hill which may upset plans to turn Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre (KKWC) into a Ramsar site.
Sabah Wetland Conservation Society president Zainal Abdul Aucusa said the proposed projects close to the city’s wetland conservation area would affect their bid for international recognition for the wetland that sits on the foothills of Signal Hills.
Sabah Monitors Logging
SANDAKAN: Sabah is embarking on an independent monitoring effort of its forest logging operations, said to be the single such exercise in the country, as part of a full implementation of sustainable forest management in the state.more...
Endangered Otter Resurfaces In Sabah
KOTA KINABALU: The hairy-nosed otter (Lutra sumatrana) – the world’s most endangered otter species – has been “rediscovered” in the Deramakot Forest Reserve in Sabah.
It was assumed to be “non-existent” in the state for the last 100 years.
The species was rediscovered via trap cameras in the forest, giving fresh hope in the conservation of critically endangered wildlife in the state.
