Category Archives: Forest

River cruise on Kinabatangan

Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp – Part 1 of 8

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Where is the BEST place to spot Borneo wildlife? I would say it is the Lower Kinabatangan area, Sabah’s “Gift to the Earth”. Kinabatangan River, with a length of 560KM, is the longest river of Sabah and also the home of many wildlife such as Borneo pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, orang utans, hornbills and probably thousands of flora and fauna yet to be named. It is a paradise for nature lovers.


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Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp, situated in Lower Kinabatangan Flood Plains, provides budget and basic accommodation for those (especially backpackers) who love to experience the wilderness of Borneo. Officially, the Camp area is called “Danau Girang”, which means “Happy Lake” in local language. Many just call it Uncle Tan’s place. To get there, check out Uncle’s Tan web site for more info. In early Sep, I joined this 3-day-2-night trip with a group of press and environmental NGOs. We took a bus to Sandakan and stopped at Kampung Batu Putih, where we took a 1-hour boat ride to Uncle Tan’s Wildlife Camp.


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The cruise to the camp is in itself a afternoon river safari. We were impressed by number of long-nosed Proboscis monkeys, hornbills and birds that we spotted along the river. According to a birdwatcher on the same boat, some of the birds we saw are rare species. Hundreds of macaque monkeys were found gathering along the river bank, hmmm… having a picnic?


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Proboscis monkeys are so common here. They are very shy and timid. When our boat came nearer, they would run away or hide behind leaves and branches. The guide told us that Proboscis monkey cannot eat banana coz their digestion system is different. We also discovered a few young crocodiles resting on the muddy river bank.


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The weather was good, and we arrived the jetty of Uncle Tan’s place at 5:10 PM. Once landed, we were led by their friendly staffs for a 10-minute walk on the jungle trail to the camp. Later what we saw in front of us was not chalets or lodges, but some wooden raised huts. I think they really mean it when they say they only provide very basic accommodation.


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Our “bedroom” has no window, no door, no fan. Haha… It looks more like a big chicken cage to me. What we got is a light mattress and mosquito net. Power supply is only available from 6PM to 12AM, mainly for lighting. It was warm and humid in the afternoon, but quite cooling at night. The first night I really couldn’t sleep well, as I heard all sort of noise such as animal’s cry, stuff crawling on the roof, something scratching the wall… But all my roomates slept soundly…


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Later there are more fun surprises awaiting me. You will hear more in my next blog. Since there are quite a lot of experience to be shared, I divide the blog into 9 parts. But all the photos are posted first. To speed up page loading, all the photos in my blog are in low quality, to see the high quality photos, please check out the photo gallery.

Photos taken in Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Jungle Trekking in Kinabalu Park, Part 2 of 2

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Kinabalu Park is a heaven to nature and wildlife photographers. Every hour you would have new discovery or unexpected finding. Like a treasure hunt, it brings you excitement and satisfaction. I took hundreds of photos in 3 days, but they are not even enough to represent 0.0000001% of what we could find in Kinabalu Park. I categorise these 8 pages of photo album into 5 groups as below, and hope that you will enjoy watching them as I do. The pictures below are in low quality. You can check out the photo album for bigger and better photos.

1. Bug and Insect (Page 1, 2)

The creepy, the weird, the slimy, the unknown… bug are all in these 2 pages. Most of them is active at night.

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The leech from Bukit Ular trail is only 0.5 inch (1 CM) long. After I removed it from my shoe, it just “stood” upright still on the ground, pointing to sky for minutes, like it was praying to God. Poor leech, in this cold day, I really hoped I could give him a few drops of blood and a warm jacket to put on. BTW, Kinabalu Park is also the best place to find big beetles.

2. Flower and Plant (Page 3, 4)

Various flower, fruits, and plant in Kinabalu Park. Most were taken in the jungle trails.

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Those plants live well in low-light condition under canopy. Some of them may carry secret ingredient that can cure the deadly diseases. They are such a potential precious asset that our government is very strict in controlling the export. I can’t identify most of the plant. Probably those who know can tell me what they are.

3. Snakes, Mushroom and Fungus (Page 5)

Day-shift rangers will tell you that it is rare to see snake, while night-shift rangers will tell you they see snakes every day. Most snakes show up at night. I consider I am quite lucky coz I see 4 snakes in Kinabalu Park. The green viper is only 1 foot long, but it is highly venomous. I saw them twice. The first time was in the grass next to the main road, near the hostel in the evening. When I took photos, those busybodies gathered around me and scared away the snake… The 3-feet brown snake below was found in Liwagu trail. It was hidding under the grass. I tried to use my walking stick to move it gently to open space for photography, but it escaped.

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One day later, seeing me busy searching around for snake at night, a ranger took out a mineral water bottle, which contains a small green viper inside, and asked me if I was interested in taking its photo (heck, wonder why he was carrying such a deadly snake around in his bag). The snake refused to go out. We used our torch light to light up the bottle, to make it moved to the opening (darker). It has a heat sensor near its nose and will not hesitate to strike if it senses any threat. Luckily, I managed to take a few photos.


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The last snake I saw was near Balsam Cafe. This yellow snake saw me and crawled inside a burrow. Damn my stupid and slow camera that needs more than 3 seconds to focus in the dark, so I couldn’t get a good shot. It has a very small head and a few yellow stripes on its body.

4. Moth (Page 6)

Moths are everywhere, especially at night, and it has become an interesting “feature” of Kinabalu Park. They come with different size, shape, pattern and colours. For those scientists who look for many moth specimens and species, all they need to do is to sit under the street lamp at night and see hundreds of moth come to them.

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Pop Quiz: How do you differentiate a moth and a butterfly?
They both look alike. While roosted, the moth will open its wing, but butterfly will close its wing. I can easily get photos of hundred types of moth, but I picked only 24 good-looking or odd-looking moths for sharing here.

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5. River and Nature Trails (Page 7, 8)

These are the photos of jungle trails, trees, and river. Please refer to my previous blog (Kinabalu Park, Part 1 of 2) for detail description.

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Photos taken in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Jungle Trekking in Kinabalu Park, Part 1 of 2

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Kinabalu Park is the BEST tourism spot of Sabah, for overseas tourists and even the locals. Over 90% of people having a vacation there do mainly 2 things: (1) Relax and enjoy the cooling fresh air, and (2) Prepare to climb Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South-East Asia. To me, it is such a waste not to explore its nature trails, where you can see unique vegetation and animals in this park, something that made Kinabalu Park qualified to be a World Heritage Site. Do a search on the Net, you will find tons of good photos and write-up, saying how great it is to climb Mount Kinabalu. But there is very little information about the jungle trekking in Kinabalu Park. In fact, in my 3 days of jungle trekking (for 20 KM) in Kinabalu Park, I only saw 4 tourists on the trails. Just to let you know how unpopluar this activity is.

Below is a map that shows you the location of the nature trails in Kinabalu Park. I got a black & white copy of this map from Kinabalu Park, then I used Photoshop to create a colourful version for better illustration here. Now you know that Kinabalu Park is really big, don’t you? FYI, Timpohon Gate is the entrance to the trail to Mount Kinabalu.


Click Here to see Bigger Map >>

The trails that I have explored were: (1) Liwagu Trail, (2) Silau-Silau Trail, (3) Bukit Tupai (Squirrel Hill) Trail, (4) Bukit Burung (Bird Hill) Trail, (5) Bukit Ular (Snake Hill) Trail, and (6) Bundu Tuhan View Trail. I haven’t walked the Kiau View Trail, Pandanus Trail, and Mempening Trail. Maybe next time then.

1. Liwagu Trail (5.5 KM)

I would say this is the BEST trail. It is nearly 6 KM long (take 3-4 hours one way) and is located next to Liwagu River. Nice river view along the way and no leech (surprise!). Hundred-feet old trees are just a common scene. I saw pitcher plant, orchid, fern, birds, bug, wild fruits… and even snake. You will see thick layer of algae and moss on the trees.

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Since Liwagu trail is just next to the river, at certain points you can even walk to river for a cool break. There are some small 1-2 inches fishes in the river. I think most of them are sucker fishes, mainly in black and brown colours. If you are lucky, you would spot bigger animals drinking water near river bank.

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But I made a big mistake. I started walking from my hostel (5,000 feet) to Timpohon Gate (6,000 feet), which is the ending point of Liwagu Trail. So what happened was – I ended up spending most of my time to walk on upward slope, to reach 1,000 feet higher point. Very tiring… I guess this trail is meant to be the route for climbers to walk back to the Park.

2. Silau-Silau (3 KM), Bukit Tupai (300 M) and Bukit Burung (1 KM) Trails

These 3 trails are interconnected, so I explore them in one go (take 2.5 hours). It is a bit dark coz most of trail is inside the forest. You will see lot of fungus and mushroom grow on the fallen trees. FYI, this area is the best bird watching spot for montane birds endemic to Borneo (e.g. Whitehead’s Trogon). They are important in ecology system because they decompose the decay wood to “recycle” the nutrients.

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Shortly it rained and the forest turned a bit misty. I smelled the presence of millipede (stink!) a few times, but too bad I couldn’t find them. At the bottom of every big tree, you would see holes between the big roots and ground. According to their staffs, this little “chamber” will become very busy at night.

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3. Bukit Ular (Snake Hill) Trail (1 KM)

This trail starts next to the Power Station. I heard this area will have a lot of snakes at night, and this month is their session to come out “socialising”. Well, too bad I didn’t see any snake. But there were leeches. If you stop for a few seconds, they will crawl on your shoe. After I exit the trail, I went back to my hostel through the main road (Power Station Road), and I saw 2 Chinese graves next to the road. They have Park Rangers patrol here at night, and they say they can easily spot 7 or 8 snakes along this main road to Timpohon Gate.


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4. Bundu Tuhan View Trail (343 M)

This is the shortest trail and takes you less than an hour to reach the shelter on top of a hill. The place is an opening view to see a village (Bundu Tuhan?) far away. Great spot for landscape photography. The bamboo orchids near the shelter attract some insects such as butterflies, beetles and dragonflies around.

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Overall, all nature trails are well-maintained and safe to walk. If you follow the open cleared path of 1 Meter wide, it is impossible to get lost. For every 100 or 500 Metres, you would see a milestone sign. It is good to have a trail map, so you know where you are heading. Certain spots are a bit steep, so a walking stick can help a lot (Get your own or rent it from reception office for a few dollars). I am sure I will come back again to try Kiau View trails, Pandanus Trail, and Mempening Trail, hopefully having a night walk as well, to see more interesting and rare animals such as horned frog and ghost spider.


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Photos taken in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Kawang Forest

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I like to explore places that few people know. One of them is Kawang Forest Reserve, which is about 23 KM away from Kota Kinabalu city, somewhere between Papar and KK. It is quite easy to get there. See the picture and description below:


1. If you drive from Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) to Lok Kawi, you will reach a traffic light, one is turn right to go to Kinarut town, another is going straight to Papar (old road to Papar). Go Straight.
2. Within a minute, you will see a junction, one to Penampang (left), one to Papar (right). Turn right to go to Papar.
3. After 5 minutes of driving, you will passby a bridge above “Sungai Kawang” (river name). A few hundreds metres later, you will see the Kawang forest signboard at your left side. Turn in and follow a cement road for another 3 minutes.


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Once you arrive, you will see a building, which is a Information Centre, with bit of exhibition and information about this forest reserve. Behind is a garden that has huts, man-made ponds, stream, toilets and chalets. It was so quiet coz I was the only visitor. I doubt if they have more than 100 visitor a year (judge from the surprise expression “how you find this place?” of their workers there). Based on the description of the workers there, they have camping area and 2 chalets (room with 4 beds) for you to overnight, cost about RM70 per small group per day. The entrance is free.


Before I went into the Kawang Forest, I walked around in their garden. I saw about 10 dragonflies, on the rocks at the stream. Their wings have reflective and metallic pattern, so beautiful! You can click the picture above to see it closer.


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The Tanaki Waterfall and Bat Cave are the highlight of their park. Unfortunately, the trail to the cave was covered with grass and not clearly marked, so they didn’t want me to explore. The trail to Tanaki Waterfall is less than 1 KM and easy to spot coz you will see a few big and long water pipes along the trail. Along the trail in this lowland forest, I also saw some bugs, lizards, birds and other animals. Now is dry season, so no irritating leeches lurking around. If I stay long enough, I am sure I will get a lot of photos.


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It took me about 30 minutes to reach Tanaki Waterfall. My spirit turned high and took some pictures of this 2-storey high waterfall. Too bad we are not allowed to swim there, coz they use the pipes to send the upstream water, with gravity energy, down to Tanaki and Kawang Villages for daily use. In short, it must be kept clean. You can Click Here to watch the video clip of the Tanaki Waterfall.

I also got two more video clips. The first one (left below) was – I heard a very NOISY bird, so I went and checked it out. Guest what I found? The second video (right below) was a “Energizer” bug that is commonly found on the stream in Kawang Forest. They swim so FAST! When I caught them and put them on the floor, they did one thing that impressed me further.

Photos taken in Kawang Forest, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang), Kota Kinabalu

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Tun Fuad Stephens Park (Bukit Padang) is closed for two years (10 Dec 2022 to 18 Sep 2024) for an upgrade to Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Garden.

Facts Sheet of Tun Fuad Stephens Botanical Garden project by Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK)

Summary of the Upgrade Project:

  • The lake will be maintained and added with other facilities such as floating platforms, tracks around the lake, lighting
  • New gardens such as Ginger Garden, Orchid and Nepenthes Conservatory, Nadir Park, Herb Garden, Bamboo Corner and Botany Playpark.
  • Forest restoration by planting local trees
  • Upgrading and increasing the amount of parking, build an e-hailing vehicle stop
  • Upgrade of the main gate (main entry board, guard house, plaza and kiosk)
  • Other New Facilities / Upgrades: overwater platform, administrative, research and maintenance offices, nursery building, public toilet, existing jogging track, lights, stairs, park chairs, CCTV

Tun Fuad is the most popular jogging site in Kota Kinabalu city. During weekend and Sunday, there are so many joggers that very likely you would see your friend or familiar faces. Personally, I think Tun Fuad is far more better than Likas Sport Complex. If compared, the jogging trail of Likas Sport Complex is about 0.6 KM (correct me if I am wrong) and the path is flat. The jogging path at Tun Fuad is nearly 1 KM, with many up and down trails. And Tun Fuad has more nice-figured liang moi (pretty girls), heheh… Ok, seriously, below are the features that make me like it.


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Feature 1. Superb KK City View

Besides the jogging trail, there are some hiking trails that lead you to the top of the hill. Normally, it took me about half an hour to walk up there. The last part is the “tyre” trail (should be renamed as “tired trail”) that I fear the most, extremely tiring… But soon you will forget all the pain, when you are washed by the windy fresh air and see the view of KK city under you. You can see most of the KK landmark building from here.


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Feature 2. Jogging + Hiking

BTW, if you would like to experience how it feels to climb Mount Kinabalu, just walk up and down the hill non-stop for 6 hours. This place was once my training ground before the summit trip. Jogging is a monotonous and boring exercise to me, so a 2-in-1 activity (jogging + hiking) works well for me. Tun Fuad Park is surrounded by forest, so the air is fresher and you can spot small wild animals and insects on the way. At the end, I think jogging + hiking is not enough, so I bring my camera along for photo-shooting.

Tun Fuad Park gets more fern plant and spiders than any other places in KK. There are so many types of spiders, so I am not surprised if you find a new species there. Most of them are very small. Next time I will try to get a macro len for photographing smaller insects. See the “jade” spider below? It is like a jewellery. You can give it to your grandma as a birthday present, if you have no money to buy precious stone. Here you also can find one of the biggest ant in the world (see picture below). In the evening, these forest ants are everywhere on the forest floor of Tun Fuad park. Be careful while exploring area outside the trail, wasps are common, and they love to build nest under the leaf. Sometimes you can see snake but it is not common.


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Feature 3. Magnificent Sunset View

Tanjung Aru Beach is NOT the best spot to view sunset. To truly appreciate the beauty of sunset, the hill top of Tun Fuad Park won’t disappoint you, but you need some luck. I shoot the “Sea of Cloud” photo below in a cloudy day. Haha… in case you wonder how the photo was taken, just turn the picture below upside down, or look at the original photo here. Both look equally good. You can see more Tun Fuad sunset photos here.


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The road will be very dark after the sunset. Do bring a torch light with you, if you plan to stay longer on the hill.

Photos taken in Tun Fuad Stephens Park of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Proboscis Monkeys, Klias Wetlands

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The long-nosed Proboscis Monkey (nickname: Dutch Man) is one of the superstars of Sabah wildlife. This funny-looking creature only can be found in the mangrove and lowland forest of Borneo. The two most famous sites to spot them are at Klias and Sukau.

Since I live in west coast, Klias, located 110 KM south of Kota Kinabalu city, is more accessible for me. To get there by car, it will take about 2 hours and the road condition is good. I overnight in Borneo Proboscis River Lodge, located next to the Klias River and 17 KM before Kuala Penyu town.


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All the houses in Borneo Proboscis River Lodge is made of wood and bamboo, like a native village. Basic facilities such as toilet, bathroom, cafeteria, water supply and electricity are available. I stayed there twice and each time got power blackout which lasted from 0.5 to 3 hours, so you better bring a torch light. Insect repellant is a must, as hundreds of hungry mosquitoes will attack you 24×7. One night when I was laying on the bed, a 6-inch centipede crawled on my arm, quite freak out.


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If you take their day trip package, you can join their sunset river cruise (about 5 PM) and watch fire flies at night (about 7:30 PM). It was a bad luck to have noisy kids on the same boat. Proboscis Monkey is very sensitive and shy. If the overexcited children see them, they will SHOUT, “WAAAAAH!!!! MOM! LOOK!!! MONKEY!!! MONKEY THERE!!!!!!” By the time I take out my camera, all the monkeys ran away already. I love kids. But when came to that moment I always felt the urge to kick them all into the river.


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That is a 100% chance that you will see more than one Proboscis Monkey on the trees along the river, during sunset river cruise. But in most cases, they would be 100 feet away from you or hiding behind the leaves. The human and engine noise will scare them, so they will leave shortly. A binocular is highly recommended, so you can see their long noses clearer. Usually they move in group, with one male leader sit on the tallest spot, while his wives and children busy nearby. If you want to use a 3x optical zoom camera to take their photos, you will be greatly disappointed, coz they are too far away. The best time to spot them is around 6 PM (their bedtime) and 7AM. Long-tailed Macaque Monkey is more common, and they are not quite afraid of us.


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Besides Proboscis Monkey, depending on your luck, you would see monitor lizard, kingfisher, eagle, snake, hornbill, etc. You would see crocodile by slim chance. If you look at the trees grow next the river, many of them got high prop breathing root so they can survive the flood. Unlike normal river, Klias River is a peat swamp river. There are tons of death leaves and organic substances under the river, so the water is dark coffee color and a bit smelly. Some even describe Peat Swamp as a carbon sink. And it flows slowly. I saw some catfish in the river. You can have fun fishing at the jetty if you want to.

The most unforgettable experience is to watch the “fire flies Christmas Tree” at night. FYI, the best time to see this is after the rain, and the night without moonlight. They will show you one or two trees where hundreds of fire flies gather, light up the tree like Christmas Tree. Coz it was too dark, my camera couldn’t take the picture. Anyway, I create the picture at the left for you to get an idea how it looks like.

Tawau Hills Park, Tawau

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If you are not a Tawau’s local, it is a bit hard to find Tawau Hills Park (Taman Bukit Tawau), and there is no bus going there. Tawau Hills Park is a recreational and national park about 20 KM away from Tawau town. During weekend and Sunday, many families and youngsters would go there to swim and BBQ. The locals normally call this place “Abacca”, “Table”, “National Park”, “Taman Negara”, “No. 4 Gudang”, “四號麻房” (Chinese)… If you say “Tawau Hills Park”, they will look at you with a “Huh? What?” expression, like you ask for direction to another planet.

To get there from Tawau town, go to the road that leads to “Jalan Muhibbah” and “Jalan Air Panas” roads. You will come to a few roundabout until you reach the one like the picture below. Take the left turn, you will see a yellow sign “Old Folks Home” after 10 meters, go straight for a few KM, near the end you will reach a T junction that got a “Muhibbah Jaya” sign at your right, turn right, go straight for quite a long way, you will passby Taman Semarak, Sungai Tawau bridge, big Golden Hope signboard… then pay attention to your right side, you will see the “Taman Bukit Tawau” sign, follow the sign to drive for another 8 KM, you will arrive Tawau Hills Park.


Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

There is not much information about this park on the Internet. I thought it was just a small park. It is a very very big national park, with the size of 28,000 hectares. You need to pay RM3.00 entrance fee to enter the park. Most people go there to swim and picnic. There is a restaurant inside the park too. If you look at the map below (from the leaflet printed by Sabah Parks), you can see that there are lot of places you can go.


Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

The popular extra choices are jungle trekking 2.7 KM to Gelas Hill Waterfall, or 3.2 KM to Sulphur Hot Spring. If you are lucky, on the way you can spot wildlife such as clouded leopard, hornbills, pheasants, giant tree squirrel. You may want to wear leech socks. For those who are adventurous, they can take the 10++ KM jungle route to climb a mountain. I am not sure if you need to get a climb permit and hire a local guide in advance, you may call the park at +60-89-918827 for info. You can stay in their jungle lodge (RM40 per night) or chalet (RM200 per night), or even sleep in the tents in camping ground for RM5.00 per night.


Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

I was not so lucky that day. The weather was bad. I wanted to go to the Gelas Hill Waterfall and Sulphur Hot Spring. Their staff said these trails were next to the river. If the river flooded, I would trap in the forest. I really wanted to go, so I checked with a life guard at the riverside. He said it was quite safe to go. When I planned to move, it started to rain heavily. Well, my mission failed so not many photos were taken. The only place I can go is the small Tawau Hills Waterfall in the park. Due to the heavy rain, the waterfall was very big and strong. Quite a view. I have taken a video clip and share it here. Too bad, hopefully I can come back again one day.


Click Here to see 24 photos of Tawau Hills Park >>

I got a leaflet which has useful information of Tawau Hills Park (accommodation, contact, etc.). You can Click Here to download it.

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Photos taken in Tawau, Sabah Malaysia

Tabin Wildlife

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“I’LL BE BACK!”
This was what I thought when I left Tabin Wildlife Reserve last week. Don’t get me wrong. I am not going back there to kill animal and shoot wildlife. I want to kill more time and shoot more photos. If you love nature, Tabin will be like a treasure hunt to you. There is always a new pleasure surprise waiting for you in next minute, and you will want more.

Besides Danum Valley, Tabin Wildlife Reserve is another best wildlife watching spot. It is just 44 KM away from Lahad Datu. The transport will take 1 hour 30 minutes. 10 minutes on the usual road, then 1 hour 20 minutes on gravel road. You will see ocean of oil palm plantation on the way. No, there is no bus going there. Taxi will ask for RM250, gila… You already can book the Tabin tour, which costs less than RM200 (USD50) and 2-way transport is included.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>

Our first activity is to go to the Lapid Mud Volcano. It is as big as a football field. According to the guide, the mud volcano is still active in producing mud, and it becomes higher and higher due to the accumulated mud. They say the mud contains a lot of minerals and it is good for your skin if you apply it. Even the elephants and wild boar know its value and come to eat the mud.

After 30 minutes of jungle trekking (700 Meters trail), we saw the mud volcano. I was so excited and walked quickly to the centre of the mud volcano. Then “pop!”, one of my feet was trapped in the mud. Man… the suction was so strong that it took a lot of strength to pull out my foot. Actually it is very dangerous to run to the centre. The mud on the thin surface is dry and looks hard, but underneath is a pool of deep soft mud. I heard that there was a girl got half of her body sank into the mud. She was so scared and cried for help. Two guys finally got her out of the mud, but her pant was left in the mud. So be careful.. BTW, you really need a spare shoe for the jungle trekking, as the trail is very wet and muddy.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>

Of course, Tabin is never lack of wild animals. I have taken some photos during the jungle trekking, and share them in photo gallery here. The resort itself is already in the forest so you can see and hear the wildlife too. Unfortunately, many of them flee before I take out the camera. All 8 species of hornbills can be spot here. Too bad I didn’t see any Pygmy elephants.

The staffs advised us to leave everything in our room and lock the door. This is because the monkeys (Long-Tail Macaque) are very naughty and know how to open door and steal our things. If you leave your shoe outside, the next day you would see a monkey wearing your Nike. The chalet is very well-equipped. Got air-con, hot water, lighting, bathroom and big room…

We also had a night safari at 9 PM. We found deer, slow loris, fire fly… It should be more animal if it was not raining that night. This is not a zoo so you will need a bit of luck. Anyway, this was the first time I explored forest in the dark. Still an interesting experience. I should have stayed long enough.

Click Here to see the photo gallery of Tabin Wildlife >>