Category Archives: Wildlife

See cool and weird animals of Sabah Borneo

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

Mud volcano

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 >>

Jungle Trekking at Gaya Island

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Malaysians do not like jungle trekking, so I bet 99% of you didn’t try the jungle trail on Gaya Island. Gaya Island is the biggest island of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and it got the biggest island forest too. The jungle trail of Gaya Island is 4 KM long and need at least 2 hours to finish. You may start at Gayana Island and complete the trail at Hornbill Beach, or vice versa. I started from Hornbill Beach and ended at Gayana Resort, so I didn’t need to wait for a boat to pick me up at the Hornbill Beach.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Gaya Island jungle trail >>

FYI, there is no leech in the trail, their staff says only the area more inside the island got. They also say if you are lucky, you can see wild boar, snakes, monkeys… Well, I saw some bugs only. It was so dark in the forest, making photo-shooting very difficult. I used a head lamp but still not bright enough to light up the subjects, sigh… I think there are thousands of cicada on the island and they are so loud that we can hear them from the resort. Just click this link to hear them sing. Turn your speaker to maximum volume and that was what I heard in the jungle. No kidding…


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Gaya Island jungle trail >>

To go to Hornbill Beach, you need to take a boat from Gayana jetty and you can arrange it with their staff at the arrival hall. If you are the resort guest, it is free. I paid RM5 and the boat ride took less than 30 seconds. Please note that you need to pay Sabah Parks a conservation fee to enter (RM3 for Malaysian adult, RM10 for non-Malaysian). But there was nobody there that day, so I didn’t pay. Hahaha… The Hornbill Beach is also a nice place to swim, dive, camp and BBQ.


Click Here to see the photo gallery of Gaya Island jungle trail >>

In the jungle trail of Gaya Island, you won’t feel that you are walking on an island. The jungle looks like a typical dense tropical rainforest. Plenty of hundred-feet tall trees, ratan, mushroom, fungus, bugs, lizards. I think I also heard the voice of hornbills. I know coz I have seen a lot of them in Sepilok forest before. The trail is not a flat path all the way. Half of the time I needed to climb up and down, very tired… I tried to find something interesting for photography, then I realised that I walked less than 1 KM after an hour (since 1 PM). So I walked quite fast later, probably missed out something cool too. I will come back again next time and start earlier (and carry a big lamp)… By the time I got out of the jungle, it was already 4 PM, but quite worth the time and effort.

FYI, Gayana Resort was used to have a Mangrove Forest trail. Due to poor maintenance, the broadway is out of order for a long time, though they still advertise this trail in their leaflet. Too bad…

Click Here to see the photo gallery of Gaya Island jungle trail >>

Mangrove Forest (Part I)

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Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary (KKCBS) is a must-go place for nature lover and photographer. At KKCBS you can see many weird wildlife and plants that are very different from the rainforest. I have been there for many times, and each time I would see new animals (yeah, new photos for my collection).

I have been trying to trace some hard-to-see wildlife such as mud lobster, water snake, monitor lizard, certain rare birds, and sting ray, but still cannot get their pictures. They are either moving too fast or hiding very well. Until now, I think my photo collection is still not complete enough to give you a full picture of what are there. Actually the photo gallery below was already complete last year. I will go ahead and publish them first. Hopefully very soon I can publish part two. BTW, there are 2 panoramic views that allow you to see the Mangrove Forest in 360 degree.


See 82 photos of Mangrove Forest >>

If you want to do bird watching, try to be there at 8 AM, when the park opens, or between 4 PM to 5 PM. I heard that they will open as early as 6 AM, in the future, the time which has the most birds searching for food in the mangrove forest. One of the main attraction is the fiddler crabs. They are very sensitive and alert. You need a lot of patient to take pictures of them. The male fiddler crabs got a huge claw as weapon and sexy symbol. The fiddler crabs are so colourful and special that I decide to put up another photo gallery just for them. It is the same gallery that I published last year (but didn’t blog about).


See 72 photos of Fiddler Crabs >>

Fiddler Crabs, Again?

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Remember I mentioned that I wrote an article about fiddler crabs and mangrove forest? My article and photos are posted on the newspaper today. Feel happy but a bit disappointed though. I sent them 30 photos but they only used a few, so it could not really show how colorful are the fiddler crabs. It was quite a pain to write the article in Chinese, as I have forgotten so many words. I also found it very tired to do hand-writing.. Too bad I could not make a living writing stuffs like this for newspaper.

Today I am lazy to blog. So I prepare an incomplete comic for a sequence of funny pictures below, for you to fill in the blank. Let’s see how creative are my readers. 🙂 Have fun.

Photos taken in KK Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Close-up with Borneo Fiddler Crabs

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I have tried out the close-up len with my Sony Cybershot DSC-H1. It is like a dream comes true. Now I am able to take very close picture of tiny fiddler crab. Below is the picture of my favorite fiddler crab. See the three dots on its back? Look like a face, isn’t it? So cute.. I also have taken many photos of other fiddler crabs. They got red, yellow, orange, blue, green, black, white, brown and purple colors. I have written an article about fiddler crabs of mangrove forest and will send it to the local newspaper tomorrow (hope they will post it). I would like the public to see the beauty of these crabs and know the importance of protecting our mangrove forest, the home of these beautiful creatures.

Two male fiddler crabs fighting:

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo