Tag Archives: night walk

Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC), a Park in the Jungle

The Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC) is one of the most accessible natural rainforest parks in Sabah. It sits by a lake at the edge of the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve in Sandakan. RDC has been in operation since 1996 for environmental education purposes. Today, it is a 3-in-1 park (i.e. wildlife, bird and botanical) for nature lovers and bird watchers where they can see the unique flora and fauna of Borneo. To students, it’s the best outdoor classroom to learn the rich biodiversity of tropical rainforest.

Rainforest Discovery Center and the adjacent Sepilok-Kabili Forest, and its lake. Boat is available for rent (RM5)

Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC) is managed by the Sabah Forestry Department and one of the most popular Environmental Education (EE) centers in Sabah. A pristine lowland dipterocarp and Mangrove forest with astounding 300 species of birds are recorded in the area.

10 things you can do at Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC). RDC receives more than 30,000 visitors every year.

The 4,300-hectare Sepilok-Kabili Forest Reserve has gained birders recognition worldwide for its iconic Bornean Bristlehead, Black & Crimson Pitta, Blue-headed Pitta, Giant Pitta, Black Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill and more. The forest of Sepilok is declared as an Important Birding Area (IBA) by Birdlife International in 2009.

Jungle and Nature Trails

Visitors can walk along the trails and become acquainted with green giants such as the 40-Meter-tall mengaris tree, one of the tallest tree in Borneo. Besides soaking up the sight and getting a good workout, visitors can refer to the interpretive panels along the trail, which has descriptions about the unique residents of the forest.

Interesting fruit and plant at RDC. Left: Giant aroid (*Alocasia robusta*), endemic to Borneo; Middle: an unknown fruit; Right: Elephant tree, locally known as Simpoh Gajah or Ubah Rusa (Species: *Dillenia borneensis*), endemic to Borneo

Alert the little ones to keep an eye out for darting civets and flying squirrels (which can glide up to 100 Meters)! And lucky visitors have also spotted animals such as the elusive red leaf monkey, gibbon (the fastest moving primate in tree canopy), mouse deer, civet cat and many odd looking insects such as stick insect and lantern bug.

Giant trees of Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok Giant (left) and Kabili Monster (right)

The giant trees that you must check out are Sepilok Giant, a Yellow Seraya tree (Shorea acatissima), which is about 65 Meters in height, with an estimated age of 800-1,000 years old, and the 75-Meter-tall Kabili Monster, an Obah Suluk tree (Shorea pauciflora).

Trail map of Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC)

Another tree worths a good look is Belian Borneo Ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri), the 7th hardest wood in the world. The main trails are gravel path, and some sections are networks of well-trodden nature (soil) trails for you to explore deeper.

Plant Discovery Garden

RDC also has a Plant Discovery Garden, which covers about 3 acres of land. This garden will make any botanist smile with its rich collection of hybrid orchids, arid land plants, aquatic plants, pitcher plants, economic crops and tropical American plants.

There are colourful outdoor interpretive panels with descriptions of all the plants, which are available in English and Bahasa Malaysia languages and makes learning not only easy but fun as well.

Interpretation panels with photographs and interesting facts of fruits and herb, description is available in English and Malay languages.

For serious learners, there are just too many local and exotic plants (flowers, herbs, spices, crops) to look at, just to name a few, peach palm, vanilla, tongkat ali, rubber, cassava, cinnamon, fig, and cycad (a living fossil and food of dinosaur).

From left: Kelumpang Sarawak (*Sterculia megistophylla*), fig tree, and red fruit of achiote plant (used as lipstick in the past)

Rainforest Skywalk (Canopy Walk)

The main attraction of RDC is Rainforest Skywalk, the longest Canopy Walkway in Sabah. Visitors can climb to the top of the observation towers and take in the breathtaking view from the 620-Meter-long and 25-meter-high metal platforms and walkway.

Towers of RDC. From left: Bristlehead Tower, Trogon Tower, nature trail under the tower

The walkway is two meters wide, is very sturdy and can hold the weight of a large crowd. RDC has three main towers that are named after the Bristlehead, Hornbill and Trogon and a single-column shelter called the Sunbird. With a height of 26.5 Metres (87 ft), Trogon Tower is the highest tower of RDC.

Rainforest Skywalk of Rainforest Discovery Centre is tall but still lower than many trees. Some of the trees were planted in 1970s and 1980s.

The designers of the canopy walkway made sure that it was not only safe for adults, but also for young children who are at kindergarten-level.

Fruiting next to the Rainforest Skywalk. From left: *Artocarpus elasticus* (Terap togop), *Dacryodes rostrata* (or cuspidata), poisonous Lampada Fruit (*Tabernaemontana macrocarpa*)

To the team at RDC, the younger children are exposed to the wonders of Mother Nature, the more they will appreciate our rainforest. During weekends, some local retired people also come here for birding regularly.

Rainforest Skywalk of RDC is 620 Metres long after an extension of 250 Metres completed in early 2022.

The highest platform of towers is about 26.5 Meters (87 feet) above the ground. Many birds, wildlife, fruits and insects live high on the tree, so these towers provide a great viewing point for bird watching and wildlife sighting. I’ve seen mother orangutan with her baby there before (see video).

Orangutan and Macaque could be seen at RDC, especially during fruiting season. They are not friendly so keep a distance from them.

Bornean Bristlehead normally feeds up in the mid and upper layer of tree canopy, and best seen from Canopy Walkway. You have higher chance of seeing them near Bristlehead and Hornbill Towers in RDC. On the skywalk, you don’t need to look up so much that your neck cramps. I’m confident to say that RDC has one of the best setting for bird watching in the world.

Information board about the tall rainforest trees around this area, so you can do a self-guided tour.

Many trees here are very old and over 50 Meters tall, most of these emergent trees are from the family Dipterocarpaceae, the main timber family of Sabah. During fruiting season, you will see many birds and wildlife coming here for feeding.

Bird Watching

Due to the tourist-friendly canopy walkway and nearby virgin rainforest where over 300 lowland bird species reside, RDC is really a haven for nature photographers and birdwatchers. RDC is also the most promising spot to see Bornean Bristlehead, the trophy bird species of birders, but you still need some luck. I saw it only once after three visits.

Many endemic (13 species are Borneo endemic), rare and colorful birds are active around RDC, for example, Bornean Bristlehead, Hornbills, Pittas, Kingfisher (8 species), Trogons, Malkohas, Leafbirds, Minivets, Spiderhunters (6 species), Crested Jay, Red-bearded Bee-eater, Broadbills, Woodpeckers, and Bulbuls. For full list, you may see this Checklist of Birds in Sepilok.

Endemic birds of Borneo in Sepilok. The red-headed bird in pictures is Bornean Bristlehead (Nickname: headphone bird)

Therefore, for visitors who don’t want to travel far, RDC is the best alternative birding sites to Danum Valley and Tabin Wildlife Reserve, the world-class birding sites in Lahad Datu.

Trail signages and interpretation panel of birds in RDC

Some forest birds spend most of their time on canopy and best to be observed from RDC Canopy Walkway, while some prefers habitat in understorey and forest ground, so you need to explore the jungle trails for such birds. (Note: leeches might present during wet season)

Interpretation panels of birds in RDC are placed at the spots where sighting of birds in the pictures are possible. Some are placed on Rainforest Skywalk for birds that are active on canopy.

According to birding community, the 1.9-KM Kingfisher Trail is very productive (many birds). There are many direction signages in the RDC trail network, so you should have no problem to get around. What I really like is – RDC also places many information panels in different spots to inform you what birds, trees and wildlife are (probable) nearby.

Birds of RDC. From left: Red-bearded bee eater, Racket-tailed drongo, White-crowned hornbill, Bornean black magpie

Inside the forest there are small ponds used by many birds as natural bird bath for bathing and drinking. Most birds only dip their wings to splash water on their backs. Parts of the bath is just about 2 inches deep, just enough for small birds. Keep an eye for Red-eyed Bulbul, Emerald Dove and Hairy-backed Bulbul there. Garden birds such as sunbirds, spiderhunters and flowerpeckers are common visitors too.

Borneo Bird Festival is packed with activities for birders, children, photographers and tourists.

RDC is a preferred venue for Borneo Bird Festival, which is usually held in Sep or Oct annually, the best visiting time for bird watchers who are looking forward for exciting activities such as bird race, talks, bird photography contest, latest birding gears, and exhibition.

Exhibition Hall

The main visitor building has an exhibition hall that features the unique flora found in Sabah, plus the various icons in our animal kingdom including the Bornean pygmy elephant, orangutan, proboscis monkey and many more.

Visitors can also find information on reptiles and the main groups of birds. The building also has a multi purpose hall, which is often used for talks, screenings and other activities.

Information about flora & fauna of Borneo (available in both English and Malay languages)

Besides animals, visitors can browse good collections of plant, fruit, tree and insect specimens in the hall. The information is presented in gallery style, with a lot of beautiful photographs with minimal text, available in English and Malay languages.

Left: One of the display item: Ghost Durian (Durian Hantu) has no spikes and inedible, though it’s under the same family of Durian fruit. Right: Crocodile specimen in exhibition hall of RDC

This Exhibition Hall is air-conditioned, so I love to come here after a long walk under hot sun outside LOL (and for the toilet too). I must say the Exhibition Hall does a very good job in giving visitors an interesting overview of Borneo’s nature.

Other Facilities

The infrastructure of RDC is quite well-thought, this makes RDC an excellent attraction, as well as a great location to organize mid-scale events. They also added a 180-Metre flying squirrel zipline at the lake area.

Left: Keruing Cafe of RDC is located at the starting point of Canopy Walk and it serves simple meals and drink. Right: Kabili Mini Theatre for seminar, talks and conference

Left: Exhibition about Borneo birds in Drongo House. Right: Birders Rest Complex (toilet available), Both places are good shelters when it rains.

Entrance Fee

Rainforest Discovery Center (RDC) is open from 8am to 5pm every day (include Public Holidays), but the trails and canopy walkway close at 8pm, so some visitors can do night walk and evening birding. RDC is a park opens to public, any walk-in visitor can buy a ticket to enter (see ticket prices below).

	Malaysian	Foreigner
Adult (18 & above)	RM7	RM30
5-17 years old	RM3	RM20
Below 5 years old	FREE	FREE

Entrance Fee to RDC (Last updated on 1st April 2024)

For more information, call +60 89-533780 / 533781, e-mail rdcsepilok@yahoo.com or visit RDC’s official website and Facebook.

All proceeds from ticket sales are used to organize environmental education programs for students, teacher training courses and other environment-related activities.

Night Walk

Most wildlife are nocturnal. You may not see a lot of wildlife during daytime in RDC, but a night walk there would probably give you some pleasant surprises. Depend on your luck, you would see civet, moonrat, Malay badger, sleeping birds, glow worm, owls, stick insect, firefly, frog, bearded pig, flying lemur, etc. You hit jackpot if you spot Bornean Tarsier or Slow Loris, the most mysterious primates of Sabah. Known as Ghost Monkey locally, Bornean Tarsier is the smallest primate of Borneo and has huge eyes bigger than its brain.

During dusk, people gather and wait for red giant flying squirrel to come out of the box. Far right: Tarsier

Night Walk is available (conducted between 6pm-8pm), you can register for the walk at ticketing counter (before they close at 5pm). The fee is RM30 (≈USD$8.50) per adult and RM15 (≈USD$4) per child (5-17 years old) for a minimum of 2 hours, RM15/person for each additional hour.

Starting from the 1st June 2024, RDC Night Walk Fee will be increased: Adult (16 years old & above): RM50 Child (5-15 years old): RM25 MAX 7 pax per group Private Group: RM350 (1-5 pax only)

A minimum of 4 visitors (but no more than 10) is required to form the night walking group, or you have to pay for the full amount RM120/group (≈USD$34). Do bring torch-light (flashlight) and raincoat with you. You can take photos but no camera flash is allowed for small animals.

How to get there

The Rainforest Discovery Center is located at Sepilok, Sandakan, Sabah, about 25 KM to the west of Sandakan City (see Location Map). Public transport to Sepilok is available readily and the journey takes about 45 to 50 minutes one way. You can hire a taxi for a return trip for about RM100 per car (≈USD$28)(negotiable).

RDC Shuttle Service (within Sepilok Only)

I strongly recommend you to visit Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center and Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center, which are only 2 KM away from RDC.

RDC Shuttle Service (within Sepilok only) is available only when licensed taxi not around and depend on staff availability. It’s no guarantee but good to know this option anyway. The standard rate is RM10 (≈USD$2.50) per car. You can request for transport in following time:
9am-5pm: enquire for taxi or shuttle service at ticketing counter
5pm-8pm: enquire shuttle service at security hut

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tabin, the Sanctuary of Borneo Wildlife

3 Replies

Located in east coast of Sabah, Tabin Wildlife Reserve is one of the best kept lowland rainforest of Borneo. I don’t want to hide the fact that most lowland of Sabah is now blanketed by oil palm. Tabin is surrounded by sea of oil palm, making it an oasis of the ecology desert (oil palm). In fact, this 112,000-hectare protected forest reserve harbors some of the rarest and endangered Bornean animals such as Pygmy Elephant, Sumatran Rhinoceros and Orangutan.

Last month I visited Tabin for 3 days. Though large part of Tabin is secondary rainforest being logged in the past, the forest regenerates really well over the decades. Tabin also has 9,000 hectares undisturbed primary forest known as the Core Area. Do you know that there are nearly 1,000 tree species in 50-hectare area of Borneo rainforest (Temperate Forest is up to 100 species only)?

Macaques

Guess what was the first animal I saw in Tabin. Can you recognise the “aliens” below?

Pic: “Aliens” in Tabin

LOL they are actually the butt of pig-tailed macaques, a common but cheeky monkey. At the left is a male with its testicles, the sexy red butt at the right belongs to a female ready to mate.

In late afternoon, you would see dozens of macaques gathering on the ground feeding, socializing and grooming one another. Tabin Resort doesn’t feed them so they keep a distance from human. But you better lock the door and leave nothing outside your room, because these monkey know how to open door and ransack your stuffs.

I was surprised to see a long-tailed macaque among a herd of pig-tailed macaques as if it’s one of the members. Wonder if both species speak the same language.

Pic: Bornean Gibbon foraging on a fruit tree. You can always hear their “whoop-whoop” loud and long call early in the morning at Tabin.

There are 9 primate species in Tabin, but gorilla isn’t on the list (though the movie says King Kong is from Borneo). The most famous primate here is Orangutan. Tabin is one of the releasing spots for rehabilitated orphan orangutan from Sepilok. To ensure they can survive in the wild, rangers will track and evaluate the new comers for 2 weeks.

Tabin Wildlife Resort

Tabin Wildlife Resort is the only accommodation and tour operator in Tabin Wildlife Reserve. To visit Tabin, you can book a full board tour package with them (Accommodation, meals, transport, activities and guide services are included). They also offer special tours such as bird-watching and frog camp. Please note walk-in tourist might not be entertained.

Pic: River Lodge of Tabin Resort

After an hour of bumpy ride on 44-Kilometres of unsealed road from Lahad Datu town, I checked-in to River Lodge of Tabin Resort around noon. River Lodge is just next to Lipad River and you would see foraging animals at the river bank sometimes.

The chalet looks small from outside, but the room is really spacious and completed with attached bathroom/toilet, private balcony, air conditioner, ceiling fan and hot water shower. The accommodation is comfortable and electricity supply is available 24×7. I’m happy.

Pic: Hill Lodge of Tabin Resort

For honeymooners, Hill Lodge offers more luxurious and private space, so nobody can hear what you both busy doing in your room. I think it’s great for family too.

Pic: Sunbird Cafe of Tabin Resort

Sunbird Cafe is where I have my buffet meals (and free flow of coffee) and it is the gathering point for all activities. The cafe has Wifi so you can check your Facebook, but the line would be slow if too many guests are sharing the connection.

Dusk Drive & Night Safari

Compared to my jungle trips in other places of Sabah, the activities at Tabin are really leisure, nothing made me gasping for air there. But I sweated a lot, as rainforest is warm and humid, when the dense trees trap the heat and moisture under their canopy during daytime.

We started our Dusk Drive at 5pm. Unlike Africa, where you can see hundred of animals on open grassland. In Borneo, you need to look quite hard for the animals hiding among the dense wood. Luckily, the guide does the job for us. A napping monitor lizard high on a tree set off the excitement.

As the habitat of about 260 lowland bird species (FYI, oil palm estate only hosts 9 to 12 species), Tabin is a favorite destination of bird-watchers. Out of 8 hornbill species in Tabin, I saw 4 of them (Oriental Pied Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Wrinkled Hornbill and Bushy-crested Hornbill) during my stay. If you are a hardcore birder, they will bring you to Core Area (virgin forest) to look for Blue-headed Pitta and Blue-Banded Pitta, which are endemic to Borneo.

Pic: Crested-serpent eagle is the most common eagle here. We also spotted Wallace’s Hawk-eagle and Changeable Hawk-eagle.

Pic: Bornean Falconet

The highlight is Bornean Falconet (a.k.a. White-fronted Falconet), which is endemic to Sabah and the smallest raptor in the world (about the size of a palm). There was a group of three perching on a tree very far away from us. Fortunately, our guide let us to have a better look with his high-power telescope. I tried to photograph them through the scope but the photo was blur, well. 🙁

Then we heard a loud roar from the elephants deep in the forest beside us. “It was a mother calling its calf”, our guide said. Though there are 200 to 300 elephants in Tabin, sighting of them is not guaranteed. We waited there for over 15 minutes but no sign of them coming near. When I almost gave up, two Bornean pygmy elephants emerged from the wood behind our truck! After wandering on the gravel road for a while, both of them headed to a neighboring plantation for juicy young shots of oil palm. Somehow this smart mammal figures out the time when electrical fence is being turned off lol.

The daylight was out soon and lot of fireflies flickering on the trees, but we didn’t stop the fun drive. On the way back to resort, our guide turned on the spotlight and here we went for a night safari. Besides a pair of sleeping Rhinoceros Hornbill on the tree, we saw other nocturnal animals such as Common Palm Civet and Leopard Cats. We were also watching a red giant flying squirrel took off from a branch, it could glide 100 Metres from tree to tree, we were told.

Pic: a Buffy Fish Owl. A Brown Wood Owl was nearby too.

Night Walk

Dusk drive is cool but it would be more thrilling to walk around and search for other forest dwellers in the dark. After dinner, everyone grabbed a flashlight and explored deep in the jungle. We pointed our light to the shrubs, tree top, forest ground, tree bark, etc. and came across something interesting.

Pic: Crematogaster inflata, these ants look like carrying a “gold” knapsack, which is the enlarged metapleural gland that can secrete whitish defensive fluid and their bites are very itchy. Thank you Arthur Chung for the ID.

A single tree of Borneo can house 1,000 insect species. There are at least 50,000 insect species in Tabin, which is enough for you to explore for a lifetime.

Pic: mushroom growing on an elephant dung. Everything in rainforest is recycled and exist for a reason.

Pic: a small snake waiting quietly for its prey.

Pic: a giant river toad covered with irregular bumps. The big glands behind its eyes secrete poisonous fluid so don’t touch it!

Lipad Mud Volcano

The next morning we went to the Lipad Mud Volcano, something that makes Tabin special. The jungle trail to the mud volcano is 700 Metres and requires only 20 minutes trekking. We saw some fresh and old elephant dungs along the way, an evidence that elephants frequent this area. Anyway, I only found a tiny mouse deer and a few forest leeches.

Pic: a coral fungus

Pic: the Lipad Mud Volcano is as big as a football field and it is still growing. This might be the largest mud volcano of Borneo. Can you spot the tiny people in the photo?

Pic: elephant tracks at mud volcano

Animals love mud volcano as it is rich in sodium and calcium, the vital minerals that are not readily available in their normal diet. That’s why this is a good spot for wildlife sighting, as animals come here regularly for “salt lick” in late afternoon.

We love mud volcano too, not for salt lick but for skin care. Some says the mud is really good for skin so we collect some for facial SPA later.

Some prefers to enjoy the muddy face mask on the spot.

However, the outer ring of mud volcano is dry mud mixed with coarse sand. To collect the finest and silky wet mud, you have to go to the sources located in the centre, where you can see fresh mud burping and bubbling up from the ground. The mud in centre is deep and soft, so your shoes would be trapped in it. Some even lost their pant here (yes, that happened before).

Pic: the 5-storey observation tower next to the mud volcano. You can overnight there for more animal sighting.

Pic: making handprint certificate with volcano mud.

Lipad Waterfall

After getting ourselves dirty in mud volcano, we got on our truck and moved to Lipad Waterfall. The nature trail to the waterfall is only 400 Metres but we needed to cross a river as deep as our waist level.

Because of the heavy rain the night before, the water looked a bit murky, but it was clean and cooling. We washed away our mud at the river and took a dip in the waterfall pool.

Pic: Lipad Waterfall, pristine and unpolluted.

Other Activities

There are more things to do in Tabin. Just to list a few here.

You may check out the exhibition in Trogon Hall gallery, where they display some photographs and information of Borneo bio-diversity.

Pic: elephant skull in the Gallery

After a long day of trekking, it’s time to relax your tired feet by trying out the Rainforest Foot Soak at Eagle’s Nest. Various traditional tropical herb and plants (e.g. Kaffir lime leaf, Aloe Vera, Lemongrass, Betel Leaf, Pandanus Leaf, Galangal, Tumeric) are put in the hot water, and you can rub your feet against the smooth pebbles at bottom.

So that’s my Tabin trip. You can see that our rainforest is an eco-treasure worths protecting and preserving. The good news is – Sabah government and NGOs are working together to connect all the isolated forest of Sabah, so wildlife can migrate freely among them for food and mates. In future, Tabin forest reserve will be part of the Heart of Borneo.

More Photos

Created with flickr badge.

Photos taken in Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) in mangrove forest of Sandakan

2 Replies

Here are some updates of the new upgrade of Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) in Feb 2012. If you plan your trip to Sepilok Laut based on my earlier blog about SLRC, you may need to read the following changes.

Pic: Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC)

1. New Boardwalk of SLRC

Sabah Forestry Department has constructed a 700-Meter Belian (Ironwood) boardwalk to connect existing SLRC to camping ground in Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve in early 2012.

The new boardwalk will allow you to explore the pristine mangrove forest of Sepilok Laut, without walking in this muddy swamp.

Pic: Mangrove Discovery Centre and the new boardwalk

Pic: This 700-Meter boardwalk is built 2 Meters above the ground.

I visited the new boardwalk a month ago and found that this new boardwalk is great for bird-watching, as you can enter deep into the mangrove forest to look for mangrove bird species.

During my 1-day birding tour there, I spotted the following birds along the boardwalk.

Black-and-Red Broadbill
Black Drongo
Bornean Whistler
Buff-necked Woodpecker
Common Iora
Copper-throated Sunbird
Hill Myna
Jambu Fruit Dove
Kingfishers (5 species!): Ruddy Kingfisher, Collared Kingfisher, Oriental-Dwarf Kingfisher, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Stork-billed Kingfisher
Lesser Green Leafbird
Mangrove Blue Flycatcher
Mangrove Whistler
Red-billed Malkoha
White-chested Babbler (not confirm)
Yellow-bellied Bulbul
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

The boardwalk is also a nice way to see mangrove ecology and wildlife upclose. You would see proboscis monkey, macaques, monitor lizard, crocodile and mangrove viper here, depends on your luck.

Pic: Mangrove Reception next to SLRC boardwalk.

The main mangrove species in Sepilok Laut are bangkita (Rhizophora apiculata), tengar (Ceriops tagal), nyireh (Xylocarpus granatum) and geriting (Lumnitzera littorea).

Mosquitoes are active here during dawn and dusk. Do bring insect repellent. You will be deep in the forest, so there is no shop around to sell you this.

After 30 minutes of leisure walk, you will reach a Camping Ground at the end of the boardwalk. In year 2011, I had to walk nearly 1 KM from this camping ground to SLRC on a rugged forest trail. Now hikers can take the new boardwalk to SLRC, which is easier.

2. Trail to SLRC

In the past, for tourists who wanted to do a jungle trekking from Sepilok to SLRC, the trail started at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. This trail is poorly-maintained and turns muddy after rain.

Now the new 7-KM trail starts at Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) and passes by two waterfalls. I haven’t tried it but I assume it is better. You may click the trail map above for more details.

Other than what I mentioned above, nothing much is changed in Sepilok Laut Mangrove Discovery Centre. The naughty long-tailed macaques are still around. I miss them so much. But I didn’t see Paul, the alpha male this time.

3. Night Walk at SLRC

Again, I did a night walk at SLRC. I started my walk on a rainforest trail from SLRC to Camping Ground, then return to SLRC via the boardwalk. By doing so, I could see nocturnal animals of rainforest and mangrove forest. Cool huh? Unfortunately, it rained that night so I had to rush back. Anyway, I still photographed some interesting flora.

The new facilities of SLRC definitely made my experience there more enjoyable.

After enjoying the view of misty mangrove forest in the morning, I headed back to Sandakan city by speed boat.

If you love being in touch with forest, Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) is really worth a visit, as it allows you to see two ecosystems, i.e., rainforest and mangrove, in one place. Have you been there? Please share your experience with me.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Night walk in Poring rainforest

9 Replies

It was an exciting night in Poring rainforest. I finally found the insect that I had been looking for years. Many friends are also very impressed with this insect. Please read on to see it.

I suppose Poring rainforest is an ideal site for night walk due to its rich flora and fauna. Surprisingly, no tourist asks for a night safari in Poring, so I had to hire a nature guide to start one at 7pm. The fee is about RM70-100 (?USD20-30) per hour. We have a happy start when we spot a white wolf spider with red mouth.

Above: A litter frog that has big head, cute..

Then we saw a giant river toad, which is endemic to Borneo and famous for its foul smell. I didn’t smell anything though. There is a myth that this toad will laugh if you tickle its belly.

We rub its belly gently with a twig. You may watch the 1-min video below to see if it laughs:

There are quite a number of big spider around, like the leopard spider above. It is easy to spot them coz their eyes reflect our torchlight.

Small spider waits for prey in fungus cup.

A very long stick insect. The guide says the village kids are used to eat the eggs of stick insect because its eggs are big and look like chocolate.

Fat stick insect on tapioca leaf. Seem like stick insect loves tapioca leaf coz I found a few more.

Here comes the highlight of my night walk. Can you spot anything in the photo above?

Can’t see it? Below is the answer. It’s a Leaf mimicking Grasshopper (Chorotypus gallinaceus) that perfectly camouflaged as a dead leaf.

I had heard about this insect. I’m so glad to see one. When I was busy taking its photo, suddenly it just played dead and dropped itself to the ground. The guide and me shouted, “Oh sh*t!” because it would be very hard to spot it among the foliage. Luckily we located it again.

We also saw a big snail near Kipungit Waterfall. So far it’s the largest forest snail that I’ve ever seen.

Above: Giant bent-toed gecko on tree trunk.

There are some tiger leeches lurking in the bush. They were so excited when they sensed our heat.

Another highlight is the mating of two tiger leeches. It lasts for quite a long time and both leeches caress each other like crazy. You may see their action in the 1-min video below:

Click Here for bigger video

Our night walk ended at 11pm, just before the heavy rain came. I can’t wait to go back there again one day. If you love such activity, Poring is highly recommended for night safari.

More Photos

You may check out my photo album on Poring night walk for more nice pictures:

Other articles about Poring Hot Springs Park:

Photos taken in Poring, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Horned Frog

Minitinduk Gorge, ancient gateway to Mt. Kinabalu

1 Reply

Minitinduk Gorge is the ancient gateway to Mt. Kinabalu, as it is on “The Hugh Low Trail”, an original summit trail used by documented first male climbers, Sir Hugh Low (1851) and Sir John Whitehead (1888), and female climber, Lillian Gibbs (1910), of Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak of Malaysia. After another “tourist” trail opens in 1924 (by R.F. Evan and Sarel), climbers / tourists are no longer using this trail located in Kampung Kiau (Kiau Village) of Kota Belud district.

Last month I joined a 2-day-1-night camping trip organized by The Sabah Society to explore the gorge. The weather was good for the past few days until we departed in the afternoon, but the heavy downpour didn’t hold us back. By 2:30pm, we reached the junction to Kampung Kiau (Kiau Village), which is a few Kilometers (KM) after Nabalu and 29 KM before Ranau, and where we met up with Mr. Martin Moguring, our guide from Kinabalu Park. Dr. Ravi, the co-writer of the book “The Hugh Low Trail”, is the organizer of this trip.

Then we drove to the school in Kiau Village, which takes another 30 minutes. We parked our cars in the village and walked to the starting point, just a stone throw away from the village. We were told in advance that we will cross multiple small rivers, so most of us were wearing short. Our group also hired 3 porters (Rony, Abinus and Bengent) to carry some of our bags and supplies.

Jungle Trekking & River Crossing

The distance from Kiau Village to Minitinduk Gorge is only 3.5 KM and take about 2 hours of trekking. For the first day, we walk 3 KM to Sambatang Cave and camp there. The second day we walk from the cave to the Gorge, which is only 500 Meters away. FYI, the gorge is in a private land outside of the Kinabalu Park boundary.

In the beginning, we passed through the farmland, mainly consists of paddy, maize, ginger and other food crops.

Pretty soon we entered the secondary forest, characterized by dense undergrowth. It is still raining so it’s very humid in the forest and this “activates” the little brown forest leeches that live in deeper jungle and love wet environment (and our blood!). There are not many of them and most are only 1cm in length. I had seen forest leeches 5 times bigger in primary rainforest, so these tiny-sized blood suckers didn’t bother me. I didn’t even feel that I got one leech bite until I saw my leg bleeds.

Though it’s a newly generated forest, there are still potential dangers around. Like the harmless looking plant in photo above, its leaves are poisonous and able to make your skin really painful and itchy when touched. But there are many “good” plant too, Martin shows us some plant that can be used as food, preservatives or herbal medicines by local people.

As I’m an experienced hiker, the trail is not rugged and I consider it as an easy walk, not strenuous and challenging at all. Most of the time, we moved on the nature trail adjacent to the Kadamaian River and its tributaries such as Kolapis, and there are about 10 river crossing. But I’m not so used to river crossing. After heavy rain, the rivers rose, turning swift and deep.

Though the depth of river only reaches our knee level, the current is strong enough to push you down if you don’t stand firm. The worst thing is the murky water caused by heavy rain, we can’t see the irregular bottom. We had to cross slowly, probing the depth in front with one foot to avoid stepping into deeper water. I almost fell into the icy-cold water with my camera once.

My best advise is – Trust NO rock and boulder near the river. They all look deceptively safe to step on, but they offer zero friction, after being “waxed” by the river for a long time!

Our socks are soaking wet. Only Dr. Ravi walks with happy dry feet. He also shows us his simple solution – just drill a hole on the shoe for draining of water, lol.

As we were moving further up the river, the boulders get bigger and bigger and see more and more cascading streams, the characteristics of river upstream. The water is so clean, unlike other milk-tea color rivers caused by excessive logging in upstream area (e.g. Padas) of Sabah.

Sambatang Cave

Finally we reach Sambatang Cave at 5:30pm!

Actually Sambatang Cave is a cavernous space under an overhanging huge boulder. It can accommodate 3 to 4 people.

Since the daylight is vanishing, we quickly setup 3 camping tents on the flat area near the cave.

According to the porters, Sambatang Cave is an ideal natural shelter, even the heaviest rain can’t flood the cave.

The porters collected some wood and started a camp fire to “smoke” the cave, as the smell can keep creepy animals such as snake and centipede away from the cave. I’m so happy to keep my feet dry and warm.

Light not only attract insect, it also draws human. After having instant noodle as dinner and a few rounds of hot coffee, everyone squeezes into this small cave to warm themselves up with camp fire.

Night Walk

When I started to see bugs crawling around the cave, I decided to take a night walk to check out the bug party in forest.

Above: a stick insect pretends or thinks that it’s a stick.

You can hear a lot of frog calls near the river.

Same as frog, toad is everywhere too.

Above: This little green frog is almost invisible on the green fern.

When the night is late, I go to bed in Sambatang Cave, which is also the place the early explorers like Sir John Whitehead and Lilian Gibbs spent their night before heading to the summit, as described in their chronicles more than a hundred years ago. Do remember to bring floor mat and sleeping bag if you plan to sleep inside the cave. Torchlight / LED headlamp is needed if you want to do your business in dark night. The night was so cold that I can feel the chill in my 7°C-grade sleeping bag.

What’s for Breakfast?

My biological clock waked me up at 6am next morning. I saw the porters busy preparing breakfast. From their happy smiles, they must be waiting for something really tasty.

Out of curiosity, I take a look what is inside the pot. Oh dear, those are the frogs they catch. No wonder I saw them searching for something along the river last night. Well, I was there hunting for frog photos but they hunt for the frog meat.

Then they grill the frog over the fire. Please note that only certain frog species are edible as some are poisonous. You can find the edible frogs for sales in local native market called “Tamu”. Species such as Limnonectes ingeri (greater swamp frog), Limnonectes kuhlii (Large-headed Frog) and Limnonectes leporinus (Giant River Frog) yield high demand as food by local people.

Above: almost done…

They gave a frog leg for me to try. Being open-minded and “adventurous”, I eat it. To my surprise, the frog meat is so sweet and tender. It is slightly chewy but taste a lot better than chicken, trust me.

Minitinduk Gorge

After breakfast, we leave our bags in cave and head to Minitinduk Gorge, which is only 500 Meters away. 15 minutes later, we exit the dense canopy and see Minitinduk Gorge is right in front of us! Minitinduk means “the meeting of two beaks” in Dusun language. The gorge looks like a twin towers less than 50 feet from each other, with Kadamaian River flows between them. Someone believe the gap is even narrower and both sides almost touching each other in the past, as a legend says a Kiau couple can jump over to the other side, when they try to escape from a group of headhunters from Bundu Tuhan.

We take a group photo with banner. We look so small in the photo. The gorge is about 150 feet in height. There is a theory saying that the gorge was once a waterfall with a lake at the bottom. One day the waterfall collapsed and creates the gap that bisected the hill, based on a historical record that there should be a lake under Mt. Kinabalu but is never found.

Inside the gorge is an opening with Kadamaian River flows between the vertical rocky cliffs. Even though tourists nowadays don’t use this trail, the Kadazandusun people believe this is still the holy trail for the spirits of the dead to go to their final resting place, the Mount Kinabalu, and this gorge is the gate. It sounds scary when our day of visit coincides with the Chinese ghost festival day.

The water of Kadamaian River is from Mt. Kinabalu. It looks cleaner than our tap water and nice for a dip. Too bad I didn’t bring my swim trunk.

If you follow the ancient trail further upstream, you can reach the summit trail of tourists at Lowii or Paka Shelter of Mt. Kinabalu. On the way, you will see super-huge Kadamaian Waterfall. Someone estimate the height of Kadamaian Waterfall is about 250 to 350 Meters and could be the tallest waterfall of Malaysia.

Enough with photo-taking, we left Minitinduk Gorge. It is really a nice trip over the weekend.

We packed our backpack and go back to Kota Kinabalu city at 11am. Personally I would like to thank The Sabah Society members who spent months of research to retrace this historical trail. You may watch the 6-minute video on our trip to Minitinduk Gorge.

More Photos

You may check out the photo album of Minitinduk Gorge for more nice pictures:

Reference
“The Hugh Low Trail: The Quest for the Historical Trail to the Summit of Kinabalu” by Dr. Ravi Mandalam, Dr. Chin Shui Hiung and Christopher Chin, published by The Sabah Society, Jan 2004

Photos taken in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Crocker Range Park (part 3 of 4)

2 Replies

Continued from Part 2…

(You may start reading from Part 1)

Here comes the highlight of my trip in Crocker Range Park, the night walk! I did two night walks, 1st night in Insectarium, and 2nd night in 2.036KM Crocker trail. You see nothing much in both places during daytime, but they turn into a busy world when night falls. If you are interested in night walk, you can arrange in advance with the Park at Administration Office or Crocker Nature Center during office hours. They will send a ranger to guide you. Usually the walk starts at 7:30pm.

Night Walk in Insectarium

For my 1st night walk in Insectarium, the Park sends two ladies to accompany me, wow. They asked, “would you mind if the guide is female?” I smiled and replied, “No… Of course not” (why should I, hehe..). Oh, by the way, the lady at the left is Tomomi Kan, a Japanese volunteer from JICA. At the right is Lucy Suin, a Sabah Parks staff.

No kidding… these girls have sharp eyes. They started to discover bugs the moment we stepped into Insectarium. Normally girls will scream when they see bugs. However, these girls are so happy to find creepy creatures in the dark, like enjoying a treasure hunt. With the aid of torchlight, we search every inch of Insectarium and left no leaf unturned.

One by one, the bugs reveal themselves under their torchlight. I wonder how they did it. Probably they are so used to insect collection. Crocker Range Park has over 400 species of insects, making the Park one of the best spots for collecting specimen.

Above: this might be a Malaysian Earth Tiger (Cyriopagopus thorelli) tarantula spider

Above: a cricket disguised as the tip of leaf!

There are more bugs discovered when we moved closer to the pond and stream areas. It was such a joyful experience!

Above: an agamid that can change color in minute

Above: a very long stick insect found by Lucy, the highlight of the 1st night walk.

It started to rain at 10pm, so we had to stop our night walk and said goodbye to each other. Anyway, I’m really happy to bag so many good shots.

Night Walk in Crocker Trail

Because of the exciting experience, I decided to arrange another night walk in Crocker Trail (2.036 KM) next day. This time the Park sends Mr. Rosandy Angkusup to guide me. I feel sorry to make them work until late night in fasting month (Puasa), so I tipped all the guides. Same as the lady guides, Rosandy has a trained eyes to beat the smart camouflage by bugs, especially stick insects.

Above: a moulting cicada. The moulting was so slow that we couldn’t wait until it finished.

Above: the cotton-like substance is a group of Wooly aphid insect, amazing…

We saw at least 3 fireflies in the jungle.

It is so impressive that crickets can look so different to one another.

Above: this alien-like cricket was shown in National Geographic channel before. The Crocker Trail is far more promising because the trail is inside the real forest.

Besides bugs, we also saw a Shama bird sleeping on tree, a mouse deer, heard the loud barking of a barking deer (probably smell our presence) and 2 civets at the edge of primary rainforest. We would get some if we carry hunting rifle, haha. Of course, poaching is prohibited in national park.

Above: giant river toad

Stick Insects

Rosandy is so professional in spotting stick insects (I always miss it!). I never saw so many stick insects in one night, nor do I know stick insects have so many species and variety. Some can play dead and some can release foul smell as a defense. Some can fly while some can’t. But all of them have one thing in common – they look like stick.

Above: very long stick insect

We moved so slowly that the night walk ended at 12:30am and our torchlight was almost out of battery. This is the best night walk I’ve had. I’ll be back one day.

WARNING: I know this blog would attract insect collectors. Please be informed that collection of any flora & fauna in national park without a permit, whether the subject is dead or alive, is a serious offense. You will be fined heavily or even jailed for illegal collection. Crocker Range National Park is NOT a place for you to look for toy pet!!!

Click Here for Next Article (part 4)

More Photos

You may check out the photo album of Crocker Range Park for more nice pictures:

All Articles

Part 1: Crocker Nature Center, Insectarium, Fern Garden & Rafflesia Plot
Part 2: Crocker Trail, Pine Trail & Observatory Tower
Part 3: Night Walk (this article)
Part 4: Accommodation in the Park

Photos taken in Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

More Night Walk photos:
Miki Survival Camp

Sepilok Rainforest to Mangrove (part 3 of 4)

Long-Tailed Macaques

It was a late afternoon in Sepilok Laut Reception Center. “The bad guy is coming!” the forestry guide warned me, “Do NOT leave any belonging outside your room.”

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

Then I saw a long-tailed macaque sitting in the wood about 15 Meters away from us. It looks so kind, with a face like a friendly Santa Claus. In fact, macaques can be so aggressive that even the big orangutan doesn’t dare to agitate them.

After observing us cautiously for a while, this monkey came closer to our building and sneak under our platform, peeping us through the gaps of the boardwalk.

Then the rest of the cheeky monkey followed. The guide told me that just a few days ago, these monkey stole the syringe and medication of a tourist, who has diabetes, and ran into the forest. The monkey also knows how to open a door.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

There is also a group of red-leaf monkey living nearby, but they are very shy and seldom come near to the building.

“This is an alpha male,” the guide says, “We call him Paul.” Indeed, Paul is relatively larger than other monkey in his gang. Look at the size of his balls!

The guide wanted to get Paul closer to me for a mug shot session, so he gave Paul a pack of chocolate biscuit. Paul came forward to accept the offering and enjoyed the biscuit only 5 feet in front of us.

The expression of monkey is so rich and human-like. Of course I got a lot of good/funny photos. It is not advisable to feed them. If they are too used to human, they will attack anyone who carries food and become a nuisance to tourists. For now, they are still wild.

That’s a female monkey on the roof. Probably the wife of Paul.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

In the mudflat not far away from our building, a few baby long-tailed macaques busy searching for food. They also eat crab. That’s why they are also known as Crab-Eating Monkey.

And there was a big monitor lizard stalking on these little monkey. It is very smart. It stayed still whenever the monkey looked at its direction.

But too bad the monkey still discovered the lizard and making alert call to warn others.

Mission failed, so the disappointed lizard retreated into the mangrove.

After meal hour, those monkey groomed one another. They are so relax and don’t even bother about us. I even heard their annoying screeching noise during bedtime.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest

If you want to see more monkey faces, check out the video below:

Click Here to see wider video

This place is supposed to be ideal for bird watching. Due to the poor weather, I only saw a few Pacific Swallow, Ashy Tailorbird and Common Iora. If you are lucky, you would see woodpecker, kingfisher, hornbills, etc.

Night Safari

If you stay in the jungle, always take a walk at night, you will see more interesting stuffs than daytime. After dinner, I told the guide I wanted to do a night safari at night. He is also very interested and want to join, so we went into the wood at 7:30pm. As expected, there are so much too see at night. I search slowly with torchlight and turned almost every leaf. Though the guide was with me, he was always out of my sight, leaving me engulfed by darkness, scary…

Hammer head worm.

Stick insects.

Fungus beetles busy mating.

Big ant..

Jumping spider..

>> Click Here to see more photos of Sepilok Forest
We also saw scorpion, frog, big millipede, snail, centipede and other small creatures.

Above: a few leaves weaved and connected by human-hair-like threads, spooky!

The jackpot of my night safari is the Borneo Anglehead Agamid, which is endemic to Borneo. It is quite small and shorter than the length of my palm. Unfortunately, suddenly it rained and I didn’t bring my raincoat, so we had to run more than half a KM back to our building. That ended my day.

FYI, they say there are a lot of fireflies in deeper part of the mangrove. You may hire a boat to check it out at night.

Update (Nov 2012)!

The jungle trail to Sepilok Laut Reception Centre (SLRC) is changed. You may want to read the new upgrade and latest change of SLRC facilities here.

Photos taken in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo