Three Rivers Birding Club Southwestern Pennsylvania

In 2023, I went to Columbia with the American Birding Association (ABA) and thought that would be my last birding trip. But in March this year (2024) I made the decision to make at least one more birding adventure. This time a trip to Borneo, also sponsored by the ABA, caught my attention. The tour would be organized and guides provided by Rockjumper Birding Tours. So I made the decision to do this one in hopes of getting my life list to the 2,000 mark.

Borneo is halfway around the world, and the part to be toured is the Malaysian Sabah province of Borneo. The area is essentially the northern portion of the island of Borneo, Borneo is the third largest Island in the world following Greenland and New Guinea. The southern portion is part of Indonesia, and there is also a small Sultanate, Brunei, on the western edge of Sabah.

Since RockJumper does not book transportation to and from its tours, that was up to me, and it was the first step in preparing for this trip. From Pittsburgh one can go either east or west to get to Borneo. Going east meant stops in South Korea, Taiwan, or Singapore, which I didn't particularly want to do, so I chose going east. Most other participants chose to go west, as most were from the Midwest or western states of the US. Google flights led me to book with Qatar Airways, which is part of the Oneworld Alliance along with American and Malaysian Airlines among others. Being in Oneworld Alliance is important, so that my checked bag could be checked through to the final destination. I was also able to obtain boarding passes for all my flights when I checked in at Pittsburgh. After correcting my ticket for not having my first name as written on my passport (Sam vs Samuel) by having to cancel and re-book, I reserved my flights.

My outgoing itinerary took me from Pittsburgh to JFK in New York, then to Doha in Qatar, to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and finally to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Borneo. The total elapsed time was just over 31 hours getting me to Kota Kinabalu at 12:40 a.m. on August 27. I had two close connections of 65 minutes and 90 minutes, which, with some hard walking, I was able to make. Arriving early on the arrival date, I had my room an extra day, and I finally got to sleep about 3 a.m. The first activity would be the welcome dinner that evening, and I spent the day having a late breakfast, lunch, and organizing for the adventure to come.

The first four days centered around Kota Kinabalu, a very modern city with a population of about 600,000. We got up each morning in time for breakfast at 5:30 a.m. at the hotel and a departure for the day's birding at 6:15. There were finally 19 participants, an ABA representative, and three RockJumper guides. In addition, we were assigned two local guides for the entire trip, and other local guides were with us from time to time. We were divided into three groups with six or seven participants, sometimes with the ABA representative, and always one of the Rockjumper guides and local guides. We traveled in 10- or 12-passenger vans. The RockJumper guides rotated between groups, so we got to bird with all the guides. Each day, lunch was at a local restaurant close to our birding site. The local guides arranged these meals which were uniformly at nice places with good food.

I was part of a group the first day that went to Kinabalu Park, which is located on the side of Mt. Kinabalu at around 6,000 feet elevation. The site was about an hour and a half drive from the hotel depending on traffic. We birded primarily on the road which had periodic shelters - these being useful because it was rainy and misty in the morning. The guides were great in hearing, spotting, and showing us the birds. They each had laser pointers to guide us to the birds. Many of the target birds were hard to see, so sometimes we spent a lot of time waiting for a bird to respond to the taped calls the guides used. On that first day, August 28, I recorded 29 species of birds, 27 of which were life birds. There were others recorded which I missed. In addition, I recorded a squirrel, a marten and a snake.

Each evening we would be back at the hotel close to 6 p.m. After a short time to clean up for dinner, each group would meet and complete their checklist for the day, followed by dinner at 7.

The breakfasts and dinners were buffet style. The Malaysians believe that bones should be cooked with the meat. Thus, the chicken, which was available in several different dishes, almost always had some bone in it. One of the guides, who was from New Zealand, called it machete chicken. One had to be careful with chicken. There was an omelet bar at breakfast, but for some reason they didn't have any cheese for the omelet. We soon learned that the omelets were almost always undercooked, so we ordered scrambled eggs instead. Overall, the food at the Shangra La City Center was just adequate but not to be remembered. There are no grazing animals in Malaysia, so all beef and dairy products are imported from Australia or New Zealand. Since Malaysia is 60% Islamic, there generally is no pork. This may explain the lack of cheese, though they had milk at our hotel. Perhaps cheese is particularly expensive.

The second day, August 29, was a return to the same site as the first day attempting to pick up species we had missed. The birds of the day was a pair of Bornean Forktails. This species is a bird residing along streams, and we had a slippery, little walk down alongside a small, forest stream to see the birds. I recorded just eight life birds this day.

The third day my group visited the Kilas Swamp. As one can imagine, it was hot and humid, though the walk was along a boardwalk into the swamp to a viewing pavilion. On the way to the swamp we stopped at a field and recorded several species there. On the way back from the swamp we birded a fallow rice field and made a stop in a suburb to see three new species, and finally, a stop at Prince Phillip Park, where we recorded more new birds. For the day I recorded 24 life birds.

Our final day of birding around Kota Kinabalu was primarily aimed at the Crocker Mountain Range, southeast of the city, which hosts many different birds than Mt. Kinabalu and is about the same elevation of 6,000 feet. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at another fallow rice field. I saw 16 life birds this day.

September 1 was a day to transfer across the island to the little town of Lahad Datu with a population of around 28,000. We flew from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu around 9 a.m. arriving before 10. From the little airport with one runway/taxiway to our Rainforest Lodge was almost a three-hour drive. We arrived for lunch after a brief orientation. We were now in the Danum Valley, a large area of preserved lowland rain forest. We had four days of birding here.

During our drive to the Danum Valley, we stopped to see a Black Eagle, a Whiskered Treeswift, and a Crested Serpent-Eagle, all life birds. We also had a late afternoon walk that yielded seven life birds and a Bornean Orangutan. On our first night walk I saw three new species of owls. This day yielded 13 life birds.

We stayed at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. Here we were required to remove our footwear whenever we entered a meeting room, dining room, or our chalet. The dining area was on the second floor of the lodge and was open to the outside with just ceiling fans. Food was served buffet style with a wide variety of dishes available. We had fresh fish, squid dishes, a soup bar, a barbecue bar, and fresh cheese of two varieties. There were salad makings, a choice of nuts, and always smoked salmon and smoked duck. The food here was outstanding. Every breakfast, lunch. and dinner was a treat. This lodge is three hours by truck from Lahad Datu, and all the food is trucked in. The variety and quality of food was amazing.

Our routine here was to have breakfast at 5:30 a.m. and depart for a morning walk around 6:15, return for lunch, and then a midafternoon walk, returning around 6 p.m., in time to clean up and go over our group checklist for the day, before dinner at 7. Again we were divided into three groups, though at times we were all together at the same place. Each night there was either a night walk or a night drive for each group. The drives were done in large electric vehicles holding four to six with a guide standing at the rear with a large battery-powered spotlight. Each group generally occupied two of these vehicles. Each group got to do a night walk and two night drives all on different nights.

The two walks on September 2, our first full day in the Danum Valley, produced 19 life birds. The highlight was a walk down a steep and slippery trail to a display site of the Great Argus, the second largest pheasant-like bird in the world. The site was near the entrance to the Canopy Walkway, which we would all experience on our last day here.

The next day in the morning it was raining. During the rain we birded just behind the lodge and had a view of the river. I saw several life birds there. Later we did our usual entry road walk both in the late morning and in the late afternoon. The highlight of the day was the flyby during the rainy morning of the very-rare Great-billed Heron. For the day I added 20 life birds.

On our last full day of birding in the Danum Valley, September 4, we were transported to the entrance to the Canopy Walkway. Each group birded the Canopy Walkway, one group at a time, while the other two groups birded near the entrance. The walkway is a series of walkways suspended between towers that are built around large trees. One is basically half-way up in the forest where many species spend their time, giving us a chance at new species. After we had all had a chance at the walkway, we walked further away from the lodge towards the river where there was a grove of fruiting trees. Again, a chance for new birds. However, it was very hot and humid, and two of us chose to leave early and start the long walk back to the lodge. I spent time after lunch packing and missed the start of the afternoon walk. For the day I added 11 life birds. The next day we were to fly back to Kota Kinabalu.

Our last morning at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge was time for packing and another short birding walk. I was so engrossed with packing that I missed the birding walk. I had my bag stuffed, and it took a bit of time to get everything into the checked bag and my carry-on. I had to wear my boots and pack my sneakers, which makes it slower to pass the security checkpoints as my boots always set off the metal detector. Since I missed the walk, I birded behind the lodge with a view of the river. There I found a Lesser Fish-Eagle perched on a dead limb. I was able to get good pictures as the eagle never left the perch. We had an early lunch and departed for Lahad Datu and our flight back to Koto Kinabalu. We arrived at the tiny airport in plenty of time as our flight was delayed a bit. Sitting in the waiting room, we had a great view of the runway and the grassland around it. Three life birds were seen here, making four for the day.

We arrived back at our hotel in Kota Kinabalu in time for dinner. There would be no more birding as the next day was reserved for departures. Since my departure flight was late the next evening, and check-out was at 10:30 a.m., I had a room for the day. A couple from Minnesota also had a late flight, and we went up the street to a Holiday Inn Express and had lunch in their coffee shop. I was transported to the airport at 7 p.m. after eating some of the snacks that I had. The flights home should have been uneventful as I had plenty of time for transfers and had all my boarding passes after check-in at the Kota Kinabalu airport.

Trouble started at Doha, Qatar. The departing flight to Philadelphia was about two hours late. This flight is over 15 hours, and they made up none of the lost time. When I got to immigration in Philadelphia, the immigration officer stopped me for bringing in a meat stick which I had taken with me and not consumed. They put me and others in a locked room, and an agent went to find my bag on the baggage carousel. They never found it, and, after almost an hour, they took one meat stick from my carry-on and let me go, saying that my bag would probably be found in Pittsburgh when I got there. Meanwhile, my boarding pass was lost, and I had to spend another ten minutes or so getting a new pass. By that time my flight to Pittsburgh was boarding, and I still had to clear security. where they delayed me by emptying a partially filled water bottle. TSA Precheck was of little help. The gate was a long way from where I was, and despite walking as fast as I could, the flight was closed when I got there. So American Airlines, with no questions asked, gave me a voucher for an overnight hotel stay and $12 worth of food.

It took almost an hour to get the hotel shuttle, and by the time I got into bed it was after 11 p.m. From the time I got up in Borneo until then, it was almost 50 hours without any meaningful sleep. Not wanting to be late the next morning, I got up in time to get the 5:30 a.m. shuttle to the airport. I was at the gate three hours ahead of loading for my flight to Pittsburgh. The gate attendant was able to trace my bag and said it would be on this flight. We boarded the flight on time, but then on the taxiway we stopped. Finally the captain came on and said there was a mechanical problem, and we would return to the terminal. After a further delay, they had us leave that plane and walk back to our original gate and board a different plane. I finally arrived in Pittsburgh at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. My checked bag was there. The TSA lock was missing, but I later found it in an outside pouch of the bag, so it had been inspected by TSA but not relocked. Ironically, my bag still contained several more meat sticks. My original flight would have had me home at 9 p.m. the night before. An exhausting trip home to say the least.

Nevertheless, overall the trip was an adventure of a lifetime. I added 143 life birds and brought my life list to 1,954, short of 2,000, but satisfying anyway.

— by Sam Sinderson

(Photos by the Author)

Sam Sinderson in Borneo