Our Borneo adventure (2): Kubah National Park and Semenggor Orang Utan sanctuary
When: March 2016 Weather: hot and sultry 30C
Nikon P900. Leica M 35mm Summilux F1.4
We left the Pullman Hotel in Kuching about 4pm and headed to Kubah National Park, about 45min away through increasingly green countryside with lots of interesting things to see…there were already a number of birds perched on wires and trees along the way, a portent of good things to come….we engaged the services of Mr Yeo Siew Teck a specialist birding guide with Catcity Holidays who had been highly recommended on other borneo birding blogs….
We stopped by the road side where Mr Yeo bought us some glutinous rice cooked in bamboo for our breakfast the next day…really very good with some local coconut jam(kaya).
this was our accommodation at the Kubah NP headquarters….the setting is beautiful and the accommodation basic..but good enough.
After checking in, we headed straight out in rapidly fading light to try and get some birding in…..the light was dreadful but we saw a few things…please excuse the crappy photos…..the P900 does NOT excel in dim conditions….
the first movement was of a woodpecker high up
Mr Yeo identified this cutie as a buff rumped woodpecker…the first lifer of many to come on this trip….only a poor record shot but highly pleasing nevertheless
A little flower pecker flitted in and out the bushes near by and finally perched for a moment for me to snatch this blurry shot…..what a gorgeous yellow breasted flower pecker! another lifer
and then Mr Yeo pointed out this beauty to us…the cartoon like impossibly beautiful black and yellow broadbill
black and yellow broadbill
This is the frog pond in Kubah NP where a wooden walkway leads around a pond….we decided to go have dinner first and return later to seek out the frogs…
Here’s a selection of the brilliant frogs in the pond area.
After shooting more forgs than I’ve ever seen in any one location we called it a night and retired…..
Bright and early the next morning, we were faced with moderately heavy rain and when it abated a bit we headed up on the road near the frog pond to seek more birds…..
The morning started off well when Mr Yeo whispered trogon! One of the birds on our desired list…..it was a difficult shoot….she was skittish and hidden by leaves and I only managed this one shot of the female scarlet rumped trogon….another lifer!
Mr Yeo then showed us some pitcher plants ..nepenthes ampullaria which is where the smallest frog in the world…the narrow mouth Matang tree frog, lays its eggs and the tadpoles …which we can see in this pitcher
as the rains became heavier, we headed to the orang utan sanctuary in Semenggor where the orang utans roam freely in the sanctuary….as we arrived in the car park,a veritable bird wave appeared….and a banded broadbill was another star bird….
a mother and her baby came down to feed…
the baby orangutan climbing
a banded kingfisher
black bellied malkoha
magnificent Raffles Malkoha
another view of raffles malkoha
Bornean black magpie from a gazillion miles away…..
red eyed bulbul
terrible record shot of velvet nuthatch which crawled its way verticall down the tree trunk
and a beautiful Asian Fairy Bluebird rounded off the afternoon nicely…
The weather was awful and the light was terrible on both days, but despite this, we actually managed to see quite a lot…..one of our group went back to Kubah on a drier day and saw many more things with Mr Yeo…..
We headed off to the Bornean Highlands Resort…..
The Natural Traveller 