Photograph of Orang-utan

Orang-utan along the Kinabatangan River by Coke & Som Smith.

BORNEO

Best Wildlife in Borneo

Mammals
Orang-utan, Proboscis Monkey, Bornean Gibbon, Western Tarsier, Red Giant and Thomas's Flying Squirrels, Red and Silvered Leaf Monkeys, Hose's Langur, Long-tailed (Crab-eating) and (Sunda) Pig-tailed Macaques, pygmy squirrels and tree shrews. Also a chance of Colugo (Sunda Flying Lemur) and Sambar, and an outside chance of Asian (Bornean Pygmy) Elephant, (Bornean) Clouded Leopard, Slow Loris, Sunda Pangolin, Flat-headed, Leopard and Marbled Cats, and Bearded Pig.

Photograph of Temminck's Sunbird

The stunning Temminck's Sunbird and Black-and-yellow Broadbill by Zee Wonderland.

Photograph of Black-and-yellow Broadbill

Birds
Lesser Frigatebird, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Buffy Fish Owl, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Temminck's Sunbird, Great Argus, Storm's Stork, and 40 or so endemics including Whitehead's and Hose's Broadbills, Whitehead's Trogon, Black-and-crimson (Black-headed), Blue-banded and Blue-headed Pittas, Bornean Bristlehead, Whitehead's Spiderhunter, White-fronted Falconet, Fruit-hunter, White-crowned Shama, three wren babblers, Friendly Bush Warbler and Bornean Stubtail, as well as Crested Fireback, Oriental Darter, Javan Pond Heron, Great-billed Heron, Cinnamon and Yellow (mostly Nov-Mar) Bitterns, Brahminy Kite, Lesser Fish Eagle, Bat Hawk, Watercock, Black-naped and Jambu Fruit Doves, Metallic and Nicobar Pigeons, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, Violet Cuckoo, malkohas, Sunda Frogmouth, Whiskered Treeswift, swiftlets, Diard's, Red-naped and Scarlet-rumped Trogons, Banded and Rufous-collared Kingfishers, Blue-throated and Red-bearded Bee-eaters, Helmeted, White-crowned and Wrinkled Hornbills, woodpeckers including Great Slaty, Banded, Black-and-red, Black-and-yellow, Dusky and Green Broadbills, Hooded Pitta, White-breasted Woodswallow, Maroon-breasted and Rufous-winged Philentomas, Green Iora, cuckoo-shrikes, minivets, Black-and-crimson Oriole, drongos, fantails, Short-tailed Magpie, Crested Jay, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, bulbuls, tailorbirds, flycatchers, Chestnut-naped and White-crowned Forktails, White-browed Shortwing, laughingthrushes, lots of babblers, Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler, White-browed Shrike Babbler, Asian Glossy Starling, Hill Myna, leafbirds, flowerpeckers, sunbirds including Crimson and spiderhunters. Also a chance of Christmas and Great Frigatebirds, Giant Pitta, Tabon Scrubfowl, Crimson-headed and Red-breasted Partridges, Chinese Egret (mostly Nov-Mar), Lesser Adjutant, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, White-browed Crake, Greater Painted Snipe, Bornean Ground Cuckoo, Asian Paradise Flycatcher and Everett's Thrush.

Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
Saltwater Crocodile, Whale Shark (mostly Mar-May at Lankayan Island), Manta and Eagle Rays, Green and Hawksbill Turtles (mostly Jul-Sep at Selingan and Sipadan), Draco flying lizards (usually most active Dec-Jan), Kuhl's Flying Gecko and Wallace's Flying Frog.

Invertebrates
Many amazing insects including Lantern Bugs, Rhinoceros Beetles, moths such as Atlas and birdwing butterflies including Rajah Brooke's.

Plants
An extraordinary flora which includes hundreds of orchids, several pitcher plants and Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest flowering plant in the world.

Other Natural Wonders of Borneo

Mount Kinabalu The highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea, rising to 4095 m (13,435 ft), which can be climbed without the aid of mountaineering equipment.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Borneo

Best Times for Wildlife in Borneo

Rain usually falls year round on the equator but April to October is usually drier than November to March in north Borneo and the driest period, especially late June to early August, is the best time to look for mammals and particularly birds, with August usually being the best time to see turtles nesting. The best scuba-diving and snorkeling conditions are also usually during the dry season.

Recommended Books etc. for Borneo

Globetrotter Wildlife Guide: Malaysia by H Oon. New Holland Publishers, 2008.

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo by J Payne and C Francis. WWF Malaysia, 1985 (corrected 1994).

A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo by S Myers. New Holland, 2009.

Phillipp's Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo by Q and K Phillipps. John Beaufoy Books, 2009.

The Birds of Borneo by B Smythies. Sabah and Malayan Nature Societies, 1981 (Third Edition).

Trip Reports for Borneo

Many trip reports, some for Borneo, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Borneo. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Borneo' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Borneo

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.


Accommodation in Borneo


Some Organized Tours to Borneo

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Borneo include the following.