7 Days Malaysia Birding Tour to Sarawak
Tour Overview
Birdquest’s Borneo birding tours to the Sabah and Sarawak States in Malaysia are a classic Asian birding tour experience in by far the richest part of this huge island...
Code of Tour: TAD0000031554
Length of Travel: 7 Day
Destinations of Tour:
Departure City:
Price of Tour: Request
Type of Tour: Private
Features of Tour: Wildlife tours birding tours
Birdquest’s Borneo birding tours to the Sabah and Sarawak States in Malaysia are a classic Asian birding tour experience in by far the richest part of this huge island for Bornean endemics. Our Borneo birding tour offers very comprehensive coverage of both the Sabah and Sarawak provinces of Malaysia, including Sabah’s Crocker Range, Mount Kinabalu (the highest mountain in Malaysia and indeed all Southeast Asia), the Kinabatangan River, Danum Valley Nature Reserve and the Klias wetlands, and the Ba’kalalan highlands and Paya Maga in Sarawak. This exciting adventure produces a very rich bird list, including an extraordinary number of Bornean endemics. These, notably, include the monotypic Bornean Bristlehead and no fewer than four species of pitta!
SARAWAK PRE-TOUR EXTENSION
Day 1: Afternoon tour start at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Drive to Beaufort.
Day 2: Klias Wetland Reserve, then cross into Sarawak and continue via Lawas to Long Semadoh.
Day 3: Drive to Ba’kalalan.
Day 4: Ba’kalalan area.
Days 5-6: Drive to Paya Maga and explore the area.
Day 7: Paya Maga, then drive to Kota Kinabalu.
Borneo: Sarawak: Day 1 Our tour starts early this afternoon at Kota Kinabalu airport in Malaysia’s Sabah state in northern Borneo. From there we will transfer to the town of Beaufort for an overnight stay.
(It is generally easy to incorporate Kota Kinabalu into your international tickets if you are flying with Malaysian Airlines, but if you are arranging your international flights yourself and would find it easier if we arranged your regional flights for you, we will be pleased to assist.)
Borneo: Sarawak: Day 2 This morning we will reach the Klias Wetland Reserve near the Sarawak border by first light. The lowland peat-swamp forest here is a rare habitat nowadays in the Malaysian parts of Borneo and the protected fragment at Klias is home to several localized, habitat-specific species. We will be searching in particular for Hook-billed Bulbul, Red-crowned Barbet, Grey-breasted Babbler and Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker.
Additional species we are likely to encounter today include the endemic Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Black-bellied Malkoha, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Long-tailed Parakeet, Common Hill Myna, Grey-and-buff Woodpecker, Diard’s Trogon, Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Glossy Swiftlet, Oriental Magpie-Robin, House Swift, Asian Palm Swift, Collared Kingfisher, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Pacific and Barn Swallows, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Ashy Tailorbird, Chestnut-rumped, Fluffy-backed and Chestnut-winged Babblers, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pied Triller, Malaysian Pied Fantail, White-breasted Wood Swallow, Black Hornbill, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Olive-winged Bulbul, Asian Glossy Starling, Olive-backed Sunbird, Eurasian Tree Sparrow Spotted and Zebra (or Peaceful) Doves, Greater Green Leafbird, Ruby-cheeked, Copper-throated, Olive-backed and Brown-throated Sunbirds, Dusky Munia and Chestnut Munia.
Later in the day we will cross the border into Malaysia’s Sarawak province. At Lawas we will change to 4×4 vehicles for our journey into the interior, where we overnight at a guesthouse at Long Tuyo.
Borneo: Sarawak: Day 3 Today we travel along the track to the remote settlement of Ba’kalalan, situated at 975m (3200ft) in the Kelabit Highlands, close to the border with Kalimantan, where we will stay for two nights.
Stops along the way could well produce Red-bearded Bee-eater, Yellow-crowned Barbet, Dark Hawk-Cuckoo and Brown-backed Needletail among others. We should arrive in time for some initial exploration.
Borneo: Sarawak: Day 4 Large tracts of excellent submontane forest are a feature of the Ba’kalalan area and these are now accessible along recently constructed but little-used roads that span a wide altitudinal range.
The forests around and above Ba’kalalan are home to such specialities as Dulit and Bornean Frogmouths and Hose’s Broadbill and we will be concentrating on these Bornean endemics as they are either very difficult or impossible to see in other areas in Borneo that are visited by birders.
In addition, an excellent variety of other Bornean specialities occur in the area, including Bornean Banded and Blue-banded Pittas, Whitehead’s Broadbill, Whitehead’s Spiderhunter, Pygmy White-eye (or Pygmy Ibon), Bornean and Mountain Barbets, Bornean Leafbird, Bornean Bulbul, Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush, Bornean Spiderhunter, Bornean Treepie, Chestnut-crested Yuhina, Golden-naped Barbet, Black-throated Wren-babbler and Mountain Serpent Eagle, several of which are easier to see in Sarawak than elsewhere.
In addition to the endemic frogmouths, other nightbirds present include Malaysian Eared Nightjar, Sunda Scops Owl, Bar-bellied Eagle-Owl and Brown Hawk-Owl, though a certain element of luck is required with some of these species.
Red-breasted, Crimson-headed and Ferruginous Partridges all occur but are hard to see in the impenetrable forest. There is even a slim chance of coming across the extremely rare Bulwer’s Pheasant in the hills around Ba’kalalan.
More widespread species that we are likely to encounter here include Crested Honey Buzzard, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Thick-billed Green Pigeon, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, Black-bellied Malkoha, Giant Swiftlet, Orange-breasted Trogon, Banded Kingfisher, Philippine and Little Cuckoo-Doves, Golden-whiskered and Blue-eared Barbets, Banded, Olive-backed and Orange-backed Woodpeckers, Green, Banded and Black-and-yellow Broadbills, Black-thighed Falconet, Cinereous and Black-headed Bulbuls, Lesser Green Leafbird, Large Woodshrike, Sunda Cuckooshrike, Scarlet Minivet, Rufous-tailed Jungle Flycatcher, Indigo and Hill Blue Flycatchers (plus Dark-sided and Asian Brown Flycatchers at times when these migrants are present), Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Rufous-fronted and Temminck’s Babblers, Black-and-crimson Oriole, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Ashy and Hair-crested Drongos, Crested Jay, Slender-billed Crow, Temminck’s Sunbird, Plain Flowerpecker, Little Spiderhunter and Paddyfield Pipit.
Borneo: Sarawak: Days 5-6 We will return along the road towards Long Semadoh before diverting onto a long-disused logging track to Paya Maga. From the end of the drivable track, we have a two-hour walk higher into the hills. It is around our camp at approximately 1700m (5578ft) that we expect to find the recently rediscovered endemic Black Oriole, which is a regular visitor to the area.
Being at a generally lower elevation than Ba’kalalan and with higher rainfall, the forest at Paya Maga contains a subtly different avifauna, including a higher volume of fruit-eating species. There is much overlap in species, however, so we will have second chances for some of the trickier species, such as Blue-banded Pitta and Dulit and Bornean Frogmouths.
With a bit of good fortune, we will also encounter one or more of the scarcer or shyer species of the area such as Crested Partridge, Great Argus (usually only heard here), White-crowned Hornbill, the rare endemic Hose’s Broadbill, White-necked Babbler or even the monotypic Rail-Babbler.
Additional species we may expect to encounter at Paya Maga include Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Common Emerald Dove, Raffles’s and Red-billed Malkohas, Banded Bay and Plaintive Cuckoos, Whiskered Treeswift, Rhinoceros, Wreathed and Helmeted Hornbills, Brown Barbet, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, Maroon-breasted Philentoma, Bar-winged and Black-winged Flycatcher-shrikes, Black-naped Monarch, Slender-billed Crow, Scaly-breasted, Cream-vented, Asian Red-eyed, Spectacled, Finsch’s, Yellow-bellied, Buff-vented and Streaked Bulbuls, Grey-headed and Black-capped Babblers, Bold-striped Tit-Babbler, Everett’s White-eye, White-rumped Shama, Yellow-eared Spiderhunter and Grey-breasted Spiderhunter.
Borneo: Sarawak: Day 7 After some early morning birding at Paya Maga we will descend to the road and transfer to Kota Kinabalu to join up with those arriving for the Sabah section of the tour.
