March 24-April 10, 2026 with Doug Gochfeld
To put it simply, Borneo is awesome. Each location we cover on our Borneo tour is a naturalist’s paradise on its own, and when combined, the barrage of varied wildlife encounters combines for an experience that has an argument as the most interesting naturalizing in the world. Most of our birding at this latitude takes place in the morning and evening, but the night prowling opportunities here are also gold medal-level. This year, we were able to partake in just about every night excursion on our plan, thanks to dry nights, and this enabled some of our more memorable encounters, from the iconic Tarsier, to the seldom seen Temminck’s Flying Squirrel, bizarre Slow Loris, and Large and Gould’s frogmouths on separate nights.
We started out with a night (or more, for those early arrivers) at Sepilok, where some folks visited the Orangutan center, and some even saw a family of otters (apparently Small-clawed Otter) at our lodge! As a group, we enjoyed evening and morning visits to the legendary Rainforest Discovery Center. Our guided night walk started the tour off with a bang, with a Sunda Colugo, a Bornean Tarsier, Bornean Keeled Pit Viper, seeing Red Giant Flying Squirrels in flight, a single Black Giant Flying Squirrel, and even a Bat Hawk flying over at dusk! Our morning visit here provided us great views of the often secretive Sabah Partridge, a pair of big White-bellied Woodpeckers, Diard’s Trogon, three species of spiderhunter, great views of Long-tailed Parakeets investigating a nest cavity, a Wallace’s Hawk-Eagle sitting on a nest, constant flight displays of Violet Cuckoo, and a starter view of Bornean Orangutan!
Our next base of operations would be our comfortable lodge along the Kinabatangan River, but en route, we had to make an afternoon stop for a unique treat: the Gomantong Caves. The cave was open for visitation this year, and so we gathered our stuff and made the shortish trek through the forest, seeing two more Orangutans at close range en route! We were then able to take a loop on the cave boardwalk underneath hundreds of nesting swiftlets and roosting bats – quite the experience, both experientially and olfactorily. We then retired to the mouth of the cave to watch the fly-out of bats, which rose out of the top of the cave like a billowing smoke stream, the stream providing a crepuscular buffet for Wallace’s Hawk-Eagle, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Bat Hawk. An additional couple of visits to this highly productive forest road in subsequent days gave us some more specialties: Bornean Crested Fireback, Ruddy Kingfisher, Lesser Mouse-Deer, and the fun surprise of a Malayan Night Heron!
We then said goodbye to our bus for a few days, and took a short boat ride to settle into our riverside quarters. Our days on the river featured great birdlife, from the rare endemic Storm’s Stork to Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Straw-headed Bulbul, White-crowned Hornbill, and plenty in between. Birds overhead are always a main feature of the river, and this year that included one group of dozens of Lesser Adjutants circling on late morning thermals, a scarce migrant Chinese Sparrowhawk, and our only views on the tour of Helmeted Hornbill. In addition to good numbers of Saltwater Crocodiles this year (thanks to the lower water level), and a small group of Bornean Pygmy Elephants, we also partook in a panoply of primates, from endearing macaque babies clambering across and lounging on the monkey bridges, to troops of Proboscis Monkeys, with the bizarrely big-schnozzed males sitting guard.
Our leisurely siestas during the midday heat and rain showers also gave us the energy to take multiple night safaris along the river, yielding plenty of nocturnal treats. Philippine Slow Loris was the mammal highlight, but birds cooperated too: Yellow Bitterns, Brown Boobook, great views of Buffy Fish-Owls, and of course the memorable Large Frogmouth experience!
The legendary Danum Valley was our next stop, and our nights, meals, and siestas were taken at the incomparable Borneo Rainforest Lodge, perched on the banks of the Danum River, deep in this wild and pristine forest. There are many targets at Danum, both avian and otherwise, and our mornings and afternoons were filled with walking the entrance road and some forest trails in search of them all. Orangutans were not being seen regularly when we visited, and there were not many fruiting trees around the lodge during our visit this year, but one morning we stumbled across a newly fruiting fig that hosted a constant procession of barbets, pigeons, and other frugivores, and, to top it all off, a young male Orangutan that ultimately gave us some nice views. Later on, we also found two more Orangs: a mother overseeing her precocious youngster who was experimenting with using a huge bean pod for various things (including, apparently, as an umbrella). Other diurnal goodies we came across were Bornean and Black-throated Wren-Babblers, a group of Bornean Crested Firebacks, a cagey Crested Jayshrike, Wreathed Hornbill, the huge Great Slaty Woodpecker, and, during the very last possible minutes we even pulled out a couple of most sought-after Bornean Bristleheads! One evening saw a Bat Hawk acrobatically swooping around just over the rooftops of the lodge over and over again, hunting bats, which merely set the stage for the rest of our nocturnal exploits. These explorations revealed many things that usually remain hidden behind the veil of darkness: Greater Mouse Deer, Masked Palm Civet, Thomas’s and Red giant flying squirrels, the bizarre Wallace’s Flying-Frog, another wide-eyed Bornean Tarsier, this time munching on a large katydid, and last but not least, a very seldomly documented Temminck’s Flying-Squirrel. While it was indeed mostly mammals that dominated our night highlights, we did have one major avian high along the way: a perfect encounter with a cooperative Gould’s Frogmouth right out in the open!
Our time at Danum came to an end with a mixture of both melancholy for having to say goodbye to Borneo Rainforest Lodge, and excitement for the final section of the trip: Mount Kinabalu! We flew across the island to the capital city of Kota Kinabalu, and after a relaxing overnight, left dark and early for the Crocker Range. Our first action-packed morning in the foothills was filled with a new suite of birds, with lifers coming fast and furious: Bornean Leafbird: check, Mountain Barbet: check, Bornean Bulbul: check, Penan and Cinereous bulbuls: check, check, and so it went. Amazing-looking, clown-like Long-tailed Broadbills built and tended nests while Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle and Rufous-bellied Eagle periodically patrolled the skies above. We even had brief views of a surprising pair of (a little higher than usual) Spotted Fantails. A pre-lunch stop at Gunung Alab was highlighted by a pair of Peregrine Falcons (Indo-Pacific subspecies group) courting and doing a mid-air food exchange, and finding a huge Atlas Moth, the largest moth in the world (by wing area). On the way to Kinabalu Park (where we would spend four nights in the lovely mountain air), we swung by Poring Springs, to see a blooming Rafflesia flower, the largest species of flower, which also happens to have a fascinating life cycle.
Our tour finale at Kinabalu Park featured a great combination of birds, bugs, and more. We saw hundreds upon hundreds of moths over the course of our stay, including another Atlas Moth, which, when it flew into dining room of Kinabalu Hall during dinner, and eventually settled onto the bottom of a chair – our enthusiasm for this effectively interrupted the dinner of all patrons in the establishment! The mammal situation here is more limited than in the lowlands, but we still managed four species of squirrel, including the scarce Kinabalu Squirrel, as well as Mountain Treeshrew, and some Maroon Langurs. The birds stole the show during the days though, with the sought-after Whitehead’s Broadbills being the star atop the figurative tree. We also had really good experience with Fruit-Hunter, Mountain Wren Babbler, Bornean Stubtail (and its insanely high-pitched song), Eyebrowed Jungle-Flycatcher, Golden-naped Barbet, Bornean Shortwing, Bornean Forktail, Pale-faced Bulbul, and also got views of Bare-headed Laughingthrush, Whitehead’s Trogon, and a distant Whitehead’s Spiderhunter, all of which are endemics! We said a fond farewell to our scenery-and-bird-packed days at Kinabalu Park, and headed back down to the coast, seeing a couple of hundred shorebirds and some other waterbirds en route, and finishing off with a walk on the beach and some Blue-naped Parrots, Pied Trillers, and a confiding Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker.
Here is a list of the mammal species we identified during the tour:
Sunda Colugo (Galeopterus variegatus)
Lesser Short-nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus brachyotis)
Lesser (?) Sheath-tailed Bat (Emballonura monticola?)
Wrinkle-lipped Free-tailed Bat (Mops plicatus)
Common Treeshrew (Tupaia glis)
Mountain Treeshrew (Tupaia montana)
Large Treeshrew (Tupaia tana)
Philippine Slow Loris (Nycticebus menagensis)
Bornean Tarsier (Cephalopachus bancanus borneanus)
Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)
Southern Pig-tailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina)
Sunda Silvery Langur (Trachypithecus cristatus)
Maroon Langur (Presbytis rubicunda)
Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus)
Eastern Gray Gibbon (Hylobates funereus)
Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Pale Giant Squirrel (Ratufa affinis)
Prevost's Squirrel (Callosciurus prevostii)
Kinabalu Squirrel (Callosciurus baluensis)
Plantain Squirrel (Callosciurus notatus)
Bornean Black-banded Squirrel (Callosciurus orestes)
Horse-tailed Squirrel (Sundasciurus hippurus)
Low's Squirrel (Sundasciurus lowii)
Jentink's Squirrel (Sundasciurus jentinki)
Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel (Sundasciurus everetti)
Least Pygmy Squirrel (Exilisciurus exilis)
Temminck's Flying Squirrel (Petinomys setosus)
Red Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista petaurista)
Black Flying Squirrel (Aeromys tephromelas)
Thomas's Flying Squirrel (Aeromys thomasi)
Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Roff Rat (Rattus rattus)
Gray Tree Rat (Lenothrix cana)
Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga)
Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata)
Binturong (Arctictis binturong)
Bornean Pygmy Elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis)
Greater Indo-Malaysian Chevrotain (Tragulus napu)
Javan Chevrotain (Tragulus javanicus)
Sambar (Rusa unicolor)
Here are some of the notable non-avian, non-mammalian organisms that we took pleasure in during our couple of weeks in Borneo's tropical paradise:
Bornean Keeled Pitviper (Tropidolaemus subannulatus)
Brown Rat Snake (Ptyas fusca)
Painted Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus)
Double-spotted Gecko (Gekko monarchus)
Flat-tailed House Gecko (Hemidactylus platyurus)
Banded Forest Gecko (Cyrtodactylus consobrinus)
Borneo Forest Dragon (Gonocephalus bornensis)
Flying Dragon sp. (Draco spp.) (possibly multiple species)
Wallace's Flying-Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)
Bornean White-lipped Frog (Hylarana megalonesa)
Rough-sided Frog (Hylarana glandulosa)
Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Indomalayan Water Monitor (Varanus salvator macromaculatus)
Saffron-bellied Frog (Chaperina fusca)
Atlas Moth
Lyssa Moth
Malayan Birdwing
Common Tree Nymph
Redspot Duke
Royal Assyrian
White Lantern Bug (Pyrops sultana)
Pyrops whiteheadi
Bornean Pill Millipede
Tractor Millipede
Tiger Leech
Gigantomorpha centipede
Two species of stick insects (tribe Necrosciini, suborder Verophasmatodea)
At least 5 species of mantis, from a tiny bark mantis to a Theopompa opthalmica)
Rafflesia keithii (Wow!!)
Nepenthes chaniana
Dendrobium lambii
Podochilus tenuis (Pinhead Orchid)
During our final meal together, we went over the highlights of the tour, and the variability in the votes reflected the incredible diversity and richness of our Bornean wilderness experience. Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Slow Loris, Whitehead’s Broadbill, Bornean Pygmy Elephant, Red Giant Flying Squirrel in flight, Long-tailed Macaques crossing the river on the monkey bridge, Saltwater Crocodile, and of course Bornean Bristlehead were all mentioned by multiple people, but none by more than half the group. Meanwhile other characters and settings receiving votes were Long-tailed Broadbill, Bornean Green-Magpie, Atlas Moth, Gould’s Frogmouth, Bat Hawk, Western Tarsier, Black & Yellow Broadbill, Bushy-crested Hornbills, boat trips along the Menanggol River, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Buffy Fish-Owl, Mountain Wren-Babbler, Wallace’s Flying-Frog, the visit to Gomantong Caves, Pyrops sultana, Bornean Stubtail, Bornean Shortwing, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Malay Civet, Chestnut-headed Laughingthrush, Whiskered Treeswift, and Crested Jayshrike.
The plants and animals were the highlight of this trip, as should be the case, but I would be remiss to not mention more about the full tour experience: The food was great throughout, thanks to the excellent chef and kitchen staff at each of our home bases, and our drivers (on both wheels and water!) were excellent at responding to our wildlife needs, no matter what, and we were very appreciative and thankful to all those who helped make our trip such a smooth delight along the way.
Thank you for joining me for this comprehensive trip through one of my favorite places on the globe to explore. Until we met again, great birding, mammaling, mothing, bugging, botanizing, and all the rest!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/500602
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/bor26aTRIPLIST.pdf
-- -Doug Gochfeld (Treeswift)