Author Topic: Borneo Adventure  (Read 12395 times)

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure: Giants and Pygmies — the Long and the Short of it
« Reply #45 on: September 16, 2017, 23:33:18 »
Giants and Pygmies: The Long and the Short of it:

I learnt that Borneo is home to 33 different species of squirrels and among the different species that I saw were these two:

While I was photographing the Sun Bears, I glanced up into the tree canopy and saw this great 16-inch long tail hanging down from the branches. It belonged to a Bornean Giant Squirrel (Ratufa affinis).

These enormous squirrels grow to a total length, from nose-to-tail, of around 30 inches (78 cms).


100_AJS6051.jpg  Borneo Giant Squirrel (Ratufa affinis)

A few afternoons before that, I had been sitting under a shady tree, enjoying the river-side garden of the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in the Danum Valley, when I became aware of a minute creature scuttling around on the trunk of a tree and nibbling on lichens and flakes of bark.

It looked remarkably like a squirrel but . . .  that small?


100_AJS5401.jpg  LeastPygmy-Squirrel

It was indeed a squirrel: the Bornean Least Pygmy Squirrel (Exilisciurus exilis): all four inches of it — of which half the length is its tail.

Little seems to be known at the moment about either the numbers of these squirrels in existence (they are endemic only in Borneo) or the effect which de-forestation may be having on their chances of survival.

I had the 70-200 mm lens on the camera which has a minimum shooting distance of about 4.5 feet.

Fortunately I also had my TC-20 iii which turns the whole assembly into a very useful, moderately light, hand-holdable 400 mm Macro Zoom.

This was the lens-combination which I found the most useful and versatile while I was photographing in Borneo.

Two other Bornean Squirrels:


100_AJS6247.jpg  Plantain Squirrel

and this black one (with crimson under-parts) who was interested in getting his share of the Orang Utan's fruit


100_AJS6067.jpg  Borneo Black-banded Squirrel




Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure: Forests of the Night
« Reply #46 on: September 17, 2017, 22:08:18 »
Forests of the Night:

I had several chances to walk in the forest at night. Each time, my guide carried a pocket torch so that we could watch where we were putting our feet or be sure that we didn’t come into close contact with a Spitting Cobra.

The torch was our only light and all these photographs were shot hand-held while my Guide steadied the beam on the creatures which I wanted to photograph.

Unfortunately I never found my Slow Loris, nor saw the very rare Western Tarsier either, but it was remarkable just how much we did see.

Here are a few photographs of some of the smaller creatures that I found in the Bornean forests at night:
 
Female Lantern Moth with her lantern glowing to attract a mate.
This was a case of needing sufficient light to capture her delicately patterned wings while not over-powering her luminescent lantern.


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Giant 10-inches-long Millipede. Each foot can sting.
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These highly venomous Bornean Keeled Pit Vipers were coiled on low branches over hanging a stream and were  waiting to pounce on any unwitting frogs which might pass that way.


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Tree Frogs at Danum Valley.
It had been raining hard so perhaps that caused these two Flying Frogs to descend from the tree-tops (in reality, they Para-Glide down but have to climb back up into the canopy again.

Wallace’s Flying Frog is bright green with golden markings and his webs for gliding normally stay folded between his enormous toes and fingers.


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The orange Harlequin Flying Frog also has webs for gliding folded between his fingers.


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There are more  than 1000 recorded species of ants on Borneo, and 300 species in Sabah itself.
Treading on Marching Ants would be a very painful mistake.


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Danum Valley Army Ants: Whole Colony on the move and carrying their larvae.


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Giant Forest Ants (Camponotus gigas) are an inch in length and devour smaller Ants

Some of the birds in the night-time forest included this very large Buffy Fish Owl ( Ketupa ketupu)


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Hooded Pitta, (Pitta sordida)
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Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher
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And scuttling around in the thick mud in the heavy shade of the Mangroves, one may find these red-clawed Bornean Mangrove Tree-climbing Crabs


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The Forests are also filled with many interesting fungi:


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Tom Hook

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #47 on: September 18, 2017, 00:20:01 »
Just went through this entire Borneo thread. Very impressive array of creatures all beautifully photographed. Lucky you for having been able to take the trip and taking such pictures. Thanks!

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #48 on: September 19, 2017, 10:52:28 »
Tom:
Thank you. I am so glad that you enjoyed the pictures and this story.
 

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure: Flamboyant Feathers
« Reply #49 on: September 19, 2017, 11:21:26 »
Flamboyant Feathers

Borneo is home to a huge variety of birds including some very dramatic and brightly coloured species like these Wrinkled Hornbills and the Oriental Pied Hornbill.


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Several varieties of Eagle include the Crested Serpent Eagle (this one has a dead serpent in his talons):


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Wallace’s Hawk Eagle


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Waterside birds include the the Asian Anhinga.
(They are different from both the African and the American species of these Divers);


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The Bornean Purple Heron:


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Great Egret (Ardea Alba)


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A migrant Chinese Egret


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Among the vast numbers of smaller brightly coloured birds are these Blue Collared Bee-eater.


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This is a composite made by combining a sequence of a flying White Bellied Fish Eagle


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Akira

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #50 on: September 19, 2017, 13:33:55 »
I'm just overwhelmed by the diversity and the beauty of the ecosystem of Borneo!
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

chris dees

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #51 on: September 20, 2017, 11:47:01 »
What a great series of images!
An other place to put high on my list. :)
We visited Sumatra (Indonesia) last year for Orang-Utans, it's a subspecies from the Borneo one.

In Dutch the proboscis monkey are called "Nose monkeys" and they got that name for their big reddish nose (the males) and big bellies.
Did you know the nickname in Indonesian is "Orang Belanda", which is literally translated as "Dutchie" (from our colonial history). :)
Chris Dees

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #52 on: September 22, 2017, 06:56:03 »
Thank you both so much for your kind comments.

As Akira said, the enormous diversity of species in a single island is astounding; and so many of these creatures are endemic only to Borneo and are found nowhere else in the world.

Chris mentioned the Proboscis Monkeys: photographs of them will follow very shortly!

I haven't been able to get to Sumatra so far but I spent a very long time admiring the magnificent Sumatran Orang Utans who swing between the treetops of Singapore's splendid zoo.

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure: Lords of the Nose
« Reply #53 on: September 22, 2017, 07:28:42 »
Proboscis Monkeys at Labuk Bay:

On my last morning in Borneo, Ahmad, who owns the taxis which I used to get around Borneo, picked me up early in the morning from the Nature Resort Lodge in Sepilok (where I had been staying so that I could spend a couple of days at the Orang Utan and Sun Bear Rehabilitation Centres) and drove me to the Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary at Labuk Bay.

Ahmad also brought his pretty little five-year-old daughter along for the ride and for the chance to see the monkeys!


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Proboscis Monkeys are found only in Borneo and they only live in forested areas where there are copious supplies of water: either in lowland Dipterocarp forests, coastal mangroves or in riverine forests beside a major river like the Kinabatangan.


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Four hundred acres of Sabah jungle have been set aside near to the coast at Labuk Bay by the owner of the surrounding plantation for these gravely endangered primates. The staff put out fruit each day to supplement what the monkeys can pick for themselves in the forest.


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Their traditional habitat has been seriously eroded by human encroachment because Primary-growth Forests along rivers and the coastal wetlands (in which grow the foods on which this species depends) have been cleared to make way for Oil Palm plantations and other commercial activities so the monkeys now have nowhere else to go because their dietary needs are rather specialised. They are primarily a fruit and leaf-eating species and they also prefer to live close to water where they can swim.


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With their numbers now reduced to less than 7000, there are even less Proboscis Monkeys left in the wild than there are Borneo Orang Utans.

The Proboscis Monkeys were still up in the tree-tops when we arrived but, as feeding-time approached, they gradually descended from the trees and I was able to take numerous photographs of them.


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The males are famous for their prominent noses. An enlarged nose increases the resonance of their calls and it seems that he who grows the biggest nose will attract the most females to his harem.


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Females have smaller noses; and babies have little retroussé noses and black faces (which turn pink as they grow older).


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Proboscis Monkeys like to swim and to dive and they have slightly webbed toes which enhances their speed in the water.
Although their preserve is right on the shore, the Labuk Bay Preserve has also provided them with a swimming pool near one of the feeding stations but I didn’t see any of the monkeys do more that take a drink from it.


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The mothers are very protective of their young


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And the Dads seem to treat all the members of the family with great tolerance.


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When another juvenile picked a fight with her precious son, this mother scooped up her child . . . and went for the offender.


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A few more:


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PeterN

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #54 on: September 22, 2017, 08:06:21 »
Like Akira I am overwhelmed by the diversity and the beauty. But also by the way you captured it (and by your courage).
Peter

Jakov Minić

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #55 on: September 22, 2017, 10:07:25 »
Dear Ann, thank you so much for sharing these lovely images with us :)
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

chris dees

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #56 on: September 22, 2017, 11:58:36 »
Now I'm really sold to go to Borneo. :D
I "only" need to convince my wife as we just did a nature tour thru Uganda.
Chris Dees

Akira

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #57 on: September 22, 2017, 12:23:51 »
It is now well proved that Borneo is not only one of the best place on the globe for a brave and curious photographer, but also for testing the superb (especially low light/high ISO) performance of D5!
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Ann

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Re: Borneo Adventure: The Where and the How
« Reply #58 on: September 23, 2017, 22:44:16 »
The Where and the How:

For those (like Chris?!) who thinking of going to Borneo, these notes might be helpful:

Borneo, the third largest island in the World,  is shared between three different countries and I only visited parts of Sabah province in the extreme north of the Malaysian part of the island.

This is a Google Earth map of the complete island so that you get a general idea of the geography.


Borneo-Island.jpg

Malaysia owns the section along the Northeast and Northwest coasts (formerly colonial British North Borneo; and also Sarawak in the south-west. These two provinces encircle the independent Sultanate of Brunei.

The major part of the island (Kalimantan) in the Southeast, belongs to  Indonesia.

The second map shows the places where I went in more detail and the scarcity of metalled roads (shown in yellow) helps to explain why it takes so many hours to get to one place from another.



Sabah-Northeast.jpg

For example the route from Sandakan Airport to our Lodge on the Kinabatangan river near Sukau required an extensive drive around three and a half sides of a square so that a crow’s-flight of less than thirty miles became a  two and a half hour drive.

I had flown into Sandakan Airport from Singapore with a stop-over in Kuala Lumpur.
Ling was there to meet me and the two other photographers who had arrived on the same flight, as was Ahmad, who owns a taxi company. He drove us beautifully (and all our gear!) on the long journey to our Lodge  on the banks of the Kinabatangan River.

We did stop to get a few snacks at this little shop on the way to Sukau


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Ling had got everything organised and had deliberately chosen this particular Lodge because they employ their own Government-licensed Guide and also own their own small boat.

The Evergreen Lodge allowed us to reserve the boat solely for the four of us and to keep the boat out from before sunrise until after nightfall.

No other Lodge on the river will do that — as far as I know.

The accommodation is fairly basic (modern loos but only cold running water) but it is very clean and the family cooked local dishes for us.

A big advantage of going to Borneo with Ling is that she is both a first-rate photographer (with work hanging in the Smithsonian); an extremely knowledgeable naturalist and a very proficient user of both Photoshop and Lightroom. She shared her knowledge in using the software between the river excursions.

Four days later, Jeffrey (Ahmad’s brother-in-law) collected me from Sukau and drove me the two and half hours to the small town of Lahad Datu where the Borneo Rain-forest Lodge (in Danum Valley) have an office which is also the pick-up point for their shuttle car service to the Valley.

That part of the journey takes a further two and half hours  — most of it on a narrow gravel mountain road passing through beautiful forest scenery.


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The Lodge itself is outstanding in every way: a simply glorious location; excellent accommodation — I had a chalet with a verandah (plus a Jacuzzi — which I didn’t actually use!) overlooking the river.


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 A huge collection of dishes is offered for every meal (and served buffet-style so you could help yourself to the limit of your appetite!); and coffee and every kind of other drink is available at all times.


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I only had three nights in Danum Valley but more would have been even better.

The only thing that I would leave out the next time is a Night Drive because you really see very little from the back of a truck (except perhaps a small squirrel in the tree-tops?) whereas night-walking in the forest will reveal so many creatures and you can get in really close to them.


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The Lodge provided me with a personal Guide and I highly recommend that you ask for this when you make reservations because you are then on your own schedule and can linger as long as you like along the way.

Raybould Kouju, a delightful and wonderfully knowledgeable man was my guide and, when I have a chance to return to Danum, I will definitely ask if I can have him again — although I am sure that all of their guides are excellent.

After three days in  Danum Valley, I was driven down the mountain and back to Lahad Datu where Jeffrey was waiting to drive me north again to Sepilok.


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I had made reservations for a chalet at the Sepilok Nature Resort. This place is very moderately priced, and has guest chalets  built  in a tropical garden around a pretty lake.


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My room was very comfortable and overlooked the lake. The food was also very good and very inexpensive.


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My reasons for going to Sepilok were the Orang Utan and Sun Bear preservation programs within close walking distance from the Lodge; and the easy drive between Sepilok and Labuk Bay where I was hoping to photograph the Proboscis Monkeys.

I had booked for only two nights in Sepilok but three would be even better because you would then have an extra morning to photograph the Sun Bears soon after sunrise when they are most active.

The Lodge arranged for one of the rangers from the Orang Utan Rehab Centre, to take me there on my own for a night-walk after it had closed to the general public. That is well worth doing if you can.

Sepilok Nature Lodge can provide transportation to Labuk but their transport is a bus which runs at set times and I wanted to reach Labuk first thing in the morning when it first opens so Ling arranged for Ahmad to come and pick me (and all my luggage!) up from my Lodge; take me to Labuk Bay and accompany me all day before dropping me off at Sandakan airport for my evening flights back to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.

I couldn’t possibly have fitted so much into such a short time if Ahmad and Jeffrey hadn’t driven me around. Both are excellent drivers and the cost works out to be less than renting a self-drive car because you will be spending most of the time either in a boat or on foot with the rented car sitting idly in some car park.
Ling could probably arrange this for you.

Two other locations which would be worth visiting if you have time would be the forests around 4000m Mt. Kinabulu; and perhaps Tabin Wildlife Preserve as well.

Unlike Danum, Tabin is mostly secondary-growth forest but I they have plenty of wildlife and you might even get a chance to see the last three remaining Bornean rhinos still living in Sabah.

Sandakan and the Sulu Sea islands are famous for watching turtles and snorkelling among an amazing array of marine life but you might want to keep an eye on security bulletins because there have been pirate kidnappings and terrorist incidents in that area.

Did I mention that this area is in an Equatorial Rain Forest?


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Olivier

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Re: Borneo Adventure
« Reply #59 on: September 24, 2017, 00:55:03 »
Many thanks for this great thread and all the info, Ann. I'll be in Borneo mid-October for 7 days and will consider myself lucky if I see half of what you saw. We won't visit Sabah but Sarawak : three days in Mulu park just east of Brunei and four days near Kuching. I'll post pictures if yours don't put them too much to shame!
My daughter will spend a week in Sabah neat mount Kinabalu later in October with her school for humanitarian action. They will participate to the building of a school with villagers.