Hix Does Brunei

[Hix]

One of the attractions at Ulu Ulu Resort is a canopy walkway. During my research I could actually see it on Google Earth (co-ordinates at the end of this post) and although it was on the other side of the river, it was only three or four hundred metres away from the resort. Martin told me it would take an hour to get there, which I thought was a gross exaggeration. But I was wrong.

At 3pm I met Martin and we jumped into a longboat to take us across the river. There’s actually a bridge that spans the river but a couple of weeks before my arrival heavy rains had caused a landslip near the pylons on one side and so the bridge was closed until a geotechnical engineer could come up and assess the situation. So the longboat took us to a point near the bridge and then we followed a very muddy slippery path, holding onto ropes tied between the trees, to the bridge. Then I discovered why it takes an hour to reach the Canopy Walkway – it’s all uphill. From this side of the bridge is a wooden walkway, mostly steps going up the hill. It was steep too, and in the heat and humidity it was also exhausting. Luckily there were three small huts where we could stop, sit down and rest for a bit. This was good as it had started to rain and so we could stay relatively dry in these shelters until the rain stopped. Martin had counted the steps once – 1254 of them. And it did take about an hour to get to the walkway.

The Canopy Walkway consists of five metal towers with narrow metal walkways in between. The first tower was 44 metres in height which not only took us into the canopy but well above it. The view from there was spectacular and you could see for miles in all directions. Climbing it was slow because it would be easy to slip on the metal structure, especially when wet from the rain. You wouldn’t fall far but I was careful anyway. It takes five to ten minutes to climb the tower to the top. About halfway up Martin called me back down a level and pointed to a fruiting fig tree about 50 metres away: feeding on the figs was a Rhinoceros Hornbill, a species I think is one of the more spectacular of the hornbills. This was a lifer for me and I was very glad to see it.

Reaching the walkway Martin and I spent about 45 minutes there before we had to leave due to the failing light, and we hadn’t seen any other birds at all. This was very disappointing, especially after the effort it took to get up there. But the view was spectacular, forested hills in all directions, and from where I stood on top of the first tower I could see exactly how high – and steep – the surrounding hills were. I don’t know exactly how far I could see, but I would say it was at least ten kilometres, possibly 20 or 25, and looking to the south I could see hills in neighbouring Sarawak.

It took about 40 minutes to get back to the resort and we arrived just before dark. I went straight to my room and had a shower as I was soaked in sweat and wanted to be a bit more respectable for dinner. Walking to the dining room in the dark I found I was sharing the covered walkway with a number of bats that were flying the length of the well-lit path catching insects. There were five other guests staying at the resort, a young American guy and four Russians, but we all kept to ourselves. During dinner it started to rain again, quite hard, and rained for much of the night.

Returning to my room I wanted to download my photos onto the laptop and get a good look at the photos I’d taken of the Nondescript Brown Bulbuls, and ID them in my field guide. But my laptop wouldn’t turn on. Nothing I could do would make it turn on. The power light said it was getting power, but it just wouldn’t power up. And, to this day, it has never powered up again. Which is why many of my bird photos never got positively identified until I got back to Christmas Island and I could look at the images on my desktop’s screen.

And this posed another problem for me: I take photos in RAW, which take up a lot of space. I fill up a memory card every couple of days, so at the end of each day I usually download all the images to the laptop’s hard drive and clear the memory card. Because of all the photos I’d taken of bulbuls at the fig tree, the card was almost half-full already. I carry a couple of spare cards with me, but I knew they wouldn’t last the whole two weeks.

And lastly: when I went to Tanzania a few years ago it took me ages to write it all up – I finally finished it early this year, 2 ½ years later! So for this holiday I had planned to write up the day’s events each evening on my laptop as it would be easier with things fresh in my mind. And in Ulu Temburong where there’s no TV or radio, and not much to do once it gets dark, I figured I’d have plenty of time for writing. But that only works if your laptop works (which is why I’m posting this report six months afterwards).

I went to bed that night frustrated that the technology I usually rely upon (camera and laptop) had both failed me, and wondered how I was going to manage for the rest of the trip.





Hix


New Birds: Ashy Tailorbird, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Pacific Swallow, Grey-bellied Bulbul, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker*, Dusky Munia, Cream-vented Bulbul*, Puffbacked Bulbul*, Red-eyed Bulbul*, Olive-winged Bulbul*

Those marked with a * were identified after my holiday.

New Mammals: Hose’s Langur

New Reptiles: Horsfields Flying Gecko, Common Tree Skink




Kampong Ayer: 4º 52’ 57.44" N 114º 56’ 38.47" E

Bangor: 4º 42’ 24.51” N 115º 04’ 23.66” E

Batang Duri: 4º 34’ 36.10” N 115º 07’ 16.56” E

Ulu Ulu Temburong Resort: 4º 33’ 21” N 115º 9’ 17” E

My Room at the resort: 4º 33’ 26.64” N 115º 09’ 14.20” E

Canopy Walkway: 4º 33’ 57” N 115º 9’ 35”E

 

[Chlidonias]

I saw a small brownish bird darting between the leaves and initially thought was one of the Eurasian House Sparrows that I’d seen around the hotel

I'm hoping you just made a typo here for Tree Sparrow? I'd be surprised to see House Sparrows anywhere within a thousand miles of Brunei.

There is still some taxonomic disagreement about the exact classification of this species – previously Hose’s Langur (also known as the Grey Langur) was found over much of Borneo, with four distinct subspecies, however recently some taxonomists have elevated those four to full species status.

I'm not a fan of over-splitting (e.g. the Bornean Gibbons and Slow Lorises), but in this case I do follow it. The different Grey Langurs are very distinct from one another visually. I haven't actually seen any of them yet, which is one of the reasons I'd like to get back to Borneo for a proper trip one day.

Something I noticed was how oppressive the heat and humidity was – even sitting still in the shade I would sweat profusely. And walking around with a largish camera around your neck only made it worse.

Is this not the same as Africa? All of southeast Asia is like this. That's why I'm always complaining about the heat and humidity, and how I'm always drenched in sweat and feeling disgusting 24/7. Although, Borneo is hotter and sweatier than many other places.

 

[Hix]

I'm hoping you just made a typo here for Tree Sparrow? I'd be surprised to see House Sparrows anywhere within a thousand miles of Brunei.

Is this not the same as Africa? All of southeast Asia is like this. That's why I'm always complaining about the heat and humidity, and how I'm always drenched in sweat and feeling disgusting 24/7. Although, Borneo is hotter and sweatier than many other places.

Quite right, they were Tree Sparrows, and I've corrected the text. I think it was late at night when I was writing that.

I found Tanzania and Uganda to be hot and humid, but the humidity is not as bad as I found it in Brunei. And Ulu Ulu Resort was much worse than elsewhere, possibly because it was right by the river.

I should also point out that the last post was split into two because I had too much text for a single post and couldn't add the photos.



Hix

 

[Hix]

Day 4 – 18th April


It rained most of the night but had stopped by 4:30am when I got up. At 5:00 Martin and I left for the canopy walkway again with the objective of arriving just before sunrise so we could see the sun appear from behind the verdant hills. There was no moon which meant that without our torches (flashlights) or headlamps it was pitch black. My legs were aching from the previous afternoon’s efforts and although I seemed to cope with the exertion better this time around, I still had to sit down for a breather at each opportunity. It was still raining periodically and the huts gave us an opportunity to stay dryish.

In the second hut I asked Martin about fireflies because I thought I’d seen one. It turned out to be Hanyrol’s headlamp as she effortlessly came up the path, she stayed with us for a minute before continuing on. I learnt later that this was something like her 200th trip to the Canopy Walkway.

Eventually we reached the base of the first tower just before 6:00 and in the dim light, and with an Indian Cuckoo calling nearby, we started the long climb up. We never saw the sunrise because of all the clouds, but we did see the light appearing over the hills in the distance. And then the gibbons started calling, their whoops echoing down the mist-laden river valleys and carrying for miles. I heard at least five pairs, coming from all directions.

I climbed right to the top of the first tower (Martin and Hanyroll got off onto the walkway a few metres below) and I found the top to be a little wobbly, which was unnerving. Even taking a step would shift my weight on the platform and make it shudder a bit. Even though I knew it was safe I still kept one hand firmly clenched on a railing at all times (except when taking photos).

After some time on top of Tower #1 I came down to the walkway. Martin & Hanyrol had just found the elusive Indian Cuckoo that had been calling for the last hour, sitting on a branch about eight metres from the walkway. The first bird of the morning. After taking some photos I went and climbed Tower #2.

I should probably explain the structure of the walkway so nobody reading this gets confused (and use the photos I’ve uploaded if this doesn’t make sense). Tower #1 is 44 metres in height. The walkway starts, not at the top, but at 32 metres and extends to Tower #2 about 20 metres away, entering the tower about six metres below the top. Then you climb to the top where the next walkway extends to the top of Tower #3 and continues on to Tower #4, about six metres below the top of the tower. Climbing to the top of Tower#4 is another walkway that extends to Tower #5, and from there you can either climb eight metres to the top of the Tower, or descend 40 odd metres to the bottom. The walkways themselves were very narrow, only about 75 centimetres wide (30 inches) which meant passing someone on the walkway was a rather intimate affair. In horizontal length the complete walkway is just over 70 metres from Tower #1 to Tower #5.

Climbing to the top of Tower #2 I immediately saw, in a tree branch right beside the top of Tower #3, a Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, my first broadbill. As we approached it flew away from the walkway but only a few metres where I got some good views of this very attractive species. A little while later we saw a female Rhinoceros Hornbill and a juvenile feeding on figs in the tree we had seen the hornbill in the previous afternoon. The tree was about 40 metres away and downhill from the walkway but we still got good views through the trees.

After ten minutes the hornbills flew away and that was all the birds we saw that morning: three species, four individuals. We stayed from 6:00 until 10:00 and saw no other birds. Martin was surprised and suggested maybe the heavy rains the past couple of days had something to do with it. But the morning wasn’t a total loss. The fig tree was visited by a pair of North Bornean Gibbons who spent a happy 20 minutes feasting on the fruits, their hands getting orange in the process. After they left Hanyrol told me she had seen Binturongs feeding there a few months previously. And Martin pointed out a number of figs trees right by the walkway (some of the branches leaning on the railings) that weren’t fruiting at present, but he said that when they do bear fruit there are dozens of birds feeding on the figs and they are not bothered by people being right beside them. This was not what I wanted to hear!

As well as the gibbons I saw a pair of Prevost’s Squirrels running up and down a couple of the trees but after getting a few photos of them Hanyrol called me away with the magic words “There’s a Draco in this tree”.

I’d never seen a live Draco but I’ve seen plenty of photographs and some mounted specimens, but I’d never seen anything like this one – it was bright, vivid green all over. Between its black eyes was a large black spot the same size as its eyes. It made it look rather odd, and if it’s a predator deterrent then it works!

I was distracted by the squirrels again, and when I looked back the Draco had gone. But a short time later I found a Common Tree Skink on a nearby tree trunk, and then saw another two Dracos of a different species to the first. They may have actually been two different species, it’s a bit hard to tell. The green lizard blended perfectly with the leaves but these two blended perfectly with the bark. One extended his ribs and sat on the trunk for five minutes like that before leaping to a neighbouring tree a metre away. I saw him jump but wasn’t able to catch his flight on camera, it was that quick.

After four hours, three species of bird, two species of mammal and three species of lizard, Martin and I left the walkway and headed back to the resort. On the way Martin spied a Chestnut-winged Babbler in the bushes but although I didn’t see it we decided to stop for a rest at a hut nearby, and it proved to be a wise choice. Two Banded Broadbills showed themselves and stayed for a few minutes, as did a Pygmy Squirrel, running headfirst down the trunk of a tree to ground level. And another, different species of Draco sitting on the base of a tree a few inches above the ground.

Arriving back at the resort I found a tour group of daytripping Koreans had invaded the camp. I also met Anthony, the manager of the Borneo Sunshine Tours, the company that built the resort. We chatted for a while before I headed back to my room to have a cold shower and relax before lunch. Afterwards I hung around the fig and photographed some birds, including my first leafbird species (a Lesser Green Leafbird), and watched the Koreans tubing down the river.

An hour later Martin took me to a fish spa. It was only 200 metres from my room, but downriver and there was no way to walk there so we went by longboat. We got off at a small beach a followed a little stream 70 metres into the bush to a pool at the foot of a waterfall. In this pool live some freshwater fish that will nibble at your toes, supposedly taking off the dead skin. I sat down on a rock and put my feet in the water and waited. It didn’t take long, less than ten seconds, before the fish started on me. It wasn’t a gentle nibble, but felt more like a sharp nip and I instinctively pulled my feet out of the water. I wasn’t bleeding so I put my feet back in the water and, now that I knew what to expect, let them go for it again. They weren’t nipping, but it was more like scraping their teeth over the skin which felt a bit similar to a nip. In fact, once I was used to it, I actually enjoyed it. I had brought my Go-Pro and managed to get some photos and movies of them. In the end I waded into the deepest part of the pool, taking of my shirt and sitting in the water with just my head out and had them on my legs, arms, feet, hands and back. It felt really good!

After an hour we went back to the river and the longboat returned us to the resort. I spent the next few hours in my air conditioned room reading until dinner.

After dinner Martin allowed me to use his laptop to download images from my camera’s memory card to my external backup drive. Once this was done I was able to delete all he photos on the memory card, which had been getting full. While doing this Hanyrol joined us and told me that she had been on the walkway until about 4:30pm, and apart from the birds we had all seen together in the morning, she saw no birds on the walkway at all for the rest of the day.

It rained again that night, but not as much as the previous night.





Hix


New Birds: Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, Indian Cuckoo, Banded Broadbill, Chestnut-winged Babbler, Lesser Green Leafbird

New Mammals: North Bornean Gibbon, Prevost Squirrel, Pygmy Squirrel

New Reptiles: Draco spp x 3

Fish Spa: 4º 33’ 35” N 115º 9’ 12” E

 

[lintworm]

I found Tanzania and Uganda to be hot and humid, but the humidity is not as bad as I found it in Brunei. And Ulu Ulu Resort was much worse than elsewhere, possibly because it was right by the river.

Probably because both Uganda and the places in Tanzania where you stayed where mostly well above 1000 meters, come to the coastal areas in Eastern African and you WILL suffer

 

[Hix]

Day 5 – 19th April

The next morning was bright and sunny (and hot and humid). After the poor performance at the Canopy Walkway the previous day I decided not to subject my body to the strenuous exercise again as the returns were not worth it, especially when there were birds to photograph right in the resort. So after breakfast I walked around the resort, from one end to the other, photographing birds. I took it easy, because even sitting in the shade you sweated copiously. Tried for more photos of the Pacific Swallows; saw a pair of female Lesser Leafbirds, and a bit later a male Greater Leafbird. Along a path by the river were some upright street lanterns to illuminate the path at night, the kind of lantern with four panes of glass forming a box and a top covering the light globe, all on top of a pole. Under this lantern top was an active Dusky Munia nest and with some luck I was able to photograph a Munia inside the nest. Not far away I found a traditional Munia nest built in a shrub. There was also an Eastern Crimson Sunbird and a Red-throated Sunbird I saw, both males. And my first Long-tailed Macaque, running through the resort but keeping out of sight of the staff and guests. Upon seeing the macaque I immediately returned to my room and closed the bathroom window I had left open. Even though it was a good 3 or 4 metres above ground level, I wasn’t going to take a chance on the ingenuity and curiosity of our distant relatives.*(See further details at bottom of this post).

Heading South under the covered walkway towards the confluence of the Temburong and Belalong rivers, and the Two Rivers Terrace Cafe area (the cafe is only set up when there are large numbers of day trippers) I heard a loud and solid thump on the roof above me. I thought it might have been the macaque or a squirrel but there were no other noises, no footfalls or scampering sounds. I figured it must have been a dead branch falling out of the tree, or maybe an over-ripe fig dropped and splattered on the walkway roof. I considered trying to climb up and get a look, but there wasn’t any easy way to do that. Plus I had a camera, and sweaty hands making it an unsafe venture. And I didn’t really want to exert myself in this heat just to look at a dead branch or a piece of fruit. As it turns out, not climbing up may have been a very wise decision.

Further along the walkway I came upon a small pile of poop sitting in the middle of the concrete walkway. It looked relatively fresh, and it consisted mainly of fruit. There are many poop stains on the walkway, they get hosed down but the colours in the fruits stain the concrete and can’t be hosed away. This was the first fresh one I had seen. I looked up, and in the rafters above me less than a metre away, were three wide-eyed fruit bats. They seemed completely unfazed by my presence and I was able to get several photographs of them, even using my flash a few times. These were Short-nosed Fruit Bats, which are apparently very common.

Passing through where they have the Two Rivers Terrace Cafe I came to the river edge. Here the Temburong River rushes down from the East and at this point it swings around 90º to the North. Directly opposite me was another, quieter river, the Belalong; it joins the Temburong here as it continues on past the Resort and eventually to Batang Duri. As is common where a river has a sharp bend there was a pile of sand and river pebbles in the middle of the river forming a sandbank and I hoped there might be some water birds, but all I saw was a dozen Pacific Swallows hawking for insects above the river. I did notice, though, that the river level had dropped somewhat since my arrival two days previously, despite the nightly rains.

A wooden stairway led up the hillside through the bush and continued along to the bridge (closed due to the landslip) that led to the Canopy Walkway. I walked up to the bridge and then returned to the resort as I hadn’t seen any birds and by this time it was too hot even for the bulbuls. On the way down the stairs I did come across a bright red millipede which I spent some time photographing, and a butterfly.

Martin had organised a river cruise for me to look for wildlife – ‘river cruise’ is what they call it, but it’s just a ride up river in a longboat. We had planned to leave at 2pm but the longboat hadn’t arrived back yet from collecting Koreans in their tubes downstream. I considered walking back to the bats and taking more pictures, but decided to return to my room to sit in the air conditioning and read my book. Wrong choice.

At 2:30 I met Martin again at the longboats and ours had arrived so we headed upriver to see what wildlife we could see. First we went up the Belalong, past a scientific research station which was not open to tourists and continued up the river as far as we could go (only about 400 metres or so) because it became too shallow. All we saw was a Stork-billed Kingfisher as it flew across the river. We kept our eyes peeled for Mangrove Tree Snakes (aka Cat-eyed Snakes) which often rest in tree branches over the water, but we saw none. Passing the scientific station again Martin turned around (he was in the front of the boat) and called to me “Are you interested in butterflies?”

“Not really” I replied. “Why?”

“There’s a sewage outlet from the research station over there, and the butterflies like to congregate there” he called, pointing across the river to a little culvert in the bank. I could see some movement in the culvert, and a bright green colour. The colour looked familiar.

“Are they Rajah Birdwings?” I asked him.

“Yes”

“OK, I am interested in those then”

Martin said a few words to the longboatman who doesn’t speak English, and he manoeuvred us across the river and right beside the outlet where I was able to get some nice shots. I wasn’t even aware Rajah Birdwings were found here so it was a nice surprise, beautiful green and black butterflies, with a bit of red, and long wings. As I said, I’m not really interested in Lepidoptera, but this species is very colourful and is one of the few that has captured my attention. Plus, I have a friend in Australia who is a mad lepidopterist and I knew my photos would make him very, very jealous!

We continued on and rejoined the Temburong, heading up river. We were near the resort and I heard Martin’s mobile phone beep. He checked his messages and then called back to me “Hanyrol saw a snake!”

Hanyrol had, once again, gone up to the Canopy Walkway before sunrise. “What sort of snake?” I yelled over the outboard and the rushing river.

“She’s not sure, may have been a cobra.” She must have seen it after she came down off the walkway as cobras are not generally considered arboreal, although I imagine they can climb into trees if there was a chance of food but I can’t see them climbing to 40 metres.

The Temburong was a much faster flowing river than the Belalong, and we headed up river a few kilometres before turning around and then the boatmen turned off the outboard and let the current take us back. We only saw four species of bird in this time: Pacific Swallows were everywhere up and down river; a Purple Heron on a sandbank, a Whiskered Tree Swift sitting prominently in a dead tree branch over the river, and a Black Hornbill. We also saw family groups of Long-tailed Macaques by the shore and on sandbanks, and we also saw turned up soil on a shore line where Bearded Pigs had been foraging.

The whole cruise lasted an hour and although very few birds were seen, it was still a pleasant activity. Arriving back at the resort Martin showed me the message on his phone from Hanyrol which included a photo taken with her phone. There was a clear shot of the head and it was clearly a King Cobra. When we caught up with her later that evening it turns out she had left the Canopy Walkway after lunch and had seen the snake within the Resort. She showed me where and it turned out to be where I had been that morning and heard the thump on the roof of the covered walkway. Of course, that was probably coincidence, as the two events happened about 4 hours apart, but I’m glad I didn’t poke my head up over the edge of the guttering. It’s not that I’m afraid of snakes (I used to keep them) but I have a healthy respect for the venomous ones, and I certainly wouldn’t want to stick my head up and come face-to-face with the King!

The second shock came when I asked when this happened. At about 2pm. She used her phone to photograph the snake before it disappeared into the undergrowth. Then she went to her room to get some lunch. A bit later she sent the photo to Martin, who didn’t receive the message until we had returned to the vicinity of the resort. So, when Martin and I were delayed by the late arrival of the boat, Hanyrol was 100 metres away watching the cobra. And I had chosen to return to my room.

After dinner, at around 8pm I met up with Martin and we went on a quick night walk through the jungle behind the Resort. It was fairly short, only lasting about 45 minutes, and was spoilt by a light shower that threatened to get worse. We saw three frogs and several geckos of about three different species, including Horsefield’s Gliding Gecko and Smith’s Giant Gecko.

I went to bed early as the next morning I was returning to the Canopy Walkway (in the dark again) before returning to the civilisation of Bandar Seri Begawan.


New Birds: Eastern Crimson Sunbird, Greater Leafbird, Red-throated Sunbird, Whiskered Tree Swift, Black Hornbill

New Mammals: Short-faced Fruit Bat, Long-tailed Macaque

New Reptiles: Smith’s Giant Skink

New Invert: Rajah Birdwing Butterfly





Hix


* More than 30 years ago I had a nasty fright in Zimbabwe where I had arrived at a cottage in Victoria Falls National Park and after unpacking a few things walked out to have a look at the Zambesi River flowing 50 metres behind the cottage. I was only gone two or three minutes but when I returned I found half-a-dozen Vervets had come in through the window I had opened and were on the bed amongst my valuable cameras and lenses. Upon my entrance into the room they all bolted out the window taking with them three apples, half a packet of crisps - the other half was all over the floor and the bed - and a fruit cake. Luckily, none of my gear was disturbed or damaged, but they had made quite a mess.

 

[Yassa]

Thank you for writing this! I`ve been to Sabah a few years ago, loved it and I hope to go back in a few years. Back then, I decided to skip Brunei because Sabah seemed better to see larger mammals - if I remember right, Brunei has neither elephants nor orang utans, do they? But when I go back to Sabah, it might be worth adding a few days in Brunei!

 

[Hix]

You are correct, Brunei has no Elephants or Orangutans, however they have large tracks of wilderness and virgin forest, and there is talk about introducing to Brunei orangs that are threatened due to habitat loss. Not sure whether this will actually take place, but I think it's a great idea if it's possible.



Hix

 

[pachyderm pro]

How did I miss this thread? This is great, Hix actually writing!

 

[dublinlion]

I love this anecdotal style of writing (Durrellesqe) and the high standard of the pics really makes this a very interesting and educational read.
Any time I read these travel blogs it occurs to me how awful it would be to fall sick among relative strangers in the middle of a jungle and I have great admiration for intrepid travelers such as yourself.

 

[Hix]

I

This is great, Hix actually writing!

If you like my writing there are threads in the Uganda & Tanzania forums (in the Africa section) and Samoa and Tokelau (in the Oceania section).



Hix

 

[Hix]

Day 6 – 20/4/17

My last day in Ulu Temburong started early, getting up at 4:30am and leaving in the dark for the Canopy Walkway at 5:00. Once again we arrived just before dawn, and once again clouds on the horizon obscured the sunrise. However, this morning we at least had some birds!

One of the first things we saw was a male Scarlet-rumped Trogon, perched in a bad place for photos, below us in the forest, but spectacular just the same. A pair of small birds seen looking for insects amongst the leaves and level with the walkway were Green Iora, but they flew off before I could get a photo. High above us were swifts and swiftlets (or possible swallows or martins) and a flock of five fruit pigeons flew past at height too. Once again we were treated to the sounds of multiple gibbons calling from all sides, occasionally interrupted by the honking of different hornbills. Hanyrol had also arrived and could identify them by call. Rhinoceros Hornbills were the commonest, but there were also helmeted and wreathed hornbills that flew past or were visible in the distance. Luckily a couple of Rhinos perched nearby. A Chestnut-winged Babbler also flitted in a tree next to the walkway, very unusual as this species usually stays near the forest floor. And we saw some more Dracos, plus the same tree skink on the same tree.

At around 8:00 some engineers arrived to do safety checks on the towers. This involved checking the towers were level, checking the tension on the support cables, and banging a lot of the pipes to see if they would move. And so, as this was making a lot of noise, after only 2 and a half hours I said goodbye to Hanyrol and Martin and I returned to the resort. On the way through the forest we saw another Draco, a female leafbird and a Little Spiderhunter.

Back at the resort I finished breakfast in the dining room just as about 35 Chinese daytrippers arrived. Borrowing the laptop from Martin I used it to download all my photos onto my spare hard-drive, then finished packing.

Martin was returning with me to Bandar Seri Begawan and we caught the Longboat at 12:30, the river considerably lower than when I arrived and the boat scraped heavily over river pebbles in the shallows. Rounding a bend in the river we happened upon a family of long-tailed macaques having drink.

The minivan was ready for us when we reached Batang Duri, and on the drive to Bangar we passed a place with several very large cages that I could see between the trees. Martin told me this used to be a zoo but had closed down. I could understand that as it was in the middle of nowhere and would have had very little traffic (or maybe the daytrippers to Ulu Ulu Resort would stop there on the way back). Either way I’m kind of glad it was closed, because looking at the empty enclosures it reminded me of some photos of really bad zoos posted here on ZooChat – like the Emperor Valley Zoo in Trinidad & Tobago.

Arriving in Bangar we had to wait 30 minutes in Bangar for the speedboat, but there was a shop at the boat terminal and I was able to buy a bottle of Coke, so I didn’t mind the wait (the resort had run out of Coke on day two and I’d been drinking plain water). The speedboat was half empty so I was able to stretch my legs and get a good look out the windows this time. We arrived back at the BSB dock at around 2:30pm, and I was back in the Radisson Hotel by 3:00.

The first thing I did in my room was unpack my iPad and use it to find a number to call the Service Desk in Australia to find out what was wrong with my computer and see if there was a way to reboot it. They were unable to help me, unfortunately.

So around 4:00 I went for a walk past the canal and into town. There is a large shipping centre about 20 minutes walk away and I wanted to see if there was somewhere I could by a lightweight laptop to replace my malfunctioning unit. No such luck. After walking around the centre and visiting a few shops, I ended up buying a couple of memory cards. The one I had in my camera was a 32GB SD card, and I had a spare 32GB. They normally took around 750 images before the card was full - I shoot dual in RAW and jpg, and I usually take quite a few photos of a subject. So I bought a 128GB card and another 32GB Card as insurance. I figured I might have to do a bit of in camera deleting but I hoped together the cards would all be enough. As it was, the 128GB was more than enough itself.

Behind this large supermarket is an enormous Mosque – the Masjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien mosque – which is an impressive tourist attraction, not just because of its size but the fact a lake has been built in front of it, with a large boat fixed in place and connected to the Mosque by a walkway. You can see an aerial view on Google Earth by following the co-ordinates at the end of this post.

On the way back to the hotel I saw three individuals of another lifer – Asian Glossy Starlings.





Hix


New Birds: Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Helmeted Hornbill, Wreathed Hornbill, Green Iora, Little Spiderhunter, Asian Glossy Starling


Masjid Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien: 4º 53’ 21.51” N 114º 56’ 21.08” E

 

[Chlidonias]

The minivan was ready for us when we reached Batang Duri, and on the drive to Bangar we passed a place with several very large cages that I could see between the trees. Martin told me this used to be a zoo but had closed down. I could understand that as it was in the middle of nowhere and would have had very little traffic (or maybe the daytrippers to Ulu Ulu Resort would stop there on the way back). Either way I’m kind of glad it was closed, because looking at the empty enclosures it reminded me of some photos of really bad zoos posted here on ZooChat – like the Emperor Valley Zoo in Trinidad & Tobago.

That's interesting. I didn't know about that zoo. I thought maybe it was the Louis Mini-Zoo which closed recently, but that was in Tutong which is on the other side of the country. I found a little bit about the Batang Duri Mini-Zoo here (before it was closed): BRUNEI DARUSSALAM, GUIDE - Wildlife in Borneo

"Taman Batang Duri is a pleasant open landscaped area a few kilometres before Batang Duri on the right side of the road. It also houses the zoo which offers a chance to see some of the jungle animals that only a few ever get to see in the wild: crocodiles, civets, argus, pheasants, mongoose and honey bear. However, the conditions under which the animals are kept do not match international standards and have attracted complaints from visitors."

The Agro Technology Park in BSB also has a limited range of animals.

 

[DavidBrown]

Now that you made our first foray into Asia do you have any other journeys that you want to make there? If so, what species or ecosystems are on your list of things to see?

 

[Hix]

Now that you made our first foray into Asia do you have any other journeys that you want to make there? If so, what species or ecosystems are on your list of things to see?

Yeah, I was thinking about Nepal until I decided to hit Africa again. And for the last 30 odd years I've had a hankering to visit Bandaneira. If I get there I'll probably also visit the Aru's and Kai's too.



Hix

 

[Hix]

Day 7 – 21/7/16

I needed to hire a car, and the Radisson just happened to have an Avis office onsite, so by 11:30 I was out and on the road. In many developing nations the roads are not good, the drivers are not good, and the driving experience is more of a challenge and can be quite stressful; thankfully Brunei was not like this at all – both roads and drivers are good. However there was one little quirk I found a little annoying at times.

In Brunei you drive on the left-hand side of the road, like you do in Australia, so I was quite comfortable driving but it appears that the Bruneians have an issue with turning to the right. It’s not so obvious in the capital, but more obvious on the highway between towns. The highway I was on was taking me West, and it was a good divided highway, recently built with two or three lanes in each direction. Every two or three kilometres there would be a gap in the median strip in order to make a U-turn, although these gaps were often blocked off with barriers for no apparent reason.

The highway bypassed a number of towns but a road from the town would meet the highway at an intersection with traffic lights. But if the town was to the right of me, I might not be able to turn right at the lights in which case I would have to continue on to a U-turn bay and turn around. Conversely, the intersection might be that the people coming from the town might only be able to turn left onto the highway and would also have to drive to the first available u-turn. It was to become very annoying over the following week.

The highway started off as three lanes each way, but after an hour or so it dropped down to two lanes each way. Which was fine considering the volume of traffic on the road. As I said, it’s a fairly recently built highway and closer to my destination I realised it wasn’t complete as they were still laying about eight kilometres of the eastbound road. So traffic westbound was confined to one lane while the eastbound traffic used the other lane. Although safe, this became an issue for me later in the day.

My destination was the township of Kuala Belait, the westernmost coastal town in Brunei and only a few kilometres from the border with Sarawak. My destination was the Garden Sentral Hotel, which is part of a shopping centre. It’s on the outskirts of town but suited my needs quite well.

The shopping centre is one big square building comprising seven levels: the first two levels are the shopping centre, level three is a cinema complex, level four is the hotel swimming pool and centre management, and levels five and six are the hotel rooms. The seventh level is a below ground basement carpark.

Having the hotel integrated with the shopping centre I found very convenient as I had a choice of several restaurants or fast food outlets and other eateries to choose from when dinner came around. Plus the large supermarket provided me with soft drink, chocolate and other snacks that kept me going during the day or late into the night.

Apart from the few kilometres around the coast which is suburbanised, most of this part of Brunei is intact forest and is excellent for birding, according to the reports I had downloaded from the internet, so at about 3pm I drove out to Kuala Balai Road, a popular birding road. It was eastwards of my hotel and I had seen it when I passed it earlier. Coming from the hotel the road was on my right, but there was no gap in the highway to turn right so I kept going to get to a U-turn bay. Unfortunately, the road narrowed to one lane due the road works and there was no opportunity to turn right (or left, for that matter) for eight kilometres. When the road works were finished I drove on but the first two U-turn bays were blocked. At the third U-turn bay, having travelled 14 kilometres, I was able to turn around and go back.

Kuala Balai Road (which appears to have been recently renamed Jalan Mumong) is 16 kilometres long, but the first four or five kilometres of it are residential or industrial areas so I headed through these fairly quickly. Once the buildings stopped the road got noticeably bad, with frequent large, and sometimes deep, potholes. This necessitated some slow driving with a bit of meandering over the narrow road. Once we had reached the forest proper, the vegetation encroached close on both sides of the road.

I didn’t see a lot of birds on that first drive – Zebra Doves, Chestnut Munias, White-breasted Waterhens, a Dollarbird, a Yellow-vented Bulbul and a group of Slender-billed Crows. However I also saw eight Silvered Langurs who quickly disappeared from the treetops into thicker foliage lower down when they saw me, three Bearded Pigs crossing the road a few hundred metres in front of me, and six Long-tailed Macaques. Another mammal had me guessing for a while – it had also crossed the road at a run some way ahead of me and all I could determine was that it was a quadruped, was fairly low to the ground (not as tall as a pig), it didn’t appear to have a tail, and was black. The only thing I could think of was a Sun Bear cub, but it wasn’t the right shape and the way it ran was all wrong. I eventually realised later that night I had probably glimpsed a Teludo, aka the Sunda Skunk (Mydaus javanensis).

I had replaced the battery in my SLR that morning, but when I went to take photos of these birds I found the battery dead, so unfortunately I have no photos from this particular afternoon, apart from three taken on my pocket camera, but not of a bird.

Towards the end of the road I came upon a pothole full or water with an Asian Water Monitor having a drink, which I thought unusual considering I was driving through a peat swamp forest. The lizard seemed skittish so I stayed in the car trying to take photos with my pocket camera by holding it out the window (difficult as the sun was behind me and shining on the screen making it hard to frame). It eventually bolted into the undergrowth.

A little further on I rounded a bend and saw a car up ahead coming toward me. This was the first vehicle I had seen on the road since leaving the industrial area an hour previously. The road was narrow here so I pulled onto a dry patch of verge so the other car could pass me, but he also pulled over about 50 metres ahead and flashed his lights at me. I wound down my window and waved him to come on, but he just flashed his lights at me again. So I drove on, smiled and waved at him as I passed, thinking how polite the drivers in Brunei were.

The road ended at the Kuala Balai River. There were a couple of old structures here – a shelter consisting of poles with a roof and a jetty - and more on the other side of the river. Apparently there had been a ferry to take you across at one time, long since gone. I got out of the car to have a look around, and then walked a short way back up the road to try and identify some swallows that were chasing insects and flying down the road. After five minutes I worked out they were mainly Pacific Swallows with a few Barn Swallows too. As I turned around to return to the car I suddenly saw something that made my blood freeze and caused my heart to race: on the road, between me and the car, was a pair of dogs.

I’ve had nasty run-ins with dogs in the past, and so has Chlidonias, but those instances were in towns, with pets. These dogs were in the middle of nowhere, at least ten kilometres from the nearest house as far as I could tell. Neither was wearing a collar. And they were only ten metres away.

I froze, and the dogs, who had been following me silently, also stopped. The one closest to me was shorthaired, reddish brown with big droopy ears, a thin tail and a dopey look. Its companion was black with white markings and longer fur. In order to assess their intentions, and to not give them the impression I was scared, I started talking.

“Hello; didn’t see you there behind me” I said. Both dogs wagged their tails - this was a good sign. I started walking down the side of the road intending to pass them but they both started walking toward me, tails still wagging. I stopped, they stopped for a second, then continued on towards me, looking at my hands.

“No” I said, showing my palms but raising them so they were no longer at dog-head height “Sorry but I don’t pet strange dogs”. They stopped, but their tails kept wagging. I was able to walk past them, but turned as I did so I was facing them the whole time, talking the whole time. They seemed a bit puzzled by my behaviour and followed me to my car, but thankfully never acted aggressively.

I am fairly certain they were friendly, and just looking for a scratch, or a friend, and the chances are I was never in any danger. But rabies is found in this part of the world and I wasn’t going to take a chance with a single stray dog, let alone a pair. Even without rabies, I’ve seen pet dogs suddenly turn nasty if something isn’t to their satisfaction. So it was a relief to get back in the car and close the door.

Driving back down the road I passed the car I had seen before, still parked on the side of the road where I had last seen it. I drove past slowly in case the guy had car trouble and needed help but he just smiled and waved as I went past. But fifty metres further on, beside the road, was a mistnet and hanging next to it was a small bird cage with three Hanging Parrots inside – the guy was illegally catching birds. Apparently poaching is a big problem. It’s against the law but there are not enough police to enforce it and it’s widespread throughout the country. I later learnt that the guy was most likely from Sarawak as they frequently come over the border just for the birds.

I considered doing something then and there but quickly chose not to – I was in a foreign country, in the middle of the forest around 15 kilometres from town. My personal safety was more important so I drove the long and potholed road back to my hotel where I told the staff. They put me in contact with the police who were sympathetic but admitted that poaching was not a priority for them.




Hix


New Birds: Yellow-vented Bulbul, Slender-billed Crow

New Mammals: Silvered Langur, Bornean Bearded Pigs

New Reptiles: Asian Water Monitor


Garden Sentral Hotel: 4º 34’ 19.44” N 114º 13’ 20.09” E

Note that the images on Google Earth & Google Maps show the Garden Sentral complex under construction – obviously taken a few years ago. The surrounding area is also developed with some very nice townhouse –style apartments.



Kuala Balai Rd: 4º 30’ 11.33” N 114º 17’ 50.82” E

Co-ordinates are in the middle of the road at a good location for birds.

 

[Chlidonias]

I've started carrying a packet of biscuits with me if I think there might be any issues with dog run-ins. It won't do anything about the ones which are actually dangerous, but quite often a dog acting aggressively will suddenly turn friendly if a few biscuits are thrown to it, and if I'm just unsure about a dog I have to pass then the biscuits help assuage any fears. The only downside is that it makes some dogs then follow me in the hope of more food (in Asia the dogs often aren't fed by their owners, they survive on scraps). Showing them my hands or an empty wrapper usually sends them away.

 

[Pertinax]

I've started carrying a packet of biscuits with me if I think there might be any issues with dog run-ins. It won't do anything about the ones which are actually dangerous, but quite often a dog acting aggressively will suddenly turn friendly if a few biscuits are thrown to it, and if I'm just unsure about a dog I have to pass then the biscuits help assuage any fears. The only downside is that it makes some dogs then follow me in the hope of more food (in Asia the dogs often aren't fed by their owners, they survive on scraps). Showing them my hands or an empty wrapper usually sends them away.

Throwing food is a good way of potentially deflecting the aggression as the dog stops to eat or look for the food, but as you say, it then increases the dog's interest in you. Another way of dealing with 'stray' dogs(aggressive or not) is to bend down suddenly as if to pick up a stone- that's often enough to make them hurriedly retreat as they usually know what that action means. You don't actually need to throw anything.

 

[Hix]

Day 8 - 22/4/17

I had planned to go back to Kuala Balai Road in the morning, but it was raining heavily when I woke up. So at around 9:00 I drove into the township of Kuala Belait eventually ending up at Taman Jubli Perak, a park down on the beachfront. The rain was light and intermittent at this stage so I spent about an hour watching the birds. There were a number of species to be found there – common species like feral Pigeons, Tree Sparrows, Zebra Doves, Cattle and Intermediate Egrets – but also new species like Yellow Wagtails, Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers and a pair of very vocal Collared Kingfishers.

After an hour in the park I drove to the neighbouring suburb of Panaga, a popular place to live for the expats who work for Shell Petroleum whose main refinery appeared to be just a few minutes further down the road in Seria. There are some nice houses in Panaga, on ¼ acre blocks with nice gardens and lots of trees. A stark contrast with the other congested housing estates the Bruneians are building to live in only a few suburbs away.

I was headed towards the Sungai Seria estuary (which is supposed to be good for birds) but somehow ended up in the middle of the Shell complex, so I turned around and tried another road. I still managed to miss the turnoff and ended up at a place called Anduki Jubli Recreation Area which was a reserve surrounding a large inlet from the ocean that looked like a small lake. Signs warned you to beware of crocodiles.

Getting out of my car the first thing I saw was a largish lizard on the ground that immediately ran partway up a tree when it saw me. It was not a species I had seen before, but it looked like a Calotes species, and I later confirmed it as Calotes versicolor, the Garden Ornamental Lizard. I spent a little over an hour wandering the park and saw species like Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Little Egret, more Collared Kingfishers, Common Sandpiper, two species of sunbird and Blue-throated Bee-eaters. By the time I left it was about 1:00pm and the birds were settling down for the afternoon, so I returned to my hotel for the rest of the day.

After dinner I grabbed my torch and drove out to Kuala Balai Road to do a bit of spotlighting. The going was slow as I had to concentrate on avoiding the potholes, so I couldn’t really do much but stop every so often, get out of the car and shine my torch around. After 90 minutes I had seen absolutely nothing except a moth that was attracted to the light, so I turned around and went back to the hotel.





Hix


New Birds: Collared Kingfisher, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Paddyfield Pipit, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Plain-throated Sunbird


New Reptiles: Garden Ornamental Lizard



Taman Jubli Perak: 4º 35’ 20.62” N 114º 11’ 39.43” E

Anduki Jubli Recreation Area: 4º 38’ 13.20” N 114º 23’ 09.77” E

 

[Chlidonias]

Another way of dealing with 'stray' dogs(aggressive or not) is to bend down suddenly as if to pick up a stone- that's often enough to make them hurriedly retreat as they usually know what that action means. You don't actually need to throw anything.

yup, I do that one too. I can't aim at all, so the dogs aren't in any danger but they don't know that!