Trip to Tabin Wildlife Reserve – Sat 28th – Mon 30th November, 2009

After the early morning flight from Kota Kinabalu, followed by the shorter than expected drive from Lahad Datu airport, we arrived at the resort in time for a late breakfast in the Sunbird Cafe.  There were only three of us left after 6 cancellations and I am so glad we were able to go ahead with such a small number.  Thank you, Tabin.

Looking towards Tabin, the area almost in the background. It is mostly secondary jungle, but with a sizeable area of virgin jungle

Sue, Maimie and Ming Cheong with some of the Tabin Staff

After a quick exploration of the chalets (along the river bank before the Café and perched up on the slope beyond the Café, and all linked by boardwalks) it was time for the first of our many drives or walks within the reserve.  Before the end of the day we had seen mouse deer, bearded pigs, a black civet (which raided the rubbish bin in the café the following morning!),  a leopard cat, brown tree owls, a fish eagle and we heard both barking and sambar deer.

The highlight of the afternoon drive was a visit to the nearby mud volcano, firm enough to walk over, except where the liquid mud was oozing out of the ground.  The cool liquid mud reminded me of the kaolin poultices of yesteryear, except that it was somewhat grittier in texture.  Does anyone else remember this treatment for “chesty” conditions?   From the observation tower we had an excellent view of the surrounding area and waited for dusk to see which animals would appear – they enjoy the minerals from the mud.  We waited, and waited, and waited…..finally deciding to descend from the tower as we had seen only a crested fireback pheasant and some green imperial pigeons, and negotiate the rather slippery trail down the hill to the vehicle before it became too dark.

The Mud Volcano

We saw fresh evidence of elephant; they had passed through the area the day before but we, unfortunately, didn’t see the animals themselves.  What we did see on the night drive, however, were two sun bears in the adjoining oil palm estate.  They were some distance from us, but even in the dark they were unmistakable, and just a few rows farther on there were two pairs of eyes glowing blue in the torchlight – most probably wild buffalo.

On Sunday we saw monitor lizards lying stretched along tree branches with legs hanging down, in which position they can remain for many, many hours.  An enormous monitor lizard on the road ahead ran quickly from the vehicle, quickly becoming invisible in the undergrowth. A pig tailed macaque also crossed the road, this time behind us and just as quickly disappeared from view.  There were many birds to be seen on this drive through the core area – jungle all around and not an oil palm in sight – with both white crested and black hornbills, crested serpent eagles, brown tree owls, a storm’s stork, a blue throated bee eater, a coucal, and even several individual jungle fowl.  A huge sambar deer crossed the road only 10 metres ahead of us and the others saw a flying squirrel.  Johdi, our guide, spotted a bear cat, large, black and normally very elusive.

The Bear Cat

On the short night walk we saw several mouse deer and a few moths.  The almost full moon was probably not very helpful!

The Gibbon

The Long tailed Macaque

Our last morning saw us walking near the buildings to look for the gibbons which swing through the trees there.  One female with juvenile was seen holding two branches together so that the young one could jump safely by itself.  Later, a long tailed macaque picked fruit from one of the trees and sat there enjoying it while a troupe of pig tailed macaques spent time in the river after the alpha male had checked that it was safe for them all to come down.  The youngsters had a whale of a time swinging from trailing vines, dropping into the water, swimming to the bank and repeating the exercise so many times.

Pig Tailed Macaques having fun