A Day In The Jungle with Wang Kong

Excited about my day with a experienced birding guide I got up around 6 AM and went for an early morning walk down by the river to see if I could spot some birds – I was hoping for kingfishers and herons – they were not around, but I saw a water monitor swimming quietly along the riverbank.
As I looked up several hornbills flew across, both Rhinoceros and Black Hornbills, and then I spotted a blue tailed Bee eater and several other birds, so I took that as a good omen for my day with Wang Kong, my birding guide for the day.  And he did start out our day in style with a beautiful Red-naped Trogon, and we saw an orangutan, and lots of other birds that morning as we trekked through the jungle narrowly avoiding the tiger leeches as we moved though the muddy trails.  When we returned to the lodge after the morning session, I was tired not to mention hot and sweaty, so after lunch I took a shower and a nap, and was ready to head out again with Wang Kong in the late afternoon avoiding the hottest time of the day!  This time we were going to do the trek to the canopy walkway, and I was looking forward to that!  Again we spotted several really special birds, the star of the afternoon was no doubt seeing two Bornean Bristle-head - a very rare bird, endemic to Borneo - it's one of those birds any birder would travel far and wide to see – and I saw two!  The canopy walkway not only provided some beautiful views – but also a few more birds (not least several different types of Hornbills) to add to the list, and on the way back we saw fresh elephant footprints!  Alas that's as close as I got the the elusive Borneo Pygmy Elephants! 

As we got back to the lodge around 6 PM, I was really tired after a great day of bird watching!  However, the activities for the day were not yet over, I was due for a nigh jungle walk – but opted for another night drive as Wang Kong was going to be the evening's guide – and I really couldn't get up the enthusiasm for donning the leech socks and the whole thought of trekking through the mud at night, since it was thundering in the distance I knew it was only a question of time before the rain would be pouring down, and packing wet, muddy clothes the next day was just not appealing!  This time we saw a few more night critters than the evening before, at least the flying squirrel actually jumped and we saw it glide to another branch,  a flying frog sat on a big leaf, and we saw a roosting jungle partridge in a tree near the lodge.  When I walked along the boardwalk back to my cottage I saw a deer come out of the bushes walking down toward the river, so that was the excitement before bedtime!

As we got back to the lodge around 6 PM, I was really tired after a great day of bird watching!  However, the activities for the day were not yet over, I was due for a nigh jungle walk – but opted for another night drive as Wang Kong was going to be the evening's guide – and I really couldn't get up the enthusiasm for donning the leech socks and the whole thought of trekking through the mud at night, since it was thundering in the distance I knew it was only a question of time before the rain would be pouring down, and packing wet, muddy clothes the next day was just not appealing!  This time we saw a few more night critters than the evening before, at least the flying squirrel actually jumped and we saw it glide to another branch,  a flying frog sat on a big leaf, and we saw a roosting jungle partridge in a tree near the lodge.  When I walked along the boardwalk back to my cottage I saw a deer come out of the bushes walking down toward the river, so that was the excitement before bedtime!

As we got back to the lodge around 6 PM, I was really tired after a great day of birdwatching!  However, the activities for the day were not yet over, I was due for a nigh junglewalk – but opted for another night drive as Wang Kong was going to be the evening's guide – and I really couldn't get up the enthusiasm for donning the leech socks and the whole thought of trekking through the mud at night, since it was thundering in the distance I knew it was only a question of time before the rain would be pouring down, and packing wet, muddy clothes the next day was just not appealing!  This time we saw a few more night critters than the evening before, at least the flying squirrel actually jumped and glided to another branch, and we saw a roosting partridge of some sort, and when I walked along the boardwalk back to my cottage I saw a deer come out of the bushes walking down toward the river, so that was the excitement before bedtime!