Our journey to Sabah started with a near midnight flight (ETD 11:25) on January 23 to Kota Kinabalu followed by a long layover and a 6:15am flight to Sandakan. News about delays in the immigration queue causing passengers to miss their flights made most of us be at the airport before 6pm (talk about being praning!). Another source of pre-departure stress was the allowed handcarried luggage. Most of us were carrying large (and heavy) camera equipment that were way more than the allowed 7kgs. While this is not our first time to travel with such equipment, it was our first time to take CebPac and Air Asia internationally so we didn't know how strict they will be. Air Asia even sent an email on the morning of January 23rd reminding us to of our 7kg handcarried baggage limit. As it turned out, we were among the first passengers at the CebPac counter and there were no queues at the immigration. So getting to the Departure area was a breeze.
Our party was composed of nine persons - Paul Cuenca, Henrick Tan, Eugene Garme, Alex Ting, April Son, Sarita Jovellanos, Benjamin Go, Conrad Olayres, and myself. Paul went to Kota Kinabalu ahead so we will meet him at the airport for the second leg while Conrad was coming from Kuala Lumpur so he was going to meet us at Sandakan.
Dinner at NAIA3 (From left: Alex, me, Ben, April, Sarita)
Soon it was time to board our flight, which turned out to be only half full. And before long I dozed off, woke up mid-flight, watched Netflix on my ipad, dozed again and woke up when the pilot announced that we were about to land (30 or so minutes ahead of schedule). As expected, the airport was almost empty at that time (2:00am). We looked for our boarding gate, printed our bagtags at the Air Asia kiosk, and settled down at the only open place, a McDonald's.
Selfie while aboard 5J733. First international flight in the new normal
Sleepy at McDo in the KK airport. Fr L: me, Alex, Sarita, April
The jet-lagged look. Fr L: Ben, Henrick, Ugin, me
Two hours later, we checked in for our Sandakan bound flight. Again, there was no issue with our handcarried luggage. Once inside, nothing (expect 7-11) was open, so we looked for our gate and settled for another wait. Alex and Eugene promptly lied down to sleep, April and Sarita used the massage chairs to relax, Ben, Henrick, and I made small talk. Paul soon joined us and before long we were boarding our flight. For this day time flight, I chose a window seat so I could see the terrain.
A rainy Sabah as viewed from the air. I assume that is Kinabatangan River, one of our destinations for this trip
Touchdown Sandakan!
A rainy Sandakan...
Going out of the airport and finding our pick-up was uneventful. At the arrival gate, we met Saat Walli, our main guide, who turned out to be of Filipino descent (his parents are both from Mindanao). And our driver, Aziri, was a Malaysian who spoke both Tagalog and Bisaya. We boarded a coaster and proceeded to Sandakan town for breakfast.
First breakfast at Sandakan. Fr L: April, Sarita, Alex, Ugin, Ben, me. One of our servers was a young woman from Mindanao, which made ordering easier.
Choice of food was basically noodles and dimsum. I opted for noodles and a sticky rice which had some filling inside - pork, mushroom, etc. (walang Danggit!)
By 9:30am we were on the road again for a 20-25 minute ride to Sepilok Jungle Resort, our home for the next four nights. Only 5 of our 6 rooms were ready by the time we arrived so I put my things in Ben's room first and Saat led us on a short walk around the resort grounds for our first birding in Sabah.
The first bird we saw was a Changeable Hawk Eagle (dark morph), in flight. I snapped a few backlit docu shots.
Changeable Hawk Eagle, dark morph, first bird photographed on Sabah soil. Not a lifer since I have seen this bird in Coron several times.
We continued our stroll. At one point the trail became muddy and most turned back. Only Eugene, Paul and myself continued with Saat.
The next bird we saw were a flock of Green Pigeons on a distant bare tree. At that time, I IDéd them as Pink-necked Green Pigeons. After looking at other photos in the succeeding days, these could be Little Green Pigeons. But I will stick with Pink-necked for now.
Pink-necked Green Pigeons (I think, but I could be wrong)
Then I saw a bird briefly before it flew away. I could not identify it so in my initial list, I have it listed as "unidentified". I was only able to take four shots, two of them blurred. Sharing two super docu shots. I initially thought it was a Maroon Woodpecker but that has been debunked. Saat said it could be a Lesser Coucal but I disagreed because the tail does not look long enough to be a Coucal. He also consulted others in and the working ID is that it is a juvenile Raffles Malkoha which is possible because said bird is present in the resort. But since it has not been positively IDéd, it will stay as un-identified in my list.
Unidentified
We saw a large bird fly-by and we could hear the distinctive call of a Serpent Eagle. After a few minutes of searching we saw it on a tree in front of us.
Crested Serpent Eagle
Then Saat pointed to a flying bird in the distance which perched on a very far tree. We took shots nonetheless. Black Hornbill, my first lifer on Sabah soil
I also saw a bird that flew by and perch inside a tree canopy. I aimed my camera and briefly saw it but it flew again before I could press the shutter. I think it was an Asian Fairy Bluebird, which would have been a lifer because the one found in Palawan has been split and renamed the Palawan Fairy Bluebird. But again, since I am unable to make a positive ID, it will remain in my mind only.
By now it was time for lunch so we made our way back to the lodge where we found the others shooting sunbirds in the restaurant area. We stayed in this area until past one and was able to photograph the following birds:
Little Spider Hunter, a docu shot. Difficult to get a clear shot because this bird kept moving and staying in dark nooks.
The ever present ETS (Eurasian Tree Sparrow). No Asian birding sortie will be complete without this bird making an appearance.
Easily the starbird of the day. Crimson Sunbird, Sabah and 2023 Lifer #2; #489 over-all. This bird used to be present in the Philippines but that one has since been split and is now called the Magnificent Sunbird, and is a Philippine endemic species (found in the Visayas)
A better shot of the Little Spiderhunter
The Brown-throated Sunbird was also in the area but I was not able to get a good photo on this day. The same goes for the Blue-eared Kingfisher and the Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, both of which are present in Coron so I was not really that eager to get photos as much as the other birds.
All of us retired to our room to rest and plans were made to do roadside birding later in the afternoon in case there was no rain. Unfortunately, it continued to rain so we opted to stay in the lodge for the day. Conrad joined us sometime during the afternoon.
With my Thailand roomate, Conrad Olayres, who flew in from KL
The rest of the afternoon was rainy so we used the time to settle down and catch up on sleep. Call time for Day 2 was 6am rain or shine.
Great narration as usual. Sana makasama na next time. Funds went to un-scheduled car repairs. :(
Glory be to the highest... Your flights were hassle free... 😷🦅🇵🇭