Borneo Bird Festival

It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to visit Sandakan in Eastern Sabah to attend the 11th annual Borneo Bird Festival. Organised and hosted by the Borneo Bird Club under the leadership of President Dr. Robert Ong and Mr. Cede Prudente together with the support of Sabah government agencies and NGOs this two day event is the biggest bird festival in Malaysia.

Getting to the Borneo Bird Festival

The Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) is a wonderful venue for the festival not least as it’s the permanent home (or temporary home in the case of migratory birds) of as many as 300 species including some of the 63 species endemic to Borneo. This educational centre is managed by the Sabah Forestry Department and attracts around 40,000 visitors annually. Located in Sepilok, just a couple of kilometres from the world-famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre the RDC is just a 25 minute journey from nearby Sandakan Airport so the festival is easily accessible for both local and international visitors.

The venue for the Borneo Bird Festival was the Rainforest Discovery Centre at Sepilok

The Objectives of the Borneo Bird Festival

The main focus of the Borneo Bird Festival is of course birds under the strapline ‘our birds, our heritage’. However, there is also focus on wildlife with the objective of creating and maintaining awareness around the need for conservation and that the ongoing protection of forests is vital as birds, and wildlife in general require a vast unspoilt area to be able to survive, breed and prosper. This is exemplified by the critically endangered helmeted hornbill that is only found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo and is threatened due to its highly prized hornbill ivory. In addition, its substantial size means that the species continues to require access to large trees in the rainforest in order to build nests, breed and maintain numbers.

On the first morning of the festival all participants, exhibitors and visitors were invited to the Grand Opening. A traditional dance was performed followed by speeches by Dr. Ong and Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture & Environment, YB Assafal P Alian upon which the Borneo Bird Festival was officially ‘declared open’.

Traditional Dance celebrating the opening of the 11th Borneo Bird Festival

Things to See & Do at the Borneo Bird Festival

There is much to see and do at the festival with plenty of opportunity for ‘hands-on’ participation. A personal highlight was the opportunity to enjoy a series of Guided Bird-Watching Walks led by one of the expert ‘birders’ from Borneo Bird Club (please refer to my separate blog!) but there was much else of interest including for the brave the chance to ‘Zip Line’ across the picturesque lake and for the really brave, tree-climbing.

If you preferred something a little more relaxed, there was a full and varied programme of talks to attend hosted in the pleasant Lakeside Pavilion. With a common theme of conservation, these included a presentation of the fascinating and challenging work undertaken by the nearby Bornean Sunbear Conservation Centre in taking rescued sun bears kept as pets in captivity and training them for their rightful return to the wild. Borneo Refugia presented on their Kawag Danum Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley Conservation Area and there was an opportunity to enjoy the wonderful bird and wildlife photography/videos of local 18 year old Alexander John. Alex is aiming to work in local bird/wildlife related tourism, I’m sure he has a bright future ahead. For the photographers I’m reliably told that even the experts were picking up tips at the Canon Photography Workshop.

Surrounding the main stage were approximately 20 stalls. As you’d expect, many catered for ‘birders’ including Canon, Sony & Leica. Also represented were other nature reserves that cater for bird-watchers including Tabin Wildlife Reserve and international organisations ‘Birding in Taiwan’ and The Nature Society (Singapore). For your blogger one of the most interesting stalls related to work in the local community, specifically with young people. The festival is intentionally child-friendly as the organisers view local children as potential future custodians of the precious rainforest. The Sepilok Junior Ranger programme is RDC’s version of ‘Boy Scouts / Girl Guides’ and members are mainly school children whose parents are either working at the Forest Rehabilitation Centre or Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. Started in 2006, the purpose of the programme is to encourage children living in Sepilok to help care for the forest and this has been undertaken in a practical way with events including recycling, composting, plant propagation and of course building awareness and knowledge of the local bird population.

As mentioned the festival is child friendly with fun things for local and visiting kids to do including painting, colouring, bird mask-making and face-painting. There are bird art related competitions for various different age groups, just take a look at the winner of the Primary School Colouring Contest, Nicole Syn Yan Toong’s lovely picture of a Stork Billed Kingfisher.

Nicole Syn Yan Toong’s lovely picture of a Stork Billed Kingfisher.

The Bird Race at the Borneo Bird Festival

Speaking of competitions there were also events for grown-ups to participate in: on the afternoon of day 2 the winners of the bird photography competition were announced along with the winners of the prestigious Bird Race. The Bird Race comprised of twelve teams of three who were ‘flagged off’ at 6:30 a.m. on day 1 with the aim of logging as many different species of birds sighted in RDC that day up until 5:00 p.m. The winning team from Tabin Wildlife Reserve logged 126 species, yes one-hundred-and-twenty-six including a number of rare endemic to Borneo species. Extraordinary and the highest number recorded for many years.

The winning team from Tabin Wildlife Reserve logged an amazing 126 species in a day in the ‘Bird Race’

Borneo Bird Festival: In Conclusion

As this is Sabah, there are two things you can take for granted but are worthy of mention. The first is you won’t go hungry! RDC has the Keruing Café on-site and this is supplemented by stalls and a number of vans in the car park. Dare I say some of our party including your blogger visited a local Sandakan van selling delicious locally-made ice-cream/yogurt desserts more times than we should!

The second is the warm friendly Sabahan welcome that you’ll receive at the festival from everyone including members of the Borneo Bird Club through to all the stall-holders and staff at RDC, irrespective of whether you’re a local/international visitor and expert birder or enthusiastic novice.

The 12th Borneo Bird Festival

The 12th Borneo Bird Festival will be held in October 2020 (dates to be confirmed early next year) and promises to be bigger and even better, make a note in your diary NOW! Why not combine your visit with a trip to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre & Bornean Sunbear Conservation Centre? Happy birding - check out the Borneo Bird Festival website!

https://www.borneobirdfestival.com/

About Martin

Martin is a British expat living in Kota Kinabalu who arranges tailored tours within Sabah primarily for British and Western tourists on behalf of Blue Kinabalu Travel Agency. Please help spread the word about beautiful Sabah and share this post using the social share buttons below.

Visiting the 11th Borneo Bird Festival