BAKELALAN, SARAWAK BIRD TOURISM REPORTS 3/2017. Petri Hottola

Transcription

1 BIRD TOURISM REPORTS 3/2017 Petri Hottola BAKELALAN, SARAWAK Fig. 1. Photographs were not taken in Bakelalan, with its frequent rain showers and airline luggage restrictions. Here is a Mt. Kinabalu Golden-naped Barbet instead, as a taste of Borneo birds! 25 th to 27 th July, 2016, it was possible for me to visit Bakelalan in Sarawak, Malaysia. The visit was a part of a longer private tour in Sabah and Sarawak, with a focus on selected world list species. Bakelalan is a group of nine villages of Lun Bawang people in the Bario region of the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, at an altitude of 900 meters and only few kilometers from the Indonesian border (Kalimantan is visible from the village). Place the coordinates , at Google Maps search function to pinpoint the main village, where the STOLport is located. During the preparations for the visit, it became apparent, that there is not enough up-to-date information on Bakelalan. For individual visiting birders, it is necessary to go through a number of Internet sources, in order to add up pieces of information which enable visiting the area. Some of them are still reliable, some are not. That is why this short report was written, to help other prospecting birders to plan their visit, better than I was able to do.

2 There are many issues to be considered, including access, accommodation and on site transportation, for example. During the July 2016 visit, I had to choose rather sedentary existence in Bakelalan, for reasons which will be explained later on. FLIGHTS I flew in to Borneo from Jakarta, Indonesia, on Malaysia Airlines, with a transit in Kuala Lumpur, and continued my way on the same ill-fated airline to Manila, the Philippines, transiting again in Kuala Lumpur. In-between, a stop-over of 12 days was spent in Sabah and Sarawak, traveling around by a rented Proton Saga (more in a separate report on Klias Peat Swamp & Kuala Penyu). Out of the twelve days, two-and-half were reserved for Bakelalan, with an idea to score with one or two target birds, and to relax in the cool highland climate. The entry point to Bakelalan is in Lawas, Sarawak, either by road (about 6 hours) or by air (a 15 to 25 minute flight). The small airport of Lawas serves Bakelalan three times a week, with inexpensive but oftentimes full MasWings flights. In case the weight limit of the plane is exceeded, people have to leave their things in Lawas, or are denied access to the plane. That is what happened to one or two domestic customers on both of my flights. Foreigners, with their early reservations and prepaid tickets, are prioritized, and may expect to get on board, if their tickets are ok. It is best, however, to arrive at the airports early, for a show up, in case of overbooking. The Twin Otter flight to Bakelalan cost MYR 150 ( 30) return, which is a great deal. See MasWings regulations for luggage allowances and other important information. Do not expect to take your suitcase with you. The MasWings Internet payment of the tickets did not go well, but I ed Malaysia Airlines, the main company, and they sorted out the situation, without delay. In other words, the payment appeared to pass but the program froze immediately afterwards, and there was no confirmation. Neither did I receive my tickets by . It was, however, soon discovered that the payment had arrived and the tickets would be issued at the airport, prior to the departure. Afterwards, I had no problems with the tickets or the payment. At both ends of the Lawas Bakelalan leg, the airport staff was helpful and polite, and did their best to make my visit as comfortable as possible. The connection is fairly reliable, but foggy weather may also lead to cancellations, and to a need to stay in Bakelalan for an extra day or two. There are no delayed flights, but the flight will simply be canceled and one has to wait for the next one, according to schedule. The other option is to hire a seat on a 4x4 on its way down the mountains, but it is a hard 125 km ride, on muddy and rutted roads. Interestingly, on both of my visits at the Lawas Airport, I was confronted by illegal trade of birds. First time, there were 20 Cebu Pacific boxes with fighting cocks on the floor, waiting for another flight to Miri, Sarawak. Second time, the number of boxes was slightly smaller. The noisy boxes with their aggressive cocks were comical because of the noise the birds made, but it was not so

3 funny to see a daily trade of that nature in Malaysia, where cock fights are illegal. The cocks are transported from Manila to Kota Kinabalu and then to Miri via Lawas. The cockfight kingpin in Miri apparently claims to import the birds for breeding purposes but the breeding techniques appear to be lethal, at the rate he imports new birds from the Philippines. Also, one would imagine that also hens were needed for breeding As a rule, illegal operators do not need to worry about laws and regulations in this part of the world. Just few days earlier, U.S. and Singapore authorities had, according to international news, confiscated USD (yes, one billion), a proportion of USD 3.5 billion allegedly stolen from the Malaysian State Investment Fund by Malaysian Official 1. Soon afterwards, the Malaysian Official 1 had himself investigated the allegations and discovered no wrong-doing, but had nevertheless been forced to sack an attorney general who did apparently not fully agree. As a result, the foreign authorities had a lot of Malaysian tax money in their hands, but could not return it, for obvious reasons. News such as this, and some everyday observations, may be both educative and entertaining, whenever one travels the world eyes open, not only for birds. ACCOMMODATION My two accommodations, one a four to five star hotel and another one a village homestay, were both very convenient and comfortable for their intended purposes, and may therefore be recommended for others, too. Hotel Seri Malaysia Lawas (MYR 240, 52, with breakfast): The hotel was chosen as a convenient place to stay close to the small Lawas Airport. I left my things and car there while visiting Bakelalan by air. In other words, I paid two extra days for the car rental because of the arrangement, unable to drive the vehicle, but the other option (Kota Kinabalu Lawas Kota Kinabalu by bus, and then return to at least Beaufort by the rental car) would have been too complicated and time consuming to realize within the available time frame. Later on, the hotel was adopted as my base for the Klias Kuala Penyu trips. Not aware that the border between Sabah and Sarawak was like a border between independent nations, I thought that practical, especially because no accommodation could be secured in Beaufort, at Agoda.com and Booking.com. The Beaufort hotels I contacted otherwise, did not bother to reply to s from Finland. Hotel Seri Malaysia Lawas had friendly and professional staff. The room was peaceful, clean and comfortable, and a television set with a number of international channels. There was plenty of parking space. Breakfasts and other meals were served in a restaurant, buffet style or á la carte. As usual in Malaysia, the breakfast had no specific breakfast items but resembled a lunch. Overall,

4 the hotel was a nice place to stay, especially if compared to some other choices across the state border, in Sabah. The hotel shop had Coke Zero for MYR 2 ( 0.42) per can, a reasonable price for a five-star hotel. The drink had been cheapest surprise, surprise at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, just MYR 1 ( 0.21) per can. In Kota Kinabalu and Ranau, the price was MYR 1.50 ( 0.32), and in Bakelalan MYR 6 ( 1.30). In one shop in West Sumatra, it was 4 per can (Coke Light, the same drink under a different brand name), the price of 20 cans in Kuala Lumpur! Lawas has some shops for groceries, but their product assortment is fairly limited. Yes, I make wide-ranging price comparisons to get an idea where to stock up, when on the road. Sang and Julia s Homestay (MYR 80, 16, including full board): The homestay was chosen because it had been mentioned in a trip report and they appeared to have an address. I had ed a booking, but there had been no reply. On spot, I was told that the address had been outof-date for a while. The Apple Lodge, with a view to the airport, was also open and next to empty, but I had not found any contact information for them in the Internet, despite lots of publicity, and therefore skipped that option. As frustrating it may to some travelers be, with Bakelalan, the main option apparently is just to go there, and hope that a bed is available somewhere. It most likely will be. The local guesthouses are just not yet business-minded enough to establish working reservation systems. Walk to the village and ask people where to go. They will help you. On arrival, the homestay was almost fully booked by a group of British volunteers, teachers and pupils, who were working for a local church project. It was a polite but distant group, who had no real interest in communicating with others than fellow Britons. I had already met a similar group in Sepilok, at Sepilok B&B. In Sabah and Sarawak, religious zealots have historically been competing on the souls of the locals. On the coast, it is the Muslims, who have the upper hand. Up on the hills, it is the Christians. Also in Bakelalan, a village of inhabitants, church (Sidang Injil Borneo) buildings surpass the others and alcohol is prohibited on religious grounds. Fortunately, there still was one room left for me. It was upstairs, with two shared toilets and showers downstairs, and clean and comfortable, even though basic. The house is rather nice and the meals freshly made and tasty. Tea and biscuits are available any time of the day. There even is a reference library there, with a chance to compare the different editions of Borneo bird guidebooks. The location of the house allowed easy access to the rice fields, the main road and the airfield. Mrs. Julia Sigar is in charge of the accommodation and catering business, whereas her husband Sang, a village teacher, is the best known bird guide in the valley, with a history in the discovery of the Dulit Frogmouth. There are other bird guides there, too.

5 THE SITE AND ITS BIRDS According to the reports I have read in the Internet, most birder visitors have relied on local guides and transportation services, visiting one or two sites away from the main valley, apparently whatever the cost may be (not revealed in reports). Unfortunately, the local service providers, prospecting part-timers in the field, have consequently become greedy, with exceptionally high price tags for their services. Why not? The visitors, spearheaded by tour groups, have been ready to pay the inflated fees, apparently thinking that it is a once in a lifetime investment. The guides therefore tend to focus on immediate gratification, not necessarily realizing that a more moderate pricing would bring in more visitors, and at the end of the day benefit the community more. Unfortunately, what the tour groups pay, is also expected from solo visitors, who nevertheless have only one wallet, and not eight, for example. The bird number one in Bakelalan is the Dulit Frogmouth, the prime reason people go there. A guided trip to the closest sites, five to fifteen minutes away from the village, may cost up to MYR 550 ( 116) for a group or a solo visitor, likewise, depending with whom you are dealing with. Personally, I have a principle of rather missing a species or two than paying fees which are not reasonable; for example, a week s average income for a job which takes one hour, or a ten kilometer drive which costs more than a week long full board accommodation, or hundred kilometers by a taxi at a close-by site. There are, after all, more birds out there than one is ever able to locate, during a lifetime. It is therefore not necessary to see them all, for any price. In Bakelalan, I was also simply not wealthy enough to pay the going rates. For me, this resulted in inability to rent local transportation services and initial problems with the main target species, too. It looked like I could only walk around by myself. That is what I ended up doing, for the most of the time. It took some strained negotiations before a frogmouth visit could be organized, within the limits of my middle-income budget. At the site, it was found out that the battery of the guide s digital recorder had run out. It had not been recharged by another guide who had borrowed the device. The frogmouth was present and active at its territory, as I could observe through an open window. Nevertheless, to guarantee close sights, we continued to a nearby village to buy fresh batteries. On our return, the bird had unfortunately left the place and we also failed with two other territories. It apparently was too late for the frogmouths who had already made their territorial declarations and were apparently now hunting for food. Two Barred Eagle Owls were heard, instead. The good area was within the first 1.5 km to the right (north) at the Y-fork as one leaves the village, next to the airfield. This is the road which runs all the way to Lawas. In other words, the

6 area is well within a walking distance, even though the gravel road may in places be (horribly) muddy if it has been raining in the afternoon. Dulit Frogmouths are probably not uncommon in the forested parts of the valley. The species appears to favor somewhat degraded forest and therefore probably has a future in the area. On the 26 th, early in the morning, one was calling at the opposite side of the valley, in the east, at the low forest edge close to the main village. Higher up at the same site, a Barred Eagle Owl was also seen. In addition to the above-described night trip, I made a number of walks in the vicinity of the airfield, and especially along the main walking trail across the rice fields north of the STOLport (airfield) village, till the next village in the valley. First, one walks in-between buildings and down to a small bridge across a stream. The path is well visible on the central compound. Afterwards, it is all rice fields till the next bridge across another stream. There are many free-roaming water buffalos on the way, cows with calves, and one has to be careful with them. The calves may run around and their mothers may feel a need to defend them if one ends up too close to a calf. Keep your distance! Once, I also walked down to the stream downhill at the back of the guesthouse, on the advice of Julia Sigar. It is all about opportunism. Whenever it was not raining, it was possible to walk somewhere, the distance being dictated by an estimated arrival of the next rain. Mornings tended to be sunny, before afternoon rains. In the late afternoon there were more and more breaks in the rain, and it usually stopped before sunset. There was hardly any rain at night. In regard to other target species, one pair of Ferruginous Partridges was active on the eastern side of valley, on a partly cleared slope, but only in the afternoons, and not in the mornings, when Redbreasted and Crested (once) Partridges were calling on the same slope, higher up. Of interest was also a Malaysian Honey Buzzard, or Oriental Honey Buzzard of torquatus subspecies, which mimicked an adult Blyth s Hawk Eagle (also present). The proposal to split the honey-buzzard as a full species is still alive, despite confusing DNA evidence. A Blue-banded Pitta was calling at the northeast of the village, but did not merit further interest. I had already located one at Poring Hot Springs. At the rice fields, a (Siberian) Brown Shrike was an early migrant, or had it stayed the whole year there? The first shorebirds had already arrived, from the same direction. Surprisingly, I only saw one Ashy Drongo at Bakelalan, and the bird happened to have white eyes. Strange The eyes should always be red, as far as I know. A surprising record was also a male Bonaparte s Nightjar, which was seen flying in the lights of a car, at forest edge next to the above-mentioned Y-fork; a small blackish-brown nightjar with no white on wings, striped belly below a darker breast, white submoustachial stripes, extensively white throat and wide, strikingly white tips of outermost tail feathers. The not so well known Bonaparte s Nightjar has been guesstimated to be a lowland species, below 500 meters, but the

7 900 m record gives some hope that it may actually be able to adapt to higher altitudes as well. The common and superficially similar Malaysian Eared Nightjar occurs in Bakelalan, too. As the following bird list testifies, several lowland species such as Cinnamon Bitterns and Van Hasselt s Sunbirds have arrived in the Bakelalan valley and discovered a haven there, apparently as a result of the spreading cultivation of the highlands. In fact, a quarter of the species on the list apparently are recent colonists to the area. Today, the chain of rice fields travels all the way from the mountains to the coast, along the fertile valley bottoms. In regard to mammals, distant Bornean Gibbons were heard each morning from the direction of Kalimantan. In the valley, I saw two Low s Squirrels. Bird list (53 species) Red-breasted Partridge 8, calling. Ferrugineous Partridge 2, one pair was calling in the afternoon, both days. Crested Partridge 1, calling, once. Yellow Bittern 2 Cinnamon Bittern 14 Great Egret 10 Little Egret 1 Eastern Cattle Egret 1 Blyth s Hawk Eagle 3, soaring together. Oriental Honey Buzzard 1 adult torquatus, with Blyth s Hawk Eagle colors. Barred Eagle Owl 3, one seen, two others calling. Common Sandpiper 1, at the N rice fields. Wood Sandpiper 3, at the N rice fields. White-breasted Waterhen 32 Ruddy Cuckoo Dove 1 Spotted Dove 1 Pink-necked Green Pigeon 12 Mountain Imperial Pigeon 8, one party, fly-by across the valley. Lesser Coucal 1 Indian Cuckoo 2 Dulit Frogmouth 2, both sides of the valley. Bonaparte s Nightjar 1, male. Glossy Swiftlet 20+ Black-nest/Mossy-nest Swiftlet 100+ House Swift 1 Red-bearded Bee-eater 1 Golden-whiskered Barbet 2 Bornean Barbet 4

8 Mountain Barbet 6 Blue-banded Pitta 1, calling in the east. Bornean Leafbird 3 White-breasted Woodswallow 8 Barn Swallow 36 Brown Shrike 1, very early migrant, or a resident bird? Ashy Drongo 1, stigmatops, but strangely with white eyes. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 1 Malaysian Pied Fantail 10 Chestnut-crested Yuhina 2 Oriental Paradise Flycatcher 1 Oriental Magpie Robin 8 Yellow-bellied Prinia 4, two pairs. Dark-necked Tailorbird 2, one pair. Black-and-white Bulbul 1 Yellow-vented Bulbul 40 Cinereous Bulbul 1 Olive-backed Sunbird 5 Brown-throated Sunbird 3 Van Hasselt s Sunbird 2, one pair, by the houses. Crimson Sunbird 2, one pair, by the houses. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker 7 Scaly-breasted Munia 30+ Chestnut Munia 260+ Dusky Munia 4 Eurasian Tree Sparrow 60+ Slender-billed Crow 1 FINAL WORDS I arrived in Bakelalan with very limited information and without prior contacts with the service providers in the village. In the worst case, it would not have been possible to stay there. Nevertheless, the basics could be organized reasonably well; very well in regard to accommodation and meals. If only there was a way to gain more freedom of movement, such as mountain bike rental, or more developed road transportation services, a more rewarding experience would have been possible. I would certainly have visited Paya Maga (Bornean Frogmouth, Black Oriole), too, if working contact information could have been discovered. The flights and accommodations are already there, and the Kelabit Highlands certainly has more to offer than the Dulit Frogmouth, the current star species of the Bakelalan valley. Good luck with your visit in Bakelalan!