17 June 2016

New Trip Reports: Sabah & Sumatra

Richard Webb, Phil Telfer, John Wright and Paul Carter just got back from a trip to Borneo and Sumatra.  Clouded Leopards were their main quarry and finally Richard was successful.  A very well deserved prize after several trips and considerable effort. They saw a bunch more besides.

Sabah, 2016: Richard Webb, 11 days & 40 species including Clouded Leopard, Stink Badger, Tarsier and Yellow Muntjak.

Gunung Kerinci and Tapan Road, 2016: Richard Webb, 5 days & 13 species including Mitred Langur, Siamang and Niobe Ground Squirrel.

Jon

 

Post Views: 848

4 Comments

  • 17 June 2016
    vdinets

    One thing I can say is that the quality of trip reports here is steadily improving 🙂

  • 18 June 2016
    tomeslice

    Awesome trip report, as always! Very detailed and with the maps and explanations!!
    Crazy views of the clouded Leopard!!

    I was so disappointed to read about your Tapan road and Gunung Kerinci experiences. I wonder if Sumatra is just getting stripped of all its animals too quickly, to where it’s already too late to have successful trips there. There were two disappointing trip reports in 3 days from Sumatra. I was really hoping to visit Tapan and Kerinci, as well as Bukit Barisan Selatan, which I think doesn’t have any reports yet. But it seems that reports from there are getting less and less successful – do you think it’s because of the rain? Bad luck? (u can’t claim bad luck after ur Borneo part, of course, but in Sumatra) or just hunting and deforestation?

    Cheers, and congrats on ur amazing trip!!

    • 18 June 2016
      Richard Webb

      Thanks. I don’t think that Kerinci is any worse than it was in the past. Yes there is some encroachment by cultivation but to be honest it’s just a tough place to look for mammals. We knew that before we went. Birdtours Asia have been lucky with their Golden Cat sightings but they have had a lot of trips without any. We just had four days on the mountain so would have been very lucky to score. Tapan is a slightly different matter. The forest still looks great and Birdtours Asia saw Clouded Leopard last year after the new road was built. However the new road and the traffic it generates definitely makes seeing large mammals on the road less likely. In addition I suspect the new road gives wild boar hunters easier access to the forest which is a real shame.

      Richard

      • 18 June 2016
        tomeslice

        Gotcha!
        I wonder if there are any Tapan-like roads in that area that are still less crowded, and undiscovered by mammal and bird watchers. Do you just camp alongside the road?
        I definitely need to get back to Sumatra over the next few years. I will definitely do Kerinci and maybe Tapan road. I saw that picture of the clouded leopard from last year… it definitely made me want to go there 🙂

        Cheers!
        Tomer

Leave a Reply