Good thing we brought the covid kit

We have taken a covid kit with us (covid tests, paxlovid, dayquill, stepsils) on every trip.  Unfortunately, we needed it this time. Not sure where we got it, it could have been one our drivers or the hotel manager that showed us the room at Borneo Eagle.  

Mike felt a sore throat first, and came back with a clear positive. 

Chris tested negative then. Fortunately, the room had a divider between the bed and the living area and two toilets, so we split it in two

That didn’t keep Chris healthy and she noticed some symptoms, so we got a test at the airport and it came back positive

Hopefully, Chris will not get the razor blade throat but she had the metallic taste from paxlovid already

Next up: monkeypox 

Surviving Pulau Tiga.

It’s been a little unusual being the only guests on the island, but they are really catering to our needs. (Although once, no one answered the phone and Chris walked over to the lodge and no one was there nor at the pool. Fortunately the boat was still at the dock so we knew we were not abandoned).

 Anyway, one of the best things is the Oriental Pied Hornbills are plentiful and can be observed from breakfast and dinner closer than we saw at the nature lodges. There’s a next nearby and we learned that the female is sealed inside the a cavity with the eggs or chicks and the male feeds through a thin slit.

Other pairs are grooming or mate feeding.

Otherwise, we encounter a few creatures, but some new birds too.

There is a small hanging bridge and Chris braved it for an even closer view of hornbill.

Mike wanders around photographing things and we both spent most of the day in our villa’s pool having brought over rafts from the main pool.

I’d Sure Hate to Break Down Here 🎶🎶

That’s a song by Julie Roberts we like- we never expected to experience it in the rainforest of Borneo!

So, we got picked up at our premium villa on our last morning at Borneo Rainforest Lodge. The vehicle was the same premium type we came in by, a Toyota Land Rover or something, with nice leather seats, four wheel drive, super air conditioning- all the comforts we expect.

Our driver seemed to have a bit of a cough. Mike gets pretty covid conscious in a situation like that when trapped in a small space with no airflow, so he opened his window- and that’s when things started going downhill.

His window would not go back up. He did not mention this to the driver, but it seemed to Chris the driver was agitated and started driving faster. Maybe he already knew something was wrong with the vehicle so that’s why he was driving faster trying to get us to flat land or civilization before it completely conked out 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, it kept getting worse, smoke was pouring out the side vent and we could feel the gears slipping. He stopped and turned it off completely a few times and then would turn it back on and we would progress a bit. Eventually it died for good - sooooooo ….. he asked could we get out and walk and he would carry our luggage. The conservative center he said was only 20 minutes away.

We assured him we were healthy and fit and that was no problem and he said he “called a friend” with another car to meet us there. Bear in mind we have a flight to catch to then make a connection with a driver for a two hour drive to the boat to get to Borneo Eagle Resort.

So we start walking and Chris decides not to look back because she didn’t think the driver looked fit enough for this and figured he would have a heart attack with our two pieces of luggage.

Now, the odd and frustrating part was the language barrier and the fact that two vehicles had passed us coming inward which he just waved at like everything was fine - and it surely wasn’t!  By his friend he must have meant his supervisor but we still have no idea why two other trucks didn’t stop to offer help before he finally stopped a truck coming out and talked with them (Mike looked back to see this) and that truck then caught up to us and our luggage was in the bed and they told us to get in. One spoke good English and was very friendly.

But then they just left us at the conservative stop and we were still sort of clueless. Now we are getting really worried we will miss our flight. And now new vehicles with new guests are making their way in and stopping (this is one of two bathroom breaks for incoming guests) but they really were not that helpful and then a lot of voices started getting raised.

Finally, here comes our original driver huffing and puffing down the road who again assures us a car is on the way. The car is red he is able to tell us, as if that will reassure us we won’t miss our flight.

Eventually our red truck shows up and the driver is super friendly, he offers us bananas 😂 and we get going again.

And then we hit a traffic jam!!! 

Well, we made it and it’s a very very small airport and more Borneo Eco Tour staff were there to meet us and make check in go smoothly. One of them said we heard your car broke down. Chris told them no, YOUR car broke down, we just happened to be in it.

Chris thinks the driver was going too fast and something kicked up underneath and caused a leak. The driver said he checked it in the morning and now it’s getting lower. She bit her tongue and didn’t say well you were driving like a bat out of hell so what did you expect. You see, our drive in was lovely with Azmie, our driver,  who was also a birder and drove at a normal speed.

I wish we thought to take a photo of the broken down vehicle with “nothin up ahead or in the rear view mirror”🎶🎶 but circumstances being what they were we did not. I did get the rescue vehicle and the traffic jam though.

And then it gets better - we make it to the island and we are informed they just got bad news from the national park service that there is a giant crocodile in the sea so we are to stay out of the water until they shoot it. To be continued…….

Made it to Borneo Eagle Resort on Pulau Tiga

Although there are 13 villas, we are the only guests on the island!  Of course,  many horror movies start in paradise and then people wind up running through the forest screaming.

They have been extremely accommodating.   Dinner was prepared to our liking and breakfast was wonderful.  

Now, we were warned that a 12 foot crocodile has been spotted in the ocean.  We have a bat at the doorway.  The weather just turned suddenly.

If we don’t post again….

Last day in the rainforest

It’s our first daytime rain. We are packed with an hour to spare and sitting outside on the covered porch. A black and red broadbill came by, followed by a shama and a bulbul, so Mike first used the cell phone and then got the camera out for one last broadbill photo. 

Pulau Tiga: Will Mike be voted off.

Twenty years ago, Mike had to go Brazil for a conference. After staying in a major city, they went to jungle lodge.  It was very rustic and the trip predated our becoming bird watchers.  It was where Surviver Amazon was filmed.After one night, Chris voted Mike off and went to a nice hotel with mahogany furniture in Manaus. It may have been the insects, the door frog, or the shower that was cold water heated with two bare electrical wires. It may have been the three rickety flight up to our room.

Here we go again, this time to Pulau Tiga where the original Survivor was filmed. However, it’s now a small luxury ecolodge, mainly for water activities or in our case relaxing.  We’ll see if history repeats itself. 

Last birding trek (and some primates).

On our last morning, we visited the same spots but saw some different birds. We also got better views of a gibbon.

We saw an orangutan along the main entrance road.

Chris spotted a rufous-backed dwarf kingfisher cross the road. Its colors may be more vivid in the shade.

The make rufous piculet was a target bird for Mike. We finally got good views.

The babblers were active.  Here’s a bold-striped tit-babbler

The first bird was outside our door a Malaysian blue flycatcher.

White-chested babbler 

Scaly-crowned babbler

Yellow-breasted flowerpecker.

Another Broadbill

Little spiderhunter 

However, the highlight was the Borean Bristlehead.  This is a rare bird that stays at the canopy. Chris can be as competitive as Monica Geller and wanted to be one of the few that saw it.  She spotted 3 birds moving about high in the tree and the guide confirmed they travel in small groups. Chris finally got a good look and saw the red head. She pointed it out to the guide who put in the spotting scope for Mike to see. They were fairly high in the trees so it’s not a great photo but it’s still a great day and the end to a great trip.