Clouded leopard safaris in Borneo

Sunda clouded leopards are listed as vulnerable, with fewer than 10,000 thought to remain in the wild and falling, their survival threatened by deforestation that has dramatically reduced their habitat. Sightings on big cat safaris in Borneo are shared with researchers, and can make a big contribution towards effective conservation efforts. There is no typical sighting. A leopard may cross the road in front of you and disappear straight into the dense forest, or it may pause to groom and rest a while. You might see one climbing trees, scent-marking, or even walking with its cubs – there’s just no way to tell what luck will bring.

But of course in a place such as Sabah, the wild and rugged landscapes are home to many of the world’s least observed species. On a typical big cat safari in Borneo, while the focus may be on tracking leopards, you’re also likely to see animals including orangutans, marbled and bay cats, proboscis monkeys, primates such as gibbons, macaques and langurs, Bornean bearded pigs, Sunda stink badgers, saltwater crocodiles, reticulated pythons and Asiatic elephants. So what we’re saying is – the potential for encountering wildlife here is… wild.

Many species are nocturnal, so most of the activities in Borneo are done by night, meaning you will be out from the early evening until after midnight, returning to your eco lodge or guesthouse deep in forest reserves. While the safaris themselves, travelling by jeep and boat, aren’t physically demanding and last the same time as they would in the daylight, it can take a little while to adapt to the schedule. Spotlighting is used, and exact routes are decided on a day-by-day basis for maximum flexibility.

Trips are accompanied by local naturalist guides, there to lead you to the optimum wildlife watching locations, and often zoologists’ too, able to explain behaviours of animals so rare that actually very little is known about them. Luck is naturally very much the name of the game, but with expert trackers you stand a good chance of seeing leopards and other animals.

There are only two places in the world where 10 primate species are present, and one of them is the wildlife reserve on the banks of the Kinabatangan River. Some of Borneo’s densest concentrations of wildlife are to be found in lowland forests and mangrove swamps, including elephants, orangutans and proboscis monkeys.