Borneo Birding & Wildlife Tour: Hornbills, Trogons & Orangutans

Hornbills, Trogons & Orangutans: Borneo Birding & Wildlife EcoTour

(Sabah & Sarawak, Malaysia) 

15 Days / 14 nights 10-24 October 2026

After having both been lured to the island’s mystic jungles to extensively travel and work between 2006-2010, our Team (Luke Paterson & Sarah Burgess) had the privilege of returning to Borneo for four weeks in 2023 (this time with a toddler in tow) for our extensive reconnaissance mission to develop our newest international birding itinerary and catch up with some old friends along the way.

Our 2024 tour departure yielded fabulous sightings, including 10 wild Orangutans. We successfully photographed and observed many of Borneo’s 650+ bird species and exceptional mammals, countless amphibians and invertebrates. Now we invite you to join our unforgettable birding and wildlife adventure through the Heart of Borneo.

2025 was led by Luke Paterson and Harn Sheng Khor.

Our 2026 and 2027 tours will be led by our Malaysian-Australian tour leader/guide Harn Sheng Khor, who has spent years birding his homelands and has now seen over 75% of Malaysian bird species. He will of course be joined by our team of local Bornean guides too.

NT Bird Specialists’ Borneo birdwatching tour takes you to the best birding and mammal safari sites in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia (also excellent for wildlife and bird photography). You’ll explore Borneo’s wildlife and avifauna with professional tour leader and owner of NT Bird Specialists, Luke Paterson and local Bornean bird guides and naturalist guides, using brilliant birdwatching infrastructure, rainforest trails, private cruises and transport.
You’ll stay at sophisticated lodging throughout including Borneo’s best eco-lodges (the Tabin Wildlife Resort, Sukau Rainforest Lodge and Borneo Rainforest Lodge in the remote Danum Valley) offering exclusive and luxury experiences, making even the deepest areas of primal jungle accessible and enjoyable.
Our tour provides access to close viewing of Bornean wildlife and improves natural wildlife and bird photography results, even in the densest of tall rainforest canopies or forest floors and winding tropical rivers.

NT Bird Specialists’ Deluxe Borneo Birding & Wildlife EcoTour showcases the quintessence of Malaysian Borneo’s wildlife and ecotourism.

We’ve designed you our best Borneo birding itinerary and natural world safari. Check out the incredible species and birding locations we’ll target in Borneo.

With increasingly accessible conservation areas and dedicated facilities, the East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah are epic and pleasurable destinations to observe and photograph Malaysia’s endemic, rare, ornately coloured and cryptic bird species. Sabah, in particular, is a well-developed destination for ecotourism, especially for tropical birdwatching.

NT Bird Specialists’ Deluxe Borneo birding tour commences in Sarawak’s largest national park, Gunung (Mount) Mulu UNESCO World Heritage site, a BirdLife International Important Bird Area (IBA). Mulu is home to ‘Up River People’ ‘Orang Ulu’, the World’s most extensively studied and extensive karst (cave) systems and a magnificent nightly bat exodus. We’ll also await the 3-million bat exodus wind out some of the planet’s largest caves.

We visit critical mammal and birdwatching sites, including four IBAs in Sabah from Mount Kinabalu’s UNESCO World Heritage site highlands to the lowland Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve and Rainforest Discovery Cenre, the Kinabatangan River floodplain, and the 140 million-year-old Dipterocarp forests of Danum Valley. We’ll also explore the wildlife mecca of Tabin Wildlife Reserve and its Lipid mud volcano. *Guests have the option to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Sun Bear Conservation Centre.

Birding different tropical habitats, including dipterocarp forests, limestone karst forests, montane cloud forests, riverine and mangrove swamps, will increase our chances of spotting some of the 64 Borneo island endemics and highly desirable families such as pittas, trogons, hornbills, broadbills, barbets, kingfishers, and woodpeckers.

Some of the tour’s target bird species include the cooler climate mid-elevation montane endemics like the famous ‘Whitehead’s trio’ (Whitehead’s Trogon, Whitehead’s Broadbill, and Whitehead’s Spiderhunter), along with the unmistakable and monotypic endemic Bornean Bristlehead (in a family of its own), a mega highlight for listers and general birders.

Bornean Green Magpie, the monotypic Fruithunter, White-fronted Falconet (a Sabah endemic and the World’s smallest raptor) and the show-stopping Blue-headed Pitta, Black-crowned Pitta, Hooded Pitta and Bornean Banded Pitta are more commonly found than the cryptic Garnett Pitta, Giant Pitta, pheasants and Bornean Ground Cuckoo (which we’ll certainly attempt).

All 8 hornbill species occurring in Borneo are regularly encountered, including the critically endangered Helmeted Hornbill, striking Rhinoceros Hornbill, and notable White-crowned Hornbill amongst the favourites.

Other key birds we’ll keep an eye out for include the Storm’s Stork, Bornean Forktail, Crested Fireback, and Great Argus.

Borneo is conceivably Southeast Asia’s best mammal-viewing country. As we travel through the island’s ancient rainforests, we’ll aim to encounter Borneo’s prolific endemic mammals, such as the wild Bornean Orangutan ‘Man of the forest’, Pygmy Elephant, North Bornean Gibbon/North Grey Gibbon, Sunda Clouded Leopard and Proboscis Monkey. As well as Jungle Cat Small-clawed and Smooth-coated Otter, Silver Langur, Civet Cats, Sambar Deer and Muntjac (Barking Deer).

We’ll undertake private guided walks, cruises and safaris both day and night. The frequent nocturnal spotlight sessions are fabulous for Barred Eagle Owl, Brown Hawk Owl, flying squirrels, Flying Lemur/Colugo, Binturong (Bearcat) and ancient prosimian primates like Slow Loris the Western Tarsier. Many of the deeper forest reserves have little human interference, so the wildlife can be seen behaving naturally at close range.

 

Borneo truly is a must-visit destination for tropical birding and wildlife holidays.

Join us from 10-24 October 2026 to immerse yourself in Borneo’s lush jungles and discover why it’s so hard to resist its allure.

 

Book Your Borneo Tour Today. Places are limited:

Please complete our booking form and we will be in touch with deposit & payment details.
Need to know more? See our Itinerary Notes below.

Visit our FAQ page, or Email us on [email protected] /
Call us on +61 (0) 455 921 092 (Sarah) / +61 (0) 421 651 122 (Luke)

Rest assured with our award-winning team as we combine over 39 years experience when packaging our custom ecotours. Our local expertise and services in special-interest nature tourism are amongst the best on offer.
Come & experience it for yourself. Read our 5 Star Guest Reviews here:

 

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