Cruising and Birding on the Buntal-Santubong Rivers.

by Cynthia Lobato

Just before the end of 2011 we arranged for an early morning boat trip with Malaysian Nature Society. 13 people signed up but kept our fingers crossed since it was Landas season and it had been raining very heavily the week before. When I spoke to the boatman we noticed that the last two days were dry in the morning but rained in the afternoon so the weather pattern looked promising.

At 7 am we were all present at Buntal and after a short briefing we put on our lifejackets and split into two boats.

 Weather was perfect, cool, dry no rain and overcast. Mount Santubong was still in the clouds and  looked so mysterious with patches of clouds hanging around the top. The sun had just come up and the sky was really beautiful. The boats drove slowly and we had our cameras and binoculars ready and soon we heard a stork-billed kingfisher and were trying to photograph it.   You had to be really quick since it was flying fast just above the water and probably looking for fish. Then we suddenly saw a whole group of whimbrels in a tree and they flew away when we approached them but some of us managed to take nice shots. 

Pity the water was to high to see the Saltwater Crocodiles as the river is known to host these reptiles. A flock of egrets was sitting on top of a mangrove bush and others were just near the water.

Suddenly the boats stopped at one of the fishponds that are floating in the Santubong River which are like small islands and some of us got out to have a look. They held fishes (grouper) that fishermen caught in the sea and fed until they are huge before selling them to restaurants. The one we saw was around 3 Kilogramss but could grow as big as 180 Kilograms.

After this short visit we passed the village of Salak as we headed towards Kuching Wetlands National Park (KWNP). It is the remains of the former Sarawak Mangrove Forest Reserve, which covered 170 square kilometres.

Located 30 km from Kuching, the Wetlands National Park was gazetted in 1992 and covers an area of 66.1 km² on the estuarine reaches of the Sibu Laut and Salak rivers. The park is composed of coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems. The predominantly saline and deltaic mangrove system includes an extensive network of marine waterways and tidal creeks, formed by the interconnecting rivers of Sungei Sibu-Laut, Batang Salak and Sungei Santubong that form the boundary of the park. Some small patches of heath forest are found within the park.

The park is the home of at least three predominantly arboreal primates; the endangered Proboscis Monkey, the Long tailed Macaques and the Silvered Leaf Langurs. White-Bellied Eagles, mud skippers and Horseshoe Crabs are also present. Otters and the Irrawaddy Dolphins can be sighted. On nearby Mount Santubong, Hornbills can be seen.

In the 12th Century the area was an important trading post between the interior peoples for their jungle produce predominantly animal parts valuable in Chinese medicine traded with the Chinese for their pottery and earthenware’s. Past and existing excavations have unearthed remains of the former Iron smelting industries active hundreds of years past. The impressive Mount Santubong acted as a clear navigational point for these traders no doubt.

A Whiskered Tern flew in such way that we could take pictures and also an immature White-bellied Sea Eagle, looking for prey, circled above us high in the sky. A beautiful White Collared Kingfisher sat  on a mangrove branch while looking for small fish.

On our way back it started drizzling but everyone was so happy that we had seen so many different birds and we had been very fortunate with the weather. Previously we had cruised this river only in the evening since it's famous for seeing Proboscis monkeys coming to the river just to feed and rest for the night high up in the trees and crocodiles are also active at night to look for prey.

In addition, one of the highlights at night is seeing fireflies and you realize how important it is to keep these places protected since tourists also love to come and see the wildlife Sarawak can still offer, which provides important income for many locals.

For further reading;

Beavitt, W. & Tuen.A.A (2010). Swamp - Kuching Wetlands National Park.