We
all slept in and reconvened at 6 AM which felt very leisurely. And we have an additional van which Rose
Ann must have ordered up from Kota Kinabalu – so we’re riding in comfort now! The temperature was 59 degrees - lovely and
cool after the hot lowlands. We all walked up the road a bit trying for the
Crimson-headed Partridge. We got it to
respond to the tape with its loud raucous call but it didn’t show itself. The vans took us back to the restaurant for
breakfast. I had porridge with some
unlabeled savory and sweet things to put on it and a scrambled egg with some
delicious roti, Indian flat bread.
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| Mt. Kinabalu from our room |
The
vans took us up to the end of the road to a locked fence at the Timpohon Gate
through which the hikers who are going to climb the mountain set off for the
shelter half way up the slope. There they spend the night in a dorm and take
off at 2:45 AM, climb to the top just in time to see the sun rise over Borneo,
if it’s not cloudy or raining, and then start down, arriving at the gate late in
the day.
 |
| Hikers setting off for the peak |
Not
my idea of a good time but there was quite a crowd of hikers waiting to be let
through the gate. There were also some colorfully-veiled women tourists from
Kuala Lumpur whom I was trying to surreptitiously photograph, when they turned
and asked if they could photograph us! So we all gathered together to
be to be in a picture with other exotic tourists!
 |
| Various "exotic" tourists |
We
had lunch at Liwagu Restaurant near our lodge which has an interesting menu; I
had chicken curry with roti bread that was excellent. We sat on a cool verandah with pots of
blooming fuchsia overhead and got some excellent views of Temminck’s Sunbird, a
brilliant red hummingbird-like bird.
 |
| Delicious Roti and chicken curry |
Our
vans took us to the Bukit Ular trailhead and we, with our boots on, marched into
the beautiful woods. There was some
mud and our shoes would have done the job, but since we all packed with the
expectation of lots of rain and mud, plus leeches, we want to use some of the
equipment we hauled here! We walked
through a forest of tall trees, ferns, and small palms. Kinabalu Park has the world’s highest number
of rhododendron, fern and orchid species for a park - we’re concentrating on
birds, but there’s a lot to see!
The
trail came out of the woods and followed a narrow damp path along the edge of a
very steep and seemingly bottomless cliff. I found it quite scary to hike there and
bird at the same time, and fortunately had a walking stick loaned me by Rita who
says she only needs one. But we saw
some good species including a flock of small round Red-breasted Partridges, warm
brown with bright orange breasts, and we managed to switch positions on the
narrow trail so that all 14 of us got to see them.
It
was getting dark when we returned, so we dropped our gear in our rooms and went
back to the Liwagu where we had a set menu of a very good beef and fish dishes,
various veggies and, of course, a large mound of rice.
The
others went out for a night walk but Bob and I returned to catch a bit more
sleep.
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