Entrance to the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sepilok, Sandakan

This unique festival, created purely by bird watchers for bird lovers, was conceptualized by the Sandakan Borneo Bird Club in 2008. Initially, with the influence of the bird club and its members, the word spread to what it has become today.

This year, the bird festival saw over 2000 participants and visitors attending, with fringe events, conservation talks and various vendors. The overall atmosphere of the event was more curious than general, as visitors were keen to see and learn about birds and bird watching.

This year, industry players from tour agencies, nature resorts, optics, cameras, and NGOs participated in the festival.

Datuk Rosmadi Datu Sulai giving his speech on behalf of Datuk Christina Liew

Official Opening And Speech

YB Datuk Rosmadi Datu Sulai, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah, launched the event’s official opening. Originally, YB Datuk Christina Liew, who is the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment for Sabah, was unable to attend this event due to unfortunate circumstances.

In his speech, he clearly wanted Sabah to be a leader in the bird-watching industry. Borneo Bird Club President Gary Albert made this a mission. Bird watching is a lucrative business that attracts quality visitors who will not overpay for services and accommodation.

This was also compared to general commercial tourism regarding revenue or spending in Sabah.

Guest during the launching of the Borneo Bird Festival 2018 at RDC in Sandakan

Datuk Rosmadi also compared it to golf tourism, where golfers fly in for at least five days to play some of the unique golf courses in Sabah.

He mentioned that if the golfers could do that, why not promote birdwatching in Sabah on a similar level? The opening ceremony was closed with the launch of a new bird book on Borneo by Wong Tsu Shi and Datuk Rosmadi.

Some of the trails where the bird race is conducted

Bird Race And Bird Photography Competition

This year’s bird race saw 12 teams participate in a two-day race to spot the most birds around the Rainforest Discovery Center. In the end, the winning team spotted a record-breaking 120 birds.

For the bird photography contest, 40 entrants were collected a year before the actual festival date, and the entries were judged on the final day of the festival.

Sanjit giving his talk about merging Arts and Science

Talks At The Borneo Bird Festival 

As usual, several reputable speakers are invited to give 30-minute talks every year on topics such as conservation, bird migration, bird tourism, and birding in other countries.

Speakers came from as far as Cambodia and even Kuala Lumpur to share their expertise on various subjects, with a strong focus on nature conservation.

The Borneo Bird Run 2018 winners

Borneo Bird Run 

A special bird-themed marathon, now in its third year, was one of Sunday’s general public highlights. Over 500 participants from around Sandakan turned up for the Borneo Bird Run.

The event is a fun run that takes runners through the inner roads of Sepilok and the RDC’s nature trails before finishing at the event grounds.

One of the marathon winners was also celebrating his birthday on the same day.

Some runners came dressed with the bird theme as it was purely a fun run, and everyone finished the run to collect the marathon medal.

Photos at the Borneo Bird Festival 2018

Below are some random photos taken during the two-day birdwatching event here in Sandakan, Sabah. The photos were all taken using my Oppo R9s Smartphone.

The opening performance for the Borneo Bird Festival 2018

The main registration section for the festival

The food and drink vendors at the event in RDC, Sandakan

A Zumba session taking place at the festival

Datuk Rosmadi checking out the Birds of Borneo book by Wong Tsu Shi during the launch

Cambodia birding group at their booth during the festival

One of the NGO booths during the Borneo Bird Festival

Taking a selfie moment with Mr Henry Goh of Malaysia Nature Society and BirdLife International

The amazing bird watchers and bird guides of Sabah Borneo

Conclusion

With the success of this event fully managed by the Sandakan Borneo Bird Club, this year’s event saw a slight rise in new bird watchers, naturalists, and conservationists who attended.

Having been managed independently, this is truly one of the best homegrown events that take place in Sandakan and is known as the Borneo Bird Festival. The next event, the Borneo Bird Festival 2019, will most likely take place in the city of Tawau, which is further southeast of Sabah Borneo.