Borneo Bird Festival 2019 Trip Report
Another year of a successful Borneo Bird Festival, and for 2019, the event saw an increase in the number of people attending, with slightly over 4,000 visitors in just two days.
Known as Malaysia’s most promising nature and birding festival, the Borneo Bird Festival has come a long way since its inaugural event in 2007. Since then, I have attended the event every year and developed a trip report that includes personal observations and general information.
Borneo Bird Festival 2019 Trip Report
For those who may not know, the bird festival is the largest nature and birding event held in Sabah and Malaysia. The festival is also the brainchild of Cede Prudente, who worked with the Sabah Tourism Board to bring it to the city of Sandakan.
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| The official launching of the Borneo Bird Festival 2019 at the RDC in Sandakan, Sabah |
Organized by the Sandakan Borneo Bird Club, the event receives physical support from local Sabahan birders and naturalists who act as marshalls and guides. This year’s event was held at the Rainforest Discovery Center in Sepilok over a beautiful weekend from October 26 to 27.
Every year, the organizers do their best to include a wide selection of fun, games, contests, activities, and, of course, food and drink vendors. This year, some of the regular food vendors took place in the event area, and for the first time, four food trucks were in the car park area.
Before you continue, you should also know that to date, there has been a record of 688 resident and migratory birds in all of Borneo, and 60 of those birds are endemic to the third-largest island in the world.
Where is the Borneo Bird Festival Held?
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| The entrance to the Rainforest Discovery Center |
Over the last decade, the Borneo Bird Festival has established itself at the Rainforest Discovery Center, or RDC, in Sepilok, Sandakan. Due to public interest and the creation of state-wide awareness for bird watching and conservation, the event has been taken to various destinations around Sabah.
The festival has been held at iconic locations like;
- Kinabalu National Park
- Crocker Range
- Kota Kinabalu City
However, after much consideration from the tourism board, council, and organizers, it was noted that the festival best takes place at its home ground at the RDC in Sepilok, Sandakan.
This way, it would be easier for those planning to visit the event, and they can pre-book their transport and accommodation arrangements ahead of time.
Who Attends the Borneo Bird Festival?
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| The crowd at the recent festival at the RDC |
Over the years, tens of thousands of visitors have attended the event, bringing the overall total to more than 100,000 people visiting the festival in the last decade.
Most of the attendees are locals, while an estimated 20% of international visitors visit the festival yearly. The local participants and curious visitors who attend are usually those who have some interest in nature, flora, and fauna.
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| One of the many booths at the event |
The Borneo Bird Festival has also been actively engaging primary and lower secondary school students to participate in various programs created for them. As Cede once told me, education and knowledge begin with children, and the best way is to get the children involved in nature programs like this.
Main Events At The Borneo Bird Festival
While the festival includes many events, the main highlights are the bird race, the bird photo race, and the year-long bird photography contest.
- Bird Race – A team event open to everyone and limited to three persons per team.
- Bird Photo Race – An open event to individuals.
- Bird Photography Contest – Open to everyone months before the event.
Winners for the Bird-Related Events
Below is a list of the winners for each of the birding categories in a photo format and who the sponsors are with the prizes they got;
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| Sabah Bird Race team and students winners list |
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| Sabah Bird Race photography contest and race winners list |
Other Events at the Festival
While the above are the main highlights of the event, many other smaller events or even fringe events take place during it. A decent portion of events is also targeted towards younger children, schoolchildren, and teenagers. These events are created to coincide with all things birds and nature.
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| A participant in the colouring contest |
Some of the other events and contests include;
- Colouring contest
- Bird Mimic Contest
- Artistic Make-Up Competition
- Beyblade Competition
- Drawing competition
- Tattoo Art for Kids
- Tree Climbing
- K-Pop Random Play Dance
- Caricature Artists
- Cake Decorating Competition
Talks on Conservation and Bird Watching at the Festival
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| Henry Goh from BirdLife giving a talk during the event |
One of the interesting segments that attract many people is the various talks conducted throughout the event. Various NGOs, birding professionals, conservationists, camera brands, and other related genres are invited to give short talks every year.
This task is challenging as the objective is to provide visitors with a wider understanding of wildlife and conservation.
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| The majestic canopy walkway at the RDC |
However, the organizers found that few people would attend the talk sessions by making it too academic. Hence, they explored a mixture of hobbist and related brands to balance the talks.
This year’s talks included various people from;
- Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre
- Borneo Refugia Adventure
- Alexander John, Birdlife International
- 1Stop Borneo Wildlife
- Nature Society of Singapore
- Wild Tour Vietnam
- Dongshi Forest District, Taiwan
- Raptor Research Group Taiwan
For more information on the event, please visit the Borneo Bird Festival, which has the program and other vital information.
A Successful Event Despite Certain Promises
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| The assistant tourism minister for Sabah tries out a pair of binoculars |
With the 11th year of running the festival, the president of the event had stressed to the ministry and other non-governmental bodies about assisting in additional funding for this.
Apparently, various sectors have made many promises year after year, and the agreed sponsorships are always trimmed down or cancelled at the eleventh hour. Many companies or NGOs also show keen interest, but they do not materialize due to budget cuts and other factors.
While the event does need proper funding to proceed, a delay in the sponsors’ handling of the funds always leaves the event to be confirmed only a couple of months before the date.
This has affected many, especially in terms of booking flights and hotel rooms. The closer it gets to the event date, the more expensive or sold-out things start to be. One way to resolve this issue is for sponsors and other relevant bodies to confirm the event early in the year so that the organizers can lock down the dates and start marketing the event earlier.
My Humble Opinion On the Bird Festival
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| Sun shining through the rainforest canopy here. |
After continuously visiting the Borneo Bird Festival every year, I have seen it grow from a few hundred people to thousands of visitors. I must thank Cede and Carol Prudente for undertaking such an ambitious task of making this happen yearly.
While some may have reserved comments on this, I have seen how difficult it can be to manage and operate such an event nationwide. As the bird festival tends to attract international participants and visitors, it is strange that the government, council or other related NGOs do not see this as a potential tourist attraction.
Bird festivals in other countries have grown tremendously over the last five years, but here in Sabah, it still looks like nothing has changed.
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| Official mascots for the bird festival |
This is purely due to the lack of funding from the council, tourism ministry, and other related entities in Sandakan or even Sabah. For the first few years, I have understood that people want to see success and growth in the event. But after five years, there should already be a solid track record.
The bird festival could have grown to a world-class level, provided that the ministry, sponsors, and other related bodies saw its potential. By achieving this, an allocation of extra funding would not bankrupt the state but would allow the organizers to spend more on marketing and advertising the event.
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| A father lets his son see through a digiscope |
Proper funding would also see that the event dates be fixed, and for some strange reason, I prefer if the event had a locked date instead of always waiting for the minister’s confirmation to attend and have dates moved to suit this old-style move.
Yes, back in the old days, the ministry provided funding. Hence, you should launch the event on a date that the minister or assistant can attend. This kind of concept should be phased out.
People want to attend an event for the experience and fun, not to see who the VIP giving a speech is. This is a very old style of event organization if you ask me. If the minister wants to come, that is fine, but by all means, people should not make this a political event and should focus the event on the public sector.
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| During the prize-giving ceremony |
All Talk But No Action
Every year, I have heard ministers, assistant ministers, councilmen, and councilwomen go on stage to give their speeches at the bird festival. But what irks me is that there have been many talks, but no follow-through in the next year. Or somehow, the budgets have been cut, and so on.
I hear them read out how birdwatching can be a top tourism earner, how many people visit here and there, how we can improve on this to bring in more visitors, etc. It has always been just talking, but the same revised speech is repeated again the following year.
Nothing has changed in the last five or six years. So, what is the purpose of having the minister there? It would be better to have a casual opening instead of empty promises that need to be reviewed again the following year.
Bird watching in Sabah is currently Malaysia’s number one earner, but this is primarily thanks to the self-initiative of bird guides and tour companies. If the tourism board or ministry would consider looking into this genre as a high-yield tourism earner, this would be a game-changer for the birding industry in Sabah.
The birding destinations are all developed and ready to receive visitors, but the lack of promotions has hampered further actions to make them a success.
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| One of the interesting booths featuring Sabah handicrafts during the bird festival |
When we talk about destinations, there are numerous places like Danum Valley, Tabin, Maliau Basin, Kinabalu Park, Tawau Hills, Kinabatangan, Damarakot, and, of course, Sepilok-Kabali.
All the destinations above are more than ready for birding and wildlife watching, and even a majority of the guides are well-trained in both genres. Right now, the ministry does do some sort of promotions, but I have a feeling that the focus is on tourism numbers and Chinese visitors rather than the high-yield spenders.
Suppose the ministry can spend millions on other slow-to-develop tourism products. Why can’t they, for once, allocate a large sum of funding to give wildlife and bird watching to develop a free and natural product instead of some other man-made products?
If executed properly, this would bring Sabah to another level of tourism, highlighting the wildlife and bird-watching area to the world. After all, it could be a test module for just a couple of years.
I see this as a potential investment for the ministry and trust me, I do not see a problem with it, as the local destinations are all ready for it. I really hope that someone in the ministry will read this and consider promoting bird watching and wildlife experiences as one of the main attractions.
2020 is Visit Malaysia Year; every time we execute this, the same old tourism products are promoted. Why not introduce something special to a growing international market worldwide?
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| A massive group photo at the end of the event |
Conclusion
The event was indeed a success, with a large number of people attending the Borneo Bird Festival in Sandakan, Sabah. It simply shows that there is a market for these kinds of specialized events, and if more funds were allocated to market them, this event would gain world recognition.
It is not your regular localized event but more of an educational and yet touristic-related event that highlights nature, wildlife and bird watching.
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