Great trip to Mahua Waterfall, Tambunan, Sabah, Malaysia
I went on another butterfly outing last week with sifu Khew, David Chan & his wife, Elaine and Mei Yee to Mahua Waterfall, Tambunan, Sabah which is located about 88 km from Kota Kinabalu.
Although the butterflies activities were not fantastic, I was happy enough to encounter some of the endemic butterflies of Sabah and many new ones that I have not seen in West Malaysia.
Here are the links to our butterfly adventure which had been written with detailed information on our trip by sifu Khew.
Our journey coincided with the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 virus,
but after verifying that it was safe to travel to Sabah without any
entry restrictions, we went ahead with our plans. As soon as we boarded
the plane, we took precautions by wearing masks to protect ourselves
from the virus.
We arrived in Sabah to stunning views of the mountains and quickly passed through customs and immigration without any issues. After that, we headed straight to the car rental booth located outside the airport. Once we finished the necessary paperwork, the car was ready for us.
Seated comfortably in the car, sifu Khew took us to Mahua Rainforest, which took about two hours.
Upon arriving at the Mahua Rainforest Paradise and settling into our
rooms, I wasted no time in embarking on my butterfly hunting adventures
before it was time for dinner. As I walked towards the car park, I
spotted a tiny skipper perched quietly on a leaf. I promptly took out my
camera and began shooting, later identifying it as a Spotted Grass Dart
(Taractrocera ardonia lamia).
After walking around for a while and could only see another skittish awl, we decided to head for dinner and rest early to get ready for the next day.
The next morning, we got up early and everyone were anxious to start our search for the butterflies. This is the entrance to the waterfall which we spent the whole week walking up and down the path hunting the butterflies
Here is the bridge that connects and enabled us to walk over to the waterfall.
We were fortunate to have a friendly dog that belonged to the Lodge we
were staying at. Every day, it would sit in front of our dormitory and
follow us up to the waterfall, eventually returning to the Lodge once it
had grown bored. The dog was well-behaved, and we all grew quite fond
of it during our stay. On our last night, Sifu bought a can of dog food
during our grocery shopping trip, and we happily fed our furry friend.
The dog happily gobbled up all the food and finished it quickly.
Here is the link to all the butterflies that I have shot in Mahua, and I will only highlight a few here.
On the first day, I had the opportunity to take shots of the Kinabalu
Swordtail at the car park area while the others were up on the waterfall
and out of reach. I tried to message them, but due to the lack of
internet connection, they didn't receive it. Therefore, I had the
privilege of photographing the Kinabalu Swordtail alone for the entire
duration.
I loved these three endemic Borneo Mormon. They looked like dancing butterflies...
This is one very rare Pirdana Alberconis that I got which came and went off in a flashed. Was extremely lucky had one good shot!
Another awesome butterfly was this Borneo Birdwing. It was flying all over the stream without stopping and I could not get any good shots. I just went on crazy continuous shooting and had a lucky opened wing shot of it flying. The sight of it flying was so awesome!
The final highlight that I would like to remember is the Rajah Brooke. There was only one which had finally on the last day of our shooting puddled to allow us to shoot but it was not with difficulty as it kept fluttering non stop.
I remembered I was with sifu when we spotted the Rajah Brooke at the waterfall. It was fluttering so much that I would say it was difficult to get a good shot. I will never forget this sight of the sifu walking slowly to the Rajah Brooke as if commanding it and the Rajah Brooke actually stayed opened wing and stopped fluttering for quite awhile to allow him to shoot. I had noticed the Rajah Brooke did not stop fluttering at all after that. I admired the moments of the "commands" of a great sifu with such a natural flair for the butterflies.
My link to all the butterflies that I have shot in Mahua again.
It was sad that our butterflies outings had to come to an end. We had our group photographs taken on this last day of our one week shooting at Mahua Waterfalls.
We ended our fun trip with a dinner at the Lodge on the last night.
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