From Kota Belud, we drove half an hour north to a riverside jetty, from where we would take the boat to Mantanani Island, a small forested island offshore from Borneo, which would offer us a nice chance to relax and a couple of new bird species. From the jetty, we took a boat with the company Arunava, which specializes in day-trips for snorkling near the Island. Our hosts on the island had arranged for us to partake in this activity, which was very generous of them.
The snorkling itself was fun, and we got the best part of an hour. It was sad to see much of the coral had been damaged by the anchors of the numerous tourist vessels, but there were still quite a few healthy sections and here we spotted a few iconic fish, such as Moorish Idol, Humbug Damselfish and Sergeant Major Damselfish. We returned for lunch with Arunava at 13:00, before a small fishing vessel collected us and took us round to the Greenhouse Ecolodge, where we would be staying for two nights.
During the afternoon we did some more snorkling, although most of the fish could not be identified. A short walk at the end of the afternoon got us the first of our targets, the Philippine Megapode, but it was only a flushed bird. Most importantly, we enjoyed our first real relaxation time of the trip.
At night, after dinner, we set off looking for the islands main target, the Mantanani Scops Owl, which can only be found here in Malaysia. Before we even left the lodge grounds we could hear several, and it took about five minutes before one flew across the torchlight and sat perfectly nearby. It was a relief this process did not take too long, as the mosquitos were really quite vicious.
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