Deramakot Forest Reserve

A Morning at Deramakot Forest Reserve

When Priya from our BugBitten team pulled into Deramakot Forest Reserve headquarters just before half-four in the morning, the darkness was total and the air sat heavy with the smell of wet earth and something faintly vegetal — that specific forest-floor warmth you only get in old-growth lowland dipterocarp country. She'd driven up from Sandakan the previous afternoon, the last stretch of sealed road giving way to corrugated gravel that rattled the hire car's doors for a solid forty-five minutes. By the time she'd checked into her chalet, eaten a plate of rice at the simple canteen and tested her head torch batteries twice over, she reckoned she was as prepared as anyone reasonably could be.

By first light, she was standing at the edge of a river-margin clearing near the main access track, rubber boots already mud-lined at the ankle, binoculars trained on a stand of riverside vegetation. Nothing moved for perhaps ten minutes. Then, unhurried and absurdly elegant given its size, a Storm's Stork lifted from the reeds and wheeled slowly upstream. She watched it until it cleared the treeline. That was it — that single bird in grey morning light — and it was, by some margin, worth the drive.

Deramakot is not a polished operation. That is precisely the point.

What Makes This Spot Worth Your Time

Deramakot Forest Reserve is a working sustainable forestry concession managed by the Sabah Forestry Department, which means it operates under a fundamentally different logic to the classic Borneo wildlife destinations most visitors know. It is not a national park. The roads running through it exist primarily because timber machinery needs them, and during daylight hours you will share those tracks with heavy vehicles. Knowing this ahead of time spares you the disorientation of rounding a corner and meeting a logging truck — it is part of the landscape, not a surprise.

What those roads actually give birders is something genuinely unusual: a dense, well-maintained grid of gravel tracks cutting through a mosaic of old-growth dipterocarp forest, regenerating secondary growth, and riverine corridors. In most forest reserves, access is limited to a handful of trails. At Deramakot, the network is extensive enough that you can cover a meaningful range of habitat types over consecutive mornings without ever retracing your steps.

The bird list is extraordinary for a lowland Borneo site. Several hundred species have been recorded here, including a disproportionate number of range-restricted Bornean endemics and globally threatened species that are otherwise difficult to see with any reliability. Storm's Stork — classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List — is possibly the headline act, with wetland edges near the headquarters offering realistic (not guaranteed, but realistic) sightings during early morning surveys. Wallace's Hawk-Eagle moves along the road edges and is a fairly common overhead presence. Rufous-collared Kingfisher shows up perched low over shaded streams with satisfying regularity, and various Bornean specialities fill out the list for anyone working steadily through the mornings.

Then there is the Bornean Ground Cuckoo. This is one of the most sought-after birds in Southeast Asia — genuinely rare, poorly known, almost always heard rather than seen. At Deramakot it is present, occasionally vocal, and very occasionally seen well. Most serious birders leave without a proper view. A small number do not. The reserve's resident guides know where to listen and they are honest about the odds.

How the Area Feels

Borneo's interior lowlands have a particular quality of density. Not claustrophobic, but layered — every vertical metre of forest is doing something different, and the sheer biomass pressing in from both sides of the track creates an atmosphere that has little in common with forests further south or at higher elevation. Deramakot sits in this kind of country, roughly four hours inland from Sandakan, and the drive in already tells you something about how far from the well-worn tourist trail you are heading.

There is no village nearby. There is no café attached to a gift shop. The accommodation at the reserve itself is chalet-style, functional, and reasonably clean. Meals come from the on-site canteen, which produces simple Malaysian food at sensible prices. After two days you will probably know the other guests by name, because visitor numbers are kept deliberately low — the reserve accepts only a limited number of guests at any one time, which is one of the structural reasons the experience feels so different from, say, Danum Valley Conservation Area, which draws larger and more commercially organised groups.

The guides who work Deramakot are not performing for anyone. They speak plainly about what is showing that week, what has not been seen for a fortnight, and where your time is best spent. This kind of practical honesty is rarer than it should be in wildlife tourism. It also means you do not waste predawn mornings stationed at a spot that has not produced in ten days. The trust this builds between guide and guest makes for a better trip and, frankly, better birds.

At night, the reserve takes on a different character entirely. The roads go quiet — the timber machinery stops at dusk — and the forest edge comes forward. Spotlighting from a slow-moving vehicle, with a guide who knows which bends to stop at, produces a consistently different cast of characters to the daylight hours.

What to Actually Do Here

Daytime Road Birding

The standard approach is to be on the main access track before dawn and work slowly along the road, stopping wherever something calls or moves. The best areas concentrate around river crossings and the more open wetland margins near headquarters. Rufous-collared Kingfisher is almost reliably present near shaded streams if you pause and give the vegetation time to settle after your vehicle stops. Banded Pitta, Blue-headed Pitta, and Black-and-crimson Oriole are all possibilities in the denser old-growth sections.

Storm's Stork patrols a loose range of riverine habitat, and the wetland margin near the reserve headquarters is the most productive area for a targeted search. Three or four mornings of proper scanning at the right locations gives most patient birders at least a flight view.

Night Drives

Night drives are organised through the on-site accommodation and are one of Deramakot's genuine strengths. Buffy Fish Owl is a reliable roadside bird. Reddish Scops Owl appears with regularity. Various frogmouth species sit on exposed branches along the road edges, and with a good spotlight and a guide who knows the territory, you can cover significant ground in two or three hours. Bring your own spotlight if you have one — a decent beam makes a real difference — but the guides also carry equipment.

Walking the Reserve

Walking is possible but secondary to road coverage at Deramakot. The forest trails are not extensive compared to the road network, and leeches are a constant companion in the undergrowth. Rubber boots are mandatory, not optional. The reward for those who do push into the forest on foot is a better chance at skulkers — including, in theory, the Bornean Ground Cuckoo — but this requires patience, a good guide, and a willingness to stand very still for sustained periods.

When to Go (and When Not to)

The most settled conditions fall between March and October. Rainfall is lower, road surfaces are more predictable, and morning visibility tends to be better. The northeast monsoon, which arrives in earnest around November and intensifies through December and into January, brings heavy rain that makes gravel tracks difficult and reduces birding productivity substantially. February can also be patchy.

If you have flexibility, April through September offers the best combination of weather stability and bird activity. Breeding season for many resident species falls within this window, which brings greater vocal activity and more territorial behaviour — both useful when you are trying to locate Bornean Ground Cuckoo by ear.

Mid-week visits are generally quieter than weekend arrivals, partly because the reserve's limited guest capacity means even a small group can feel like a crowd when you are all aimed at the same stretch of road at dawn. Booking well in advance is strongly recommended — particularly if you are travelling specifically for the Storm's Stork or the ground cuckoo. Spontaneous visits are possible but availability is genuinely limited.

How to Get There and Nearby Stops

Deramakot lies roughly four hours by road from Sandakan, which is served by direct flights from Kota Kinabalu and a handful of other Malaysian cities. The drive takes you through Telupid and then onto increasingly rural roads before the gravel track begins. Most visitors hire a car from Sandakan or arrange a transfer through the reserve — self-driving is manageable if you are comfortable on unsealed roads and have a four-wheel drive vehicle, particularly after rain.

Kota Kinabalu is the natural gateway for a wider Sabah trip, and you can find a broad overview of the state's wildlife destinations in our guide to more places in Sabah. From Sandakan, Deramakot pairs logically with the Kinabatangan River floodplain — a very different ecosystem but equally productive for wildlife — and the Gomantong Caves if you have time.

If you are already planning a broader Borneo trip, it is worth noting that several other key Sabah sites, including Kinabalu Park, are within practical reach of a two-week itinerary focused on the state. Kinabalu is a UNESCO-listed site — the UNESCO World Heritage Centre provides background on what World Heritage designation means in a conservation context — and the contrast between montane habitats there and lowland dipterocarp forest at Deramakot makes the combination especially rewarding for birders wanting to tick elevation-specific endemics alongside lowland specialists.

Borneo's extraordinary biodiversity is the reason sites like Kinabalu appear on the UNESCO World Heritage List at all, and exploring both ends of the elevation spectrum in a single Sabah trip gives a more complete picture of what makes this island so biologically significant.

The Not-So-Good Bits

Let us be straightforward. Deramakot is not for everyone, and we would rather you know that clearly than arrive expecting something it is not.

The logging trucks are real and they are large. During daylight hours on working days, the main access tracks carry timber machinery that moves faster than you might expect on gravel. Slow down well before corners, keep well to your side of the road, and stay alert. The combination of dust, noise, and occasional fumes is also worth factoring into your enjoyment of a dawn session.

Leeches. A great many leeches. Ground leeches in particular are present throughout the forest, and even on gravel road edges they can find you. Good rubber boots and gaiters deal with most of the problem, but if leeches cause you significant distress, that is worth reflecting on before you book.

The accommodation is basic. Clean and functional, but the chalets at the reserve are not designed for comfort beyond the essentials. There is no air conditioning in some rooms, the Wi-Fi is limited, and the canteen menu is repetitive over a multi-day stay. For a certain type of traveller — the kind who would rather spend their money on telescope batteries than good pillows — this is a non-issue. For others, it matters.

Finally, and honestly: some birds will not perform. The Bornean Ground Cuckoo especially. Many very experienced birders leave without a proper view, and no honest guide will promise you one. That is the reality of wildlife birding at a genuine level, and Deramakot delivers it with integrity.

Final Word from the BugBitten Team

Deramakot Forest Reserve sits in an unusual position in Sabah's wildlife circuit. It is neither as well-known as the Kinabatangan nor as dramatically promoted as the orangutan centres around Sepilok. It has made almost no concessions to tourism infrastructure. And in those qualities lies its considerable value.

If you are a birder — particularly one with a serious interest in Bornean endemics and the patience to work a forest systematically over several mornings — this reserve belongs near the top of your Sabah itinerary. The guides are knowledgeable and straight-talking, the bird diversity is exceptional, and the low visitor numbers mean you are not competing with a crowd for position on a productive stretch of road.

For wildlife travellers who are newer to forest birding or who need a level of comfort and guaranteed sightings to stay engaged, there are other Sabah destinations that will serve you better as a starting point.

But if you are prepared for the mud, the leeches, the logging trucks, and the honest possibility that the ground cuckoo will call from deep cover and never show itself — Deramakot will give you mornings that stay with you. The BugBitten team reckons that is a fair exchange.