Borneo – Rainforest Mammals & Birds Photo Tour II 2023

I would like to thank you (Nicolette) and the ORYX team for all the work in putting together the Borneo trip. I have a little understanding of all the effort it takes in booking tours and arranging all the guests and making sure all their unique requirements are met. Covid-19 just made it so much more complicated. Thank you, it was a job well done and appreciated.

Also I would like to thank and acknowledge Dale Morris. He was a superb tour and photography lead, taking care of the little needs of individuals or of the group to ensure our trip ran smoothly - whether it was an issue with a room or any other minor thing he could help with.

Under Dale's expert photography tutelage, our photography skills increased remarkably over the ten or so days, learning new techniques eg: macro and flash photography, improving the way we utilised our cameras, and constantly reinforcing the need to check camera settings and think about our compositions. Dale worked tirelessly trying get us into the right place/position atthe right time so that we could capture those special images.

We also enjoyed Dale's engaging company and sharing our meals and downtime and will look forward to travelling with Dale sometime in the future.

Our photo tour to Borneo was a wonderful experience. Dale was a fantastic guide, and ensured they we were able to maximise any opportunities we had to see the unique wildlife that Borneo has to offer. It was an extremely challenging photographic experience, but with Dale’s guidance we were able to photograph animals, particularly gibbons, in low light situations, even though they refused our requests for a pose, and then tried to hide amongst the branches. With Dale’s expert tuition my photographic skills improved, especially when the lighting was not the best, and the animals were their most active. I have some absolutely amazing shots of the Orangutans! For extra tuition, I would recommend sharing a beer with Dale at the end of a hot and humid day’s outing.

I had the pleasure of attending the 2019 ORYX Borneo Photography Tour. It was a trip that far exceeded my expectations, with every day full day of activities and new experiences. The trip was well organized by ORYX Photo Tours and expertly run by our guide Dale Morris. You can not find a more experienced or enthusiastic guide than Dale. He makes every day unique and fun filled. The weather was hot and humid but this did not deter us. We saw a great variety of wildlife from tiny insects to pygmy elephants. The Orangutans were the highlight of the photo safari. We had multiple encounters up close and personal. We stayed at four unique lodges. Each lodge offered a different variety of wildlife. The rooms were very nice and the food was very good and plentiful. It was fun trying some of the local foods and the many different fruits. I have traveled extensively and this trip will go down as one of my ultimate favorites. Thank you ORYX Photo Tours and Dale for an experience I will never forget.

Borneo is an incredible country. Thanks to our guides, we were able to find some amazing animals; far more than most groups that don't have all that guide support. Our last full day at Danum was one of the best photo experiences of my life.

Nancy and I had an absolutely fabulous time travelling and photographing with Dale on our Borneo photo tour. We came home with some spectacular images of primates, and with so many of them it’s going to take us weeks to get through them all and process all the ones we want to. We were very impressed with all of the arrangements ORYX Photo Tours made to assure that this was a very high quality trip. The ground agents, the lodges, the local guides, the transportation, were all absolutely first class.

Thanks again for such a superb trip. We hope to travel with ORYX Photo Tours again soon!

You have all been great to work with and the Borneo photo tour was amazing.

Everything was well planned and organized, the lodges were very pleasant, and the local guides were excellent. We saw every animal on the list and got great photos. I hope you know how lucky you are to have Dale, because he’s a star among photographer tour leaders.

He’s not only an extremely talented photographer for wildlife, macro, landscapes, and people, he’s a fountain of interesting knowledge about flora and fauna, and he has an innate ability with animals that’s a big advantage when photographing them. Even if we don’t see what we’re looking for while searching for wildlife, he can always find something cool and unusual to photograph in an interesting way, so it’s fun all day long and never boring. When it comes to non-photography guide-related tasks, he takes charge and is competent in every way.

Thanks again for everything and I look forward to traveling with ORYX Photo Tours again in the future.

Our Borneo photo tour was wonderful in every way!

Your local guide was a real “gem”, I must tell you:

Although never boastful, he was personally responsible for three special wildlife sightings that drew many other lodge guests and their guides to each scene.

The first sighting was of a beautiful/mature alpha male orangutan, already bedded down in his nest along the Kinabatangan River near Sukau Rainforest Lodge. He first sighted him (only slightly visible with binos) in the nest late one afternoon. We made a plan to returned to the sight at first light; hoping for a photo op as he exited the nest. We quietly/patiently watched for over an hour – waiting for him to rise. Meanwhile he radioed the lodge to report our sighting. The other guests raced over and were rewarded with a fantastic/lengthy photo op; as the orangutan lazily rose and slowly ate vines for breakfast – all at close range within the same tree he had nested in overnight.

The second sighting was of a Tarsier on a night drive in Danum Valley near the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. Without any eye-shine, he spotted only what he described as an odd small “lump” on a tree trunk just off the road. He immediately stopped the driver, leaped out and confirmed – it was a Tarsier! Again he radioed the lodge. Other guests that had searched for days for the Tarsier were rewarded with an awesome photo op. After fully satisfied with photos; everyone quietly left the Tarsier right where it was first sighted – undisturbed.

The third sighting was of tiny bioluminescent mushrooms in Danum Valley. We had first photographed the mushrooms at the Crocker Range near the Rafflesia Centre, but only during the day. He explained the bioluminescence of this particular mushroom. Hoping for a night shot, we searched hard for it throughout the rest of our trip. On the last night in Danum Valley, he was the one who found them! They were glowing brightly right in front of the lodge. None of the local guides at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge had spotted them. These amazing/unique mushrooms were right under their noses all along!

We could not be more pleased with the itinerary and your attention to every detail.

Thank you Rainer & ORYX Photo Tours!

We are back home after the beautiful experience we had on our Borneo photo tour! All the locations, especially the Kinanbatang River and the Danum Valley were great! We enjoyed having Dale as our guide, as well as the other travelers in our group. ORYX Photo Tours’s organisation was top class!

Dale is an excellent photo tour leader and really shined despite Borneo’s challenges. Of course the orangutans and pygmy elephants make it all worthwhile but the jungle is dense, light limited, terrain sometimes difficult, heat and humidity overwhelming, and unexpected downpours always to be expected. Dale made sure we were prepared and made it all fun. He did his best to make certain we would all come home with some great photos. I look forward to traveling with him again next year!