24 September - 3 October

Introduction

For the first time, we launch the first international Borneo Bird Race 2013, where 11 countries travel more than 1000 kilometres in search of more than 400 species of birds in a wide range of habitats from the coastal regions, freshwater swamps, and lowland forests, to the hills and mountain ranges of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.

THE 2014 BORNEO BIRD RACE WILL BE HELD FROM 24th September to 3rd October 2014

At the end of the day, each team will enjoy the beauty of this land as they count the numbers of recorded species, and the longest list shall earn the prestigious “Bornean Bristlehead Trophy”. The event will be jointly organised by Brunei Tourism Board, Sarawak Tourism Board, Sabah Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia.

Over the years since bird watching has been introduced to Borneo, there were impressive feedbacks and outcomes that helped awareness, conservation, and promotion for Borneo as birding destination. Currently, there is an encouraging growth of birdwatching activities and there were a number of bird races conducted separately all over the region. The notable Borneo Bird Festival has popularised Bird Race for consecutively 5 years and in 2013 introduced the 1st Borneo Bird Race (2013).

Event Objectives

  1. To promote Borneo as one of the premier bird watching destination of the world.
  2. To Network with birdwatching fraternities around Asian region and to the world.
  3. To encourage travel within Asia.
  4. Create awareness and conservation of the bird species unique to Borneo to the local community and to the global birding fraternities.
  5. Foster closer integration and harmony through nature festival of the neighbouring States of Borneo, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
  6. Develop and improvement of infrastructure to wildlife watching tourism.
  7. To enhance and complement the “Heart of Borneo” initiative – Tourism Program.
  8. To increase arrival of eco-tourists and birdwatchers to Borneo.
  9. Further development of naturalist guide and birdwatching guide.
  10. Support good policies to improve nature tourism.