Deramakot Forest Reserve

Deramakot is a fifty-five thousand hectare production forest in central Sabah that has been logged continuously since the 1990s and has held FSC certification since 1997 - the first tropical forest in the world to get it - using reduced-impact logging: low extraction rates, planned skid trails, directional felling and long rotations, with the canopy left largely intact. The result is a forest that is still being cut and still holds a full mammal community, which is the argument being tested here. For wildlife watchers it has become famous for one thing: night drives along the logging roads, where the open track and the intact forest either side produce sightings of Sunda clouded leopard more consistently than anywhere else known, along with marbled cat, flat-headed cat, binturong, slow loris, civets and elephants. Access is by permit through the forestry department only.

What you actually see

• A certified production forest - logged continuously and FSC-certified since 1997.
• Night drives on logging roads - the open track through intact forest either side.
• Clouded leopards - seen here more consistently than anywhere else known.
• A full mammal community - cats, civets, binturong and elephants in a working forest.

When to go

February to October. Three days.

Honest expectations

Permits come from the forestry department and must be arranged well ahead; there is no walk-in access. Accommodation is basic. Sightings are luck even here, and most of the time is spent driving slowly in the dark.

Nearby

Telupid is south-west; the Kinabatangan is east.