This is everyone's favorite frog in Malaysia, or at least second-favorite. In my case it was only second-favorite because I was dying to see a Wallace's Flying Frog, but it was still a thrilling find!

In case you couldn't tell, these frogs disappear into their leaf-litter background like nobody's business. Also, they don't move much, preferring to sit and wait for ambulatory food morsels to come to them. So you have to know how to look for them. Fortunately for me, I had been taught by a master earlier on my trip, Kurt "Orion" G.

I took the first three pictures near Kubah's famous Frog Pond around 7:20pm, and remained in a state of happiness for the rest of the night as I sought out and found many other interesting but not-quite-as-interesting critters. Then around midnight, again near the Frog Pond, I took the last two pictures. At the time I thought I had found two horned frogs, but a close look at the details of the patterning later on allowed me to realize that I had found the same horned frog twice.

My Travelogues and Trip Lists page includes a complete list of the herps I saw in the wild on this trip to Malaysia, as well as a travelogue of the trip.

Upon my return to Kubah National Park a year later, I was thrilled when the very first frog I saw was another of these Destination Frogs. (For those not in the know, a Destination Frog is a frog so excellent that one might travel halfway around the world just to seek one out. Also, I just made that term up.)

A few days later I was at Gunung Gading National Park for the first time, and believe it or not the first frog I saw there was another Malayan Horned Frog. This was either a very good omen, or just evidence that these frogs are actually not that hard to find, once one knows how to look for them.

Another few days later found me at Gunung Mulu National Park with my Malaysian friend and guide, Kurt. He spotted a few more of these amazing frogs, including this particularly long-browed beauty.

Our next destination was a forested area near Poring Hot Springs in Kinabalu Park. Here I started to lose count of the horned frogs, as we kept finding more and more of them, of all sizes and ages.

Every night in this forest we saw at least one more horned frog. I didn't even bother taking photos of all of them since there were plenty of new-to-me animals to seek out.

So many Malayan Horned Frogs. So many.

I have heard that they are particularly common in light early-evening rain, when the males all come out to call. I didn't encounter those perfect conditions, but I sure saw plenty of Malayan Horned Frogs anyway.