Malaysia Borneo Wildlife Tour

Today, your driver guide will escort you to Kinabalu National Park, Malaysia’s first UNESCO-listed site. Home to the country’s highest Mount Kinabalu, it boasts various tropical climates and is inhabited by 4,500+ species of flora and fauna. 

Upon arrival, tighten your pants legs and embark on a full-day hiking trip with your seasoned park guide. Based on the opening status of the attractions within the park, we’ll tick off Canopy Walkway or Mount Kinabalu Botanical Garden. Stepping upon the walkway built for botanists to research rainforest ecosystems, you’ll fully experience the thrills of passing through the treetops. If lucky, you may spot a squirrel-like tree shrew sipping the nectar beneath the funnel-form leaf of pitcher plants, or a napping Sunda clouded leopard, classified as a distinct species with only approximately 4,500 individuals alive worldwide, on a distant branch. Alternatively, wander around the vegetation-blanketed garden to discover the world’s largest flower, Rafflesia, a parasitic plant that transforms from a bud the size of a ping-pong ball to five fleshy petals up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in length.

After that, your driver guide will accompany you back to your hotel for a good rest.

► Note: In all rainforest adventures, please be sure to protect yourself against rain and insects. Due to ubiquitous leeches, it’s best to wear leech socks or high-ankle boots, and ask for some salt from the hotel restaurant in case of bites.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Grandis Hotels and Resorts, Kota Kinabalu (4 stars)

This morning, your driver guide will see you off to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport before a 45-minute flight to Sandakan, a beautiful seaside city drawing numerous westerners who have read the renowned book Land Below the Wind. Once landing, your local driver guide will escort you to your jungle resort in Sepilok Village. Small as it is, the village is an important reserve for a majority of endangered species in Borneo.

► For Your Information: Situated at one of the planet’s oldest rainforests, our selected hotel has embraced eco-friendly ideas throughout its design, such as using solar water heaters to curb carbon emissions, as well as biodegradable soaps and toilet paper to minimize ecological pollution. After check-in, consider unwinding in the swimming pool, or sitting on the wooden viewpoint while savoring lush forest vistas in the fresh air. Tomorrow morning, slowly wake up to a pleasant chorus of chirping insects and birds.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: My Nature Resort, Sepilok

After breakfast, we’ll drive to today’s first stop, Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, the world’s largest one of its kind. It has been dedicated to abandoned orangutans, an endangered species sharing 96.4% of its DNA with human beings. At about 10 o’clock, these clever creatures will come to the feeding platform, where you’ll observe their eating habits and daily activities at close range. Detailed documentaries will also offer you a deeper insight into orangutans and how the center staff teach them survival skills in the wild.
► Note:
1. Distance yourself from orangutans and avoid looking directly into their eyes, as some are aggressive.
2. It’s not advisable to wear bright-colored accessories, since orangutans may attack and snatch them.
3. If you bring a camera into the center, an additional charge is required. 

Next, let’s hike through a tropical lowland dipterocarp forest to visit the world’s sole Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre. As the smallest bears on Earth, sun bears may remind you of fat puppies with sleek black fur by the way they sit on the ground. During the visit, you’ll learn how to distinguish them from their counterparts by the U-shaped, yellowish-white chest marking, which is also the origin of their name. With your guide, scout the towering trees or use free telescopes on the elevated wooden trail to spot these arboreal experts who may sleep soundly or frolic with each other. 

★ Discover Native Wildlife on Kinabatangan River by Boat

To enliven your journey, we’ve specially included a one-hour cruise trip to Lower Kinabatangan River Sanctuary. When sailing along Borneo’s longest river framed by untouched lush rainforests, you’ll have a chance to encounter the famous Borneo BIG 5: the world’s tiniest Bornean pygmy elephants, ochre yellow proboscis monkeys, saltwater crocodiles, orangutans, and rhinoceros hornbills with a vibrant casque atop their beak. Plus, catch a quick glimpse of local primitive tribes dotted with rustic wooden stilt houses on the riverbanks.

After disembarking, we’ll arrive at Abai Jungle Lodge for lunch. In spite of its limited dining options, the jungle-immersive restaurant serves fresh and delicious food. More surprisingly, you may run into rare indigenous critters when dining at an open-air area or strolling through the wooden trail.

Later, let’s sail again to Sukau Village, where the BBC nature documentary Planet Earth III filmed the footage of oriental pied hornbills, arguably the true “lovebirds” that share one life with one soulmate. Upon arrival, check into an eco-friendly riverside lodge which takes advantage of solar power, energy-saving light bulbs, and filtered rainwater whenever possible.

In the late afternoon, let’s make another cruise down the Menanggul River to track the five rare animals you’ll have missed on your first cruise. As one of the favorite habitats for varied primates, the river will also make it highly possible to watch long-tailed macaques and silver leaf monkeys with dark faces. As the tour ends, we’ll sail back to your hotel. Have a good night!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge, Sukau Village

Early mornings are a prime time to watch rare birds and wildlife, so let’s catch a boat to Oxbow Lake, a pristine rainforest setting captured by world-famous magazines like National Geographic and Lonely Planet. When the boat slowly slices through the mist, you may locate dollarbirds and purple herons through their squawking, while listening to each detailed introduction from your professional guide. 

We’ll then return to your hotel for breakfast, and the rest of the morning until lunch is at your own discretion. Consider participating in some lessons about ecotourism and wildlife at the hotel; or, shutterbugs should saunter through the boardwalk behind the hotel to snap various birds and even infrequent orangutans. 

In the afternoon, let’s continue to take a boat ride along the Kinabatangan River to discover wild animals, mainly primates such as proboscis monkeys, Malaysia’s national treasure, dubbed the Pinocchio of animal kingdom. Following your guide’s pointed finger, try to catch their fleeting leaps among the treetops, or their leisurely poses while feeding on native red leaves, all from afar. Some visitors may think their eggplant-shaped noses look a bit ugly, but males with bigger ones are completely seen as “Princes Charming”, boasting deeper and more powerful calls to attract fellow females. 

In the end, your guide will escort you back to your hotel. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge, Sukau Village

After breakfast, your driver guide will accompany you on a roughly 2-hour drive from Sukau Village to Lahad Datu for a short break, before another 2-hour car ride to your hotel at Danum Valley, one of the world’s most representative areas of biodiversity with 98% of its land blanketed in tropical rainforests.

★ Featured Inclusion: Canopy Walking Experience

After check-in, we’ll start with the hotel’s lecture about the valley’s history, current situation, and travel regulations, and then follow your local well-informed guide further inside the thriving rainforest. What may impress you most is a thrilling experience on the 360-meter-long (1,181-foot-long) and nearly 28-meter-high (92-foot-high) Canopy Walkway, available only for the guests of your hotel. As you stroll among the dense treetops, take in a bird’s-eye view of the entire jungle and watch active critters up close. 

If weather permits, let’s take a convertible pickup to spot nocturnal wildlife with a sharp-eyed guide. Danum Valley is the only place where you’ll stand a great chance of seeing flying squirrels. Apart from twinkling fireflies and numerous sleeping birds like Pitta guajana hung on the twig, the world’s tiniest western tarsiers, water-loving sambar deer, and Asian palm civets, whose excreta is the very raw material of civet coffee, will await your discovery. 

As the safari concludes, your guide will escort you back to your hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Borneo Rainforest Lodge, Danum Valley

Today, your guide will accompany you deeper into the Danum Valley all day long. Though the hiking journey totals around 4-5 kilometers (2.5-3 miles), the sultry environment and possibly muddy roads will take a huge toll on your physical strength, so it’s recommended to bring abundant drinking water and high-calorie snacks such as chocolate and energy bars.

From your hotel, let’s lace up our hiking shoes and follow the hiking trail through vibrant forests and grasslands to explore diverse wild animals, plants, and aboriginal cultural relics. At the Kadazan-Dusun Burial Site, look up at the weather-beaten coffins suspended on a sheer cliff with occasional glimpses of green moss-covered human bones, as your erudite guide will tell you the historical vicissitudes and unique customs of the local largest ethnic tribe hundreds of years ago. Later, continue to the viewing platform at a height of 300 meters (985 feet) to soak up the unique terrain of the mist-wreathed Danum Valley, enhanced by green massifs and interlaced rivers.

After dinner and a breather at your hotel, if the weather is fine tonight, we’ll set out once again to search for those nocturnal wild animals like flying frogs with their colors varying with different circumstances and huge-eyed slow lorises, the world’s only poisonous primate. Eventually, return back to your hotel and have a good rest.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Borneo Rainforest Lodge, Danum Valley

In the morning, we’ll drive for 2 hours to Lahad Datu Airport for a one-hour flight back to Kota Kinabalu. After landing, your local driver guide will greet you at the exit, and escort you to your hotel near Dalit Beach, where you’ll spend two laid-back nights shaking off previous travel fatigue.

► For Your Information: The hotel we booked for you offers 5-star amenities including multi-cuisine restaurants, infinity pools with scenic views of South China Sea, and free pool parties. In your free time, you can relax on its quiet, private beach or visit the surrounding Rasa Ria Reserve with the wonderful view of the stunning sunrise over Mount Kinabalu.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Shangri-La Rasa Ria, Kota Kinabalu (5 stars)

Today, there are no scheduled guided activities for you. 

In addition to beach sunbathing, a wide selection of self-paid activities available from your hotel is as follows: 
1. Sabah Batik Canting: DIY a take-home handbag as your souvenir to experience Malaysia’s traditional batik craft. Note that the finished product requires another day or two. 
2. River-lined Golf Course: The hotel boasts an 18-hole championship golf course with a 1.6-square-km (400-acre) area, allowing you to swing freely against the majestic backdrop of Mount Kinabalu. 
3. Nature’s Little Buzzers: Observe the hives of stingless bees, study their anatomical structure, lifecycle, and dietary preferences, as well as taste the mellow, sweet-and-sour honey.
4. Teen Adventures: Children, who fancy an in-depth exploration of Rasa Ria Reserve with local naturalists and an electronic completion certificate, shouldn’t miss this. 
5. Traditional Fishing River Cruise: It’s a better bet for anglers to take a boat trip deep into the mangroves for fishing.

Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Shangri-La Rasa Ria, Kota Kinabalu (5 stars)

Today, your driver guide will escort you to the airport based on your onward flight schedule. We do wish you a smooth journey home! 

Meals: Breakfast