What to do in Borneo: Top Attractions for Nature and Wildlife lovers
What to Do in Borneo: Top Attractions for Nature and Wildlife Lovers
Lush green jungles, Sparkling crystal blue water, Banana trees and Palms dotted everywhere, Strange Red headed men staring at you through the leaves… winding river safari’s through the Jungle… hang on- what was that previous one?
Red – headed men?
Oh! The Orangutans!!
This ladies and gents is the lush beautiful Malayan island of Borneo!
Borneo is a fantastic place to visit for incredible endemic wildlife, ancient rainforests, beautiful beaches and great Snorkeling/diving, it also has some great food and culture to boot!
The area of Borneo is split into two states Sabah and Sarawak, this list of top things to do focuses on the northern state of Sabah.
1. Climb Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu, also shortened to KK by the locals, is the tallest mountain in Malaysia and located in the World Heritage Kota Kinabalu national park. It is a 2 day steep trek to the top.
You also must have a local guide, you are not allowed to climb without one and they will also arrange Permits for you to climb. The company we used was was Amazing Borneo.
2. Visit Kota Kinabalu National Park
Head out to the famous UNESCO world heritage Kota Kinabalu National Park. Famous for the home of the highest mountain in Malaysia, this is national park is a biodiversity mecca and became a UNESCO site in 2000.
If, in-bloom you can stop and see the famous Rafflesia flower. A parasitic flower the only blooms for 7 days and takes 18 months to grow!
I was lucky enough that there were actually 2 in bloom when I was there!
Check out the Geo-thermal part of the park at the Poring Natural hot springs where you can enjoy a dip in the hot springs or alternatively head to the nice cold pools instead next to them as well as heading up to the canopy walk and enjoy the views looking over the jungle. ( I recommend doing the canopy walk first so you can cool off in the pool after!)
3. Visit Kota Kinabalu City
Kota Kinabalu city is a great base to stay for a few days on the west coast to enjoy food and handicraft markets, shopping, island hopping, climbing Kota Kinabalu and heading into the national park.
4. Visit the friendly Gingers
No, I don’t mean the Scottish and Irish (I mean you could- I would never say no) I mean the locals, the Orangutans! One of the best places to do this is at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Sanctuary.
It is a 20 minute from downtown Sandakan. Alternatively you can stay at Sepilok at one of the Jungle resorts.
The sanctuary opens at 9am, but make sure you are there a little bit earlier so you have time to buy tickets as the lines can become quite long.
The main reason though, is that the Nursery feeding is at 9.15 am. This is where the young Orangutans are fed each morning and is a 5 minute walk from the entrance. At 10am is the next feeding in the main area.
The sanctuary is also the place, where if your like me, you can choose to adopt a Orangutan!
The adoption is for a year and then you can extend for another year or not. You receive a certificate of adoption, photos and updates of your chosen adoptee and a cute little stuffed toy.
5. Visit the Sun bears
Just across the road from the Orangutan Sanctuary is the Sun bear conservation. The smallest of all the bears (think paddington sized!) These endangered bears are rapidly disappearing due to losing their natural habitat and to poaching, as many parts of the bears are used in chinese herbal medicine.
While the conservation does its best to rehabilitate the bears and release them back into the wild, many can not survive by themselves and so remain at the conservation.
You can also choose to adopt a sun bear while at the conservation.
These guys don’t get fed at a certain time so you have to be lucky to see them being fed. There is also a small museum and some documentaries about the Sun bears at the centre.
The conservation is open from 9am-3.30pm daily. You can also choose to adopt a sun bear at the conservation. Otherwise you can check out their website at:
The Sun Bear conservation centre
6. Go Island Hopping and Snorkeling
There are plenty of water activities to do in Borneo, if in Kota kinabalu, head down to the jetty terminal and from there you can chose to do some island hopping. At the terminal you can decide how many islands you want to go to for the day and add any extra activities you wish to do.
You can rent Snorkeling equipment on the islands too. Most islands have dedicated Snorkeling areas that you need to stay in, as there are busy Jettys close by.
Most of these require you to wear a life jacket and you need to sign a waiver with the lifeguard if you don’t want to (yes really!).
Only do this if you are a strong swimmer as part of the waiver that you sign is that they will NOT come and rescue you if you get into trouble, because you decided to not wear a life jacket.
7. Go Scuba Diving
South east Asia is a mecca for Scuba diving, and Borneo is no exception! In the west you have the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu.
The Semporna archipelago on the east coast encompasses the Tun Sakaran marine park with many different dive sites and different reefs that you could definitely spend a few days diving here.
8. Jungle River Cruise
Head to the Kinabatangan river, about a 3 hour drive from Sanakan to experience the Borneo rainforest at its best.
The rainforest here is approximately 140 million years old and has a vast diversity of flora and fauna endemic to Borneo. On a Jungle river cruise you can see the famous Pygmy Elephants, Proboscis monkeys, Crocodiles, Hornbill birds, Orangutans and Pig- tailed Macaques.
9. Gomantong Cave
This one is lucky last as it is a bit of a controversial one for me.
This is a famous and popular cave in Borneo as it is the largest limestone in Borneo with great biodiversity due to the large population, some 275,000 of Wrinkle- lipped free- tailed bats, that live in the cave during the day and the Swiftlet birds (famous for birds nest soup) during the night.
Every evening there is a big cross over of the bats leaving and the birds arriving at the caves. Now you’re wondering why this is a controversial one for me. Well to put it honestly, this place absolutely STINKS.
You can start to smell it from about 100 metres away. I actually started to think that there was an untreated sewage pipe that had burst nearby or something.
As you approach the cave there is a small wooden walkway on one side of the cave and it is absolutely covered with cockroaches and bat guano and you can see rats running around in the cave.
While holding my breath and my t-shirt to my nose while trying not to gag, I managed to snap a photo. While I was wearing enclosed shoes, my sister had worn sandals. Not a great idea as the walkway was super slippery and you couldn’t hold the railing either due to the amount of bat guano on it.
We actually thought our driver had taken us to the wrong caves and had to check it was the correct one!
When is the best time to go to Borneo?
The best time of year to visit Borneo is during the dry season, this runs between March and October each year.
As Borneo is close to the Equator, it gets hot and humid weather all year round with the hottest months being July and August. This dry season is the best time to go,as there is little rain and is better for seeing wildlife.
This time is also when it is peak season, running between May and September, so it can become more busy and expensive. Between November and February is Wet season and while it is still hot, it can receive large amounts of rainfall, flooding and monsoons during this time.
Where did we stay in Borneo for the Rainforest?
Sepilok
We stay at the Sepilok Jungle resort which is a 5 minute walk from the Sepilok Orangutan and Sun bear conservation centres and a 20 minute drive from Sandakan airport. This is a beautiful resort situated in the middle of the jungle. Breakfast is included.
We organised a grab from the airport and the driver kindly gave us his number for when we wanted to be picked up the next day to be taken to the river. (many of the Grab drivers will only take cash in this area so make sure you have enough cash and check with them how much they will charge beforehand as there are limited ATMS in this region, so let them know if you need an ATM.
Kinabatangan River
Sukau backpackers bed and breakfast
The backpackers is located just off the river and provide river cruises twice a day in the morning and evening. They also run a night jungle walk as well. I would advise staying here at least 2 nights to maximise your chances of seeing some wildlife. On my second day I got to see a pygmy Elephant and many Proboscis monkeys! While the rooms did have airconditioning, it didn’t have any Wifi, so I highly recommend bringing a book to read or having something to do as this place is literally in the middle of nowhere and not much to do between the jungle cruises.
*side note, this place only takes cash. However it doesn’t say this on booking sites so make sure you have enough cash to cover your room, the Jungle cruises and meals too. Breakfast is included, but you will end up having lunch and dinner here as well as there is literally nothing else around!
Where is the best place to see an Orangutan?
The best place in Borneo to see an Orangutan is the Sepilok Orangutan rehabilitation Sanctuary, located 20 minutes from Sandakan airport.