Kinabatangan Wildlife Safari
Our MOST popular tour featuring our very own multi-award winning Sukau Rainforest Lodge (SRL). SRL is by far the easiest place to see wildlife in Borneo and is a National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World founding member. Experience the best wildlife in Borneo on this trip as you go exploring for wildlife by river boat, surely an experience of a lifetime.
Includes transfer to SRL by boat and a stay in our brand new Villas.
Tour Highlights
- Learn and observe the endangered Orangutans at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre
- Get a glimpse and learn about the smallest bear in the world at Borneo Sunbear Conservations Centre
- 02 Nights at our new Villa rooms at Sukau Rainforest Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World. Travel by speedboat
- 02 afternoon river cruises and 01 early morning river cruise in search of Borneo’s wildlife and birdlife
- Nature walk along Hornbill Boardwalk and Attenborough Boardwalk to learn about the flora in the area and maybe even sight some wildlife and bird life
- At Sukau Rainforest Lodge, enjoy a night safari river cruise through Kinabatangan River to spot nocturnal wildlife (Optional Tour)
- After breakfast in Sukau Rainforest Lodge, explore the elephant migration path on a 2-hour Rasig Wildlife Trek (Optional Tour)
- Experience the uniqueness of Gomantong Cave and its surrounding in search of wild orangutans and then witness the amazing bat exodus at dusk (Optional Tour)
- Explore the delights of Borneo’s tropical rainforests at Rainforest Discovery Centre
- Learn about the Prisoners of War during World War II at Sandakan Memorial Park
To view this itinerary via land, click here
Why not try our 3 nights Orang Utan Search package. A full day of additional tour, food and lodging with additional price. Comes highly recommended as it'll maximize your chances of seeing orang utans in the wild. I'm Interested!
This tour includes a stay in our new Villa rooms and travel to SRL by speedboat. For stays in the Superior room and travel overland, please see BB7C.
DAY 1 : SEPILOK - SUKAU RAINFOREST LODGE 
You'll be greeted upon your arrival at Sandakan Airport by our friendly guide and captain. We proceed to watch a video show about the plight of the Orang Utans and the rehabilitation efforts ongoing at the Centre. Walk ten minutes through the rainforest on wooden boardwalks to witness the feeding of the orang utans at 1000hrs then we continue to the newly completed enclosed nursery area for young orang utans. If the Orang Utans are feeling particularly friendly, you may even get the chance to get up close to the Orang Utan so be sure to hang onto your belongings. Thereafter visit the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre to learn about conservation of the world's smallest bear.
After lunch, we head to the Sandakan jetty where we'll embark on a Borneo Eco Tours speedboat for a 2½ hours boat journey up the Kinabatangan River to the multi awards winning Sukau Rainforest Lodge. Don't worry as the ride is not choppy and it won't be just boat ride as there will be opportunities along the way to view wildlife and birds, and if you're lucky, even the shy Bornean Pygmy Elephants. Cool down with a refreshing drink and cold towel upon arrival while our friendly manager helps you check-in. Take a few moments to savor afternoon tea before we head out into the wild on your first river safari.
Every boat is equipped with eco friendly outboard engines (used along the main river where the current is strong) and electric motor (used during wildlife viewing in the small tributaries) in search of wildlife and birds. Take loads of photographs as the wildlife extravaganza puts on a show. Return for a solar heated hot shower after sunset before enjoying a candle light buffet dinner overlooking the mighty river. Be sure to try on our in-house Sarongs (local wear) which is cooling and helps keep away any mozzies. Dinner is followed by a slide show and interpretation by our in-house naturalist guide. Stay overnight at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge new Villa rooms. (Lunch & Dinner)
Our Night Cruise comes Highly Recommended to all our guests (available with a small fee)For the comfort and convenience of our guests, it is recommended to travel light by preparing an overnight bag for your stay in Sukau Rainforest Lodge. Complimentary storage in Sandakan will be provided for any extra luggage. (For guests departing & returning to Sandakan Only)
Note on Camera Use at Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre:
For any camera with zoom lens from 100 to 400mm, video camera or other video recording equipment for personal use are chargeable at RM10.00 per unit. For any camera (fixed-lens - 400mm and above ) or any film-making equipment are chargeable at RM1,000.00 per unit. Mode of payment is cash only.
DAY 2 : SUKAU RAINFOREST LODGE
An early morning call at 0530hrs to catch the rainforest waking up is in store. If conditions are just right, you might even wake to a surreal heavenly experience shrouded in mists. After a light breakfast, we embark on a morning river cruise in search of waking wildlife and birds which are most active in the morning on our way to the Kelenanap Ox-Bow lake. Return to a full breakfast awaiting you, taking the time to just immerse yourself in the surroundings.
After breakfast, proceed for an educational walking tour along the lodge's Hornbill Boardwalk with our in-house naturalist after which you'll have some time to relax. If you're itching for more activity, we have many optional activities on offer like a pampering Foot Spa treatment, Batik Painting for the family, our Dip Pool and various other leisure activities. There is also a different free activity everyday so be sure to ask us. After afternoon tea, we head out onto the river once again in search of more wildlife. Breathe in the rainforest and capture the moments as we return at sunset from our final river cruise. Candlelight dinner and overnight at Sukau Rainforest Lodge new Villa rooms. (Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner)
Feel free to explore the boardwalk at the back of our lodge at your own leisure. Who knows you may get lucky and spot an Orang Utan!Experience profound relaxation and comfort at Halia Spa, Sukau Rainforest Lodge, as we provide an 'escape from the ordinary' by offering you a blend of both traditional and modern Spa treatments.
DAY 3 : SANDAKAN - TRANSFER OUT
After breakfast, return to Sandakan by boat. Enjoy a quick lunch before we proceed to the airport for the 1430hrs flight to Kota Kinabalu. For those who are taking the evening flight, we'll have time to visit the Rainforest Discovery Centre which has an impressive information center. Take a birds eye-view of the centre from the canopy walkway and tower before exploring the botanical gardens, home to various species of flora including orchids and agricultural plants. For those interested, we then proceed to the Sandakan Memorial Park which is a memorial built to remember lost POWs during World War 2. Return to the Sandakan airport for your evening flight. (Breakfast & Lunch)
THINGS TO BRING: Please bring along sun block lotion, swimwear, personal toiletries, torch light, insect repellent, drinking water bottle, walking shoes, binoculars, camera, hat & raincoat.
Borneo Eco Tours is moving towards a plastic-free environment, so, please join our movement by bringing your own refillable water bottle during your time with us.Please ensure you are holding an air ticket to Sandakan.
INCLUDES
Tours and transfers, accommodation and meals as specified, entrance fees and English speaking guide.
EXCLUDES
Domestic airfare (Kota Kinabalu(BKI) - Sandakan(SDK) - Kota Kinabalu(BKI)), camera fee and items not mentioned, Tourism Tax (TTx) flat rate of RM10 per room per night.
Note on Travel Insurance
Customers are encouraged to purchase their own travel insurance before travelling to Borneo. We recommend you to select a travel insurance policy that covers not only your medical expenses (including emergency repatriation) but also personal liability, cancellation, curtailment and loss of luggage. Doing so can prevent major disruptions and additional costs.
Rates For Travelling Until 31 March 2019
| RATES PER PERSON | SINGLE SUPPLEMENT | |
|---|---|---|
Villa  |
RM 2330 | RM 700 |
Enjoy our Low Season Promo when you travel to Sukau between Nov - Feb.
Choose between RM 200 discount from normal price or a Free 1 night stay at Sabah Hotel, Sandakan.
Off season at SRL is a chance to experience the authenticity of this eco-lodge with less of a crowd between 01 Nov 2018 to 28 Feb 2019 (excluding blackout dates : 15 Dec 2018 - 15 Jan 2019). Book now!
High season surcharge: MYR 160 (July & August)
Rates For Travelling From 01 April 2019 and Onwards
| RATES PER PERSON | SINGLE SUPPLEMENT | |
|---|---|---|
| Villa |
RM 2410 | RM 735 |
High season surcharge: MYR 168(July & August)
Upgrade to villa: All our 20 new villas are now up and ready for guests. If you have booked a superior room in advance but want to upgrade to a villa, you can! Just pay the price difference and you’re all set!
The following discounts apply to tours that include Sukau Rainforest Lodge ONLY:
- Children age 3 and below - Free
- Children ages 4 to 12 may share a room with ONE adult - 25% discount
- Children ages 4 to 12 may share a room with TWO adult - 50% discount
Giving Back: Every international adult guest who stays at SRL contributes MYR20 for Conservation Contribution (CC).Read More
Effective 1st September 2017, foreign guests will be charged a flat rate of RM10 per room per night for all Tourism Tax (TTx) registered hotel classifications in Malaysia.
Borneo Eco Tours Are Fantastic!
Borneo Eco Tours are fantastic. Highly recommended! Our tour consultant Oviera was extremely helpful, offered advice tailored to our needs, and ensured no detail was overlooked. All guides were friendly and knowledgable. More importantly, they are all passionate about sustainable tourism, which is great to see. Special shout out to Eryanto, our guide for 3 days - an absolute champ. Thanks to him, we spotted all the big 5, and had a great time in Borneo.
Ani Vemulpad, , Sept 2017
An experience that will stay with us for life. We stayed for a few days at the Sukau lodge, and enjoyed a variety of the tours and excursions on offer. Amongst the group of welcoming local guides we were lucky to have the benefit of Steven's deep knowledge of the forest. I heard a handclap in the street yesterday and was transported back to the story Steven told of communicating between members of his tribe...
Mark S, , July 2017
We spent 4 days at this wonderful lodge The accommodation was excellent and the food was great. The fantastic excursions up and down the river with exceptional guides was all we could ask for + more. A fantastic experience for all ages.
njhaining22, Australia, Sept 2017
We stayed here as part of our honeymoon trip. Our room was adequate but a little on the dark side and no view at all out of the window unfortunately. They are building new lodges though which look superb. The best part about this place though are the guides and river cruises. It's simply amazing. Marty our main guide was exceptional. As was Steven who was with us for the first cruise. How they can spot a tiny kingfisher at night from a distance I will never know! Marty made sure we saw everything possible - the top 5 were all ticked! He was very knowledgable and a genuinely nice guy. The food here is very good and plentiful.
Sam S, , Sept 2017
Sukau Rainforest is a nice place in the middle of the jungle. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The tours/cruises and tourguides are fantastic with lots of wildlife around! Rooms are good but a little noisy. The WiFi is an issue, they have a daily limit on data resulting in no internet if another customer has been on Youtube in the morning... They should fix this by providing a datalimit per customer instead of a joint datalimit.
alfredballie88, , Sept 2017
Our lodge was far more luxurious than I expected. The staff were super friendly and helpful. Tours and activities were fantastic and all the tour guides were excellent- and went the extra Mir to make sure you enjoyed the tours- especially Nexter!! We saw all big 5 animals and many many more. Cannot recommend this lodge enough. Food is so-so but you don't go for the cuisine!
Amazing experience.
fvr1021, United Kingdom, Sept 2017
We had the experience of a lifetime. We saw the Big 5 of Borneo, Pygmy Elephants, Orangutans, Proboscis Monkeys, Crocodiles and Rhinoceros Hornbills.Up at 5am everyday for boat tours, boat tours in the evening and additional activities.We stayed in one of the new villas. It's not 5 star more 3.5 star but it was clean, spacious, good shower and good air con. We weren't there for the accommodation! The food is ok and the staff are wonderful. Happy and can't do enough for you. But what really made this experience was our guide Hamit. What a lovely, funny, intelligent and informative man. He really enjoys his job and it shows. He went above and beyond to make sure our stay was the best. He is an absolute credit to the Lodge. If you get the chance, BOOK IT! You won't regret it.
Karen L, United Kingdom, Sept 2017
Our two day stay here was quite an experience. Marty, the guide who accompanied us on all our river cruises was excellent, very knowledgeable and very patient too! In fact all the staff were helpful and attentive. We didn't get to see Pygmy elephants or any crordiles but this did not detract from our enjoyment in any way. We stayed in one of the original standard rooms which was ok but quite dark and had no view to speak of. However they are in the process of building new chalet type accommodation which looks lovely. Some of them are already in use. The food was plentiful and quite tasty.
Elizabeth T, United Kingdom, Sept 2017
We stayed in a family room with our 12 year old son. We reached the river lodge by boat from Sandakan. The room was fairly small but quite adequate. The bathroom area was fairly big. The aircon worked well. The food was good but they did run out of some things if you weren’t quick! They did replenish it but it took some time. We were lucky to see the resident orangutans, Lucky & Day. We also saw the rest of the big 5 on our boat trips. There is a pool but there weren’t enough sunbeds or towels when we were there. Be warned that there were a lot of mozzies around and they loved me! Overall we had a great stay and loved wearing our sarongs at dinner (see photo)!
CaleyS, United States, July 2017
If you have got this far - you have probably already reserved - Well done!!
I made all the inquiries directly and found the communication with Cindy at Borneo Eco Tours excellent. We stayed 3 nights at the lodge (most people cram it into two days, which seems doable). Collected at Sandakan Airport and from that moment on, we sat back and enjoyed the ride. Our guide was awesome, spotting Viper snakes in the rainforest and hard to find Orangutans. We saw the big 5 in the first day and on the second and third (we were lucky). The lodge offers buffet food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food quality is really good and tasty.
A typical day - early morning cruise, breakfast - down time (option to walk along the rainforest floor canopy), lunch, Orangutan talk, tea/afternoon cruise/bat exodus, dinner, evening cruise, bedtime.
NALondon, United Kingdom, Sept 2017
NOTE: Wheelchair-friendly and adapted rooms are also available at the lodge.
We’re also proud to announce that Sukau Rainforest Lodge is now certified with the Travelife Gold Certification! To know more about the certification and Travelife, go here.
Presently, Sukau Rainforest Lodge has 40 rooms; 20 Superior Rooms and 20 Borneo Villas. The lodge has also been branded as a National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World and has received numerous awards and recognition namely, the Best Nature Lodge in Sabah by Sabah Tourism in 2013/2014, Asia’s Leading Green Hotel for the 17th World Travel Awards 2010, and Best Independent Accommodation by PATA InSPIRE Awards 2015.
The ecolodge was built in 1995 in the style of traditional Malay architecture using several Borneo hardwood species. Erected on stilts on the banks of Kinabatangan River, Sukau Rainforest Lodge offers a nature and wildlife experience that goes hand in hand with luxury and comfort. The lodge also includes the Melapi Restaurant on the pier, Gecko Lounge and Bar, a plunge pool, Gomantong Hall meeting area, Hornbill Boardwalk and Attenborough Boardwalk for nature walks, Kadai gift shop and also Halia Spa amongst other conveniences.
Sukau Rainforest Lodge is doing its best to uphold its ecolodge ethos by using a Green & Sustainable policy as a guideline which both staff and guests are encouraged to follow. Some of the lodge’s sustainable practices includes rainwater harvesting for shower and solar heating to generate hot water supply. All rooms are also equipped with energy saving inverter air-conditioning and LED light bulbs. Besides that, river safari cruises are conducted by boats powered by electric motors and eco-friendly outboard engines.
The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary which covers an area of 26,800 hectares, forms part of the Kinabatangan region which is the largest floodplain the Malaysia covering a total of 23% of the land area of Sabah or 16,800 sq.km. Gazetted in 2005 as a gift to the Earth, it has a diverse ecosystem from coastal mangrove swamp, to riparian, freshwater and dipterocarp and oxbow vegetation teaming with wildlife supporting ten species of primates including more than 1,000 orang utans, proboscis monkeys, more than 300 Borneo pygmy elephants, 50 species of mammals, 20 species of reptiles and over 1,026 species of plants.
Birdlife is especially rich here (over 325 species have been sighted in the area) including eight species of hornbills, kingfishers, darters, owls, kites, eagles, broadbills, doves, storm storks, herons, hawks, ospreys, falcon, pheasants, parakeets, bee eaters, woodpeckers, pittas, bulbuls, forktails, babblers, warblers, flycatchers, orioles, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters, among others.
AWARDS
- 2014-2015 Malaysia Tourism Awards - WINNER / Best Hotel Services / 3 Star Hotel Category
- 2015 PATA InSPIRE Awards - WINNER / Best Independent Accommodation
- 2015 - 2011 TripAdvisor Hall of Fame (Five-Time Winner of the Certificate of Excellence from 2011-2015)
- 2013 Sabah Tourism Awards - WINNER / Best Nature Lodge
- 2013 Wildasia Responsible Tourism Awards - WINNER / Most Inspiring Responsible Tourism Accommodation Provider
- 2010 - 17th World Travel Awards - WINNER / Asia's Leading Green Hotel
- 2009 Sabah Tourism Awards - Finalist, Excellence in Hotel Services - Nature Lodge
- 2009 - 16th World Travel Awards - Finalist / World's Leading Eco-Lodges
- 2009 - 16th World Travel Awards - Finalist / Asia's Leading Eco-Lodges
- 2009 - National Geographic Adventure's Magazine (Top 50 Ecolodges / Jungle Category)
- 2008 - 15th World Travel Awards - Finalist / Asia Leading Green Hotel
- 2008 - 15th World Travel Awards - Finalist / World's Leading Eco-Lodges
- 2006 - ECOCLUB.com Ecolodge Awards - 3rd Prize Winner
- 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards - Highly Commended/ Best small hotel
- 1999 IH&RA Green Hotelier Awards - 1st Runner-up
- Top 10 Ecotourism Hotspots by ShermansTravel.com
- 1999 The Green Hotelier of the Year 1999 Award - Winner
- 1997 British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award - Best Lodge Pacific Region Winner
We are incredibly excited to unveil our newly built Villas! The villas are exquisitely designed and furnished with a unique Borneo flavor that we hope will provide you with extra comfort and will further heighten your Borneo experience during your stay with us.
Highlights
- Villas are 60% larger than our superior rooms
- En-suite bathroom features Hans-Grohe hot water rain and hand showers and are 100% larger than our Superior room en-suite bathrooms
- Private balcony with patio chairs
- Option of double bed and queen-sized bed arrangements
- Energy saving inverter air-conditioning supplemented by ceiling fan
- Villa rooms are fully mosquito netted. All windows and balcony doors have insect screens
- 100% LED lighting
- Decorated and furnished with Borneo styled crafts and motifs
- More privacy, away from main areas
Photos
OUR GUESTS WHO VIEWED THIS TOUR ALSO VIEWED
BB7K : Orang Utan Search
BB7E : Sandakan Wildlife Safari
Borneo Eco Tours are fantastic. Highly recommended! Our tour consultant Oviera was extremely helpful, offered advice tailored to our needs, and ensured no detail was overlooked. All guides were friendly and knowledgable. More importantly, th... (Read More)
Ani Vemulpad,