With so many great choices for your Borneo tour, how do you pick the right one? Read our guide to the top five destinations for viewing wildlife and sampling some high octane action.

1. Kinabatangan

One of the many wildlife jewels in the Borneo crown is Kinabatangan in eastern Sabah. The region is stomping ground for the indigenous proboscis monkey along with long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, gibbons, crocodiles and, of course, orang utans.
It’s also a birder’s paradise, home to eight species of hornbill. Other delightful feathered denizens include the rhinoceros hornbill which can grow to the size of a swan, stork-billed kingfisher, Storm’s stork, and the snake-bird.
The Kinabatangan river and its many oxbow lakes are prime wildlife sanctuaries. River cruising is an ideal way to observe the local flora and fauna with both day and night time excursions available. Kinabatangan is also home to the Sungei tribe and you can experience their traditional way of life in a homestay.

2. Sukau

Sukau is the main village on the lower Kinabatangan and the gateway to some fine wildlife tours on the water. A must in Sukau is taking a Menanggol river trip in search of birds, monkeys, elephant and orang utans and other fauna who feast on the fig trees along the river banks. If you’re lucky you may glimpse such bird life as Wallace’s hawk-eagle, jerdon’s baza, violet cuckoo among the boughs.

3. Danum

Visitors to the Danum Valley Conservation Area often use the word ‘magical’ to describe their experience and with good reason. Here you can delve into nature in pristine jungles when orangutans, gibbons, clouded leopards, pygmy elephants and macaque roam wild.
Trek through the rainforest under canopies of lofty trees or take a canopy walk 26 meters up in the boughs. It’s a place where you feel awe in the presence of pure nature. It’s also a great place for boating down the river.
Danum is also an ornithologist’s delight being home to more than 340 species of bird, with new ones discovered regularly. Here you can awaken to the sound of hornbills and go in search of blue-headed and blue-banded pittas, bulbuls and broadbills and a myriad others.

 

4. Maliau

The other prime wildlife zone in Sabah is Maliau Basin Conservation Area, a true lost world of lush tropical rainforest. First discovered from the air in 1947, its rich biodiversity only began to be studied in the 1980s.
Other than its staggering range of plant and animal life, Maliau is also one of Sabah’s finest adventure jungle trekking destinations. This means you can combine exploration of the nature trail viewing such items as nephenthes (carnivorous pitcher plants), pink rhododendrons, rare orchids, exotic mushrooms, and red ixoras, while testing yourself on a rigorous trek.

Trekking through Maliau, you clamber up steep paths and ladders, and along swaying suspension bridges in true Indiana Jones style. Most treks last three or five days and take in such sights as Takop Akop Waterfall, Giluk Waterfall and the seven-tiered Maliau Waterfall.

5. Mt. Kinabalu

One of the many musts on a visit to Sabah is to ascend Mount Kinabalu, Borneo’s highest mountain. Not only is it an adventure experiences of the highest order, but also offers sublime views over Kinabalu National Park, especially at sunrise.

Ascent is not too demanding and is suitable for trekkers and hikers as well as climbers. On the way up, you can enjoy a rich array of flora that line the walking trails through the dipterocarp rainforest. Rare orchids, rhododendrons, carnivorous Nepenthes and massive Rafflesia all bloom in the area.
Check out these five Borneo highlights. If you’re looking for adventure and wildlife at its wildest, it doesn’t get any better than this.