Flyer62727228781
Incredible experience, well-organised, felt ethical, fantastic guides
We booked a 4D/3N tour with turtle island and Sukau rainforest lodge with Borneo Eco Tours. We had Lau (not sure how to spell his name) as our guide for the entire tour. We were greeted with a tote bag, which included a magnet and an animal spotting guide to tick off during our trip, which was really fun to use once we got into the jungle. We first went to Selingan, turtle island, which was absolutely amazing - there were 9 tourists in total on the island but we were the only ones with our own guide. The ride out can be choppy so be prepared - you arrive early and have a few hours to spare so we went snorkelling in the beach, which we had all to ourselves. It was beautiful and there were lots of fish to see. There are huge monitor lizards around the island as well. In the evening, we were lucky and called early around 8pm to watch a turtle lay it's eggs, an amazing experience, then we went to the hatchery to see them buried before returning to the beach to release baby turtles into the ocean. Apparently they can come any time overnight so be prepared to wait until the early hours! Although the accommodation was described as basic, the only thing really lacking was some mosquito barriers, so we did get lots of bites - so I would recommend this is improved, but otherwise we had no issue with the accommodation. We left turtle island early on Day 2, went to Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary and the Sunbear Sanctuary (optional) and then headed via boat into the jungle. The lodge itself is lovely and they have an on site boardwalk, which was eventually where we saw a wild orangutan high up in the tree. They have 5 resident orangutans in the area. I appreciated that unlike some other lodges, they do not feed the animals or try to interfere in their natural activities, although it does mean that you may not see them close up. We saw the rest of the big 5 from the boat, and generally really enjoyed the included morning and afternoon cruises. There was one cruise where there were loads of boats on the river watching elephants and the police actually came to disperse them - this was the only time I really felt overcrowding, and our boat actively decided to go in a different direction to all the other boats shortly afterwards, which I think was a good decision as we were on our own afterwards even if we weren't necessarily seeing the most exciting wildlife. We also did a night cruise - shout out to "John" - I think his actual name is something -jan, who was absolutely incredible at spotting tiny animals from a distance in the dark whilst also driving the boat, I have no idea how. We saw loads on the hour night cruise, the highlight being a couple of civets and an owl. The rest of our group didn't do the night cruise on the first night and then it rained on the second so they didn't get to go, so I would suggest doing this at the first opportunity. John also did a orangutan/monkey talk which was really entertaining and gave us lots of information. We had a guided boardwalk on Day 3 and after that we could explore the boardwalk independently. The only thing I would recommend to improve is perhaps doing a guided night boardwalk on the first night (before/after the optional night cruise) - that way we can explore the boardwalk by ourselves from the second day, and also it may be easier to find wildlife. We did try to go out at night by ourselves on Day 3, the second rainy night, after we had the introductory boardwalk, but got put off by bats flying into us, however explored independently twice in the day when no one else was around and spotted red langurs. We did appreciate the boardwalk at the lodge as this is the only real opportunity to see wildlife which isn't from the boat. On the final day, after the boat ride back to Sandakan, we did a rainforest canopy walk in virgin jungle. We mainly saw birds but I really enjoyed this and it felt very different to the other activities, so I would definitely recommend booking a late flight to ensure you don't miss out (some people who booked earlier flights missed this). Overall, it was an incredible experience and I already want to go back and maybe explore some of the other lodges and areas of the jungle on offer. Lau was really organised and knowledgeable, and took some fantastic photos that he shared with all of us.
