The Best of Borneo in Comfort

Arrive independently to Kuching Airport and take your transfer to the hotel. Tonight there will be a welcome meeting which will give you the chance to meet your group and tour leader and learn more about the adventures ahead. The rest of the evening will be at your leisure.

3 nights’ accommodation at The Waterfront Hotel (or similar) with 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch included.

On day 2 you can enjoy an included full-day excursion to Mongkos village to meet members of the Bidayuh tribe, the indigenous people of southern Sarawak, to learn all about their culture, history, and lifestyle. You will be welcomed with a traditional dance performance before visiting the 24-doors traditional longhouse and enjoying a walk through the farmlands to see the rice fields (seasonal), pepper farm, rubber plantation, and tropical fruit orchards. You will also experience how the Bidayuh prepare a traditional lunch and sit down to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Along the way to Mongkos we will also make a stop at a colourful local market in the small town of Serian.

Day 3 will see us head to the verdant Santubong Peninsula to take a memorable wildlife and dolphin cruise along the Santubong river and mangrove forest of Kuching Wetlands National Park. As you enjoy the stunning scenery of the mangrove swamp, your expert guide will tell you all there is to know about the unique wildlife of the area including the proboscis monkeys and the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins.

After some free time to enjoy your beautiful natural surroundings at your leisure, you can then join an amphibian expert for an evening walk in the fern-filled Kubah National Park where you can enjoy the delightful nighttime jungle orchestra (which has been crowned the winner of the ‘Most Beautiful Sound in the World’ contest), and search for a variety of frog species including the recently discovered Kubah Narrow-mouthed Frog which, at the size of a pencil tip, is thought to be one of the smallest frogs in the world.

On the morning of day 4 you will return to the airport for your included flight to Mulu where upon arrival you will transfer to your hotel close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gunung Mulu National Park which is renowned for its incredible biodiversity, old-growth tropical forest, and impressive karst features. Tonight you can enjoy a guided night walk through the lush Sarawak rainforest to check out the park’s nocturnal wildlife, spotting blinking fireflies and luminescent fungi along the way.

The park is also famous for its spectacular caves, one of the largest and most impressive cave systems on earth, and on day 5 you will have the chance to really delve into these striking natural wonders. Your day will begin with a longboat ride along the Melinau River where you will enjoy a brief visit to a Penan settlement to learn about the traditional way of life for this hunter-gatherer tribe. You will then continue on to Wind Cave to see its surreal calcite formations, before reaching the breathtaking underground river in Clearwater Cave where you can enjoy some exciting exploration followed by a refreshing swim and a tasty picnic lunch surrounded by unforgettable scenery.

Next up, we will walk along a series of planks through the rainforest to reach Lang Cave to see its magnificent stalagmites and stalactites before treading with awe into Deer Cave, one of the largest cave passages in the world. The impressive caverns of Deer Cave are home to around an astounding 2 million bats, and observing the famous Bat Exodus that occurs each evening is a striking sight that may prove to be a highlight of the day.

2 nights’ accommodation at the Mulu Marriott Resort & Spa (or similar) with 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch included

This morning can be spent at leisure with some free time to explore more of the Gunung Mulu National Park. You may even choose to take an optional trip to the world’s longest canopy walk at Mulu Skywalk which will reward in majestic views over the surrounding landscape. In the afternoon you will transfer to the airport for your flight to Kota Kinabalu where upon arrival you will transfer to your hotel and enjoy some free time to explore or relax.

1 night’s accommodation at Hotel Grandis (or similar) with breakfast included.

An activity-packed day awaits as you take an early flight to Sandakan where upon arrival your group will make a visit to the famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Iconic to Borneo, orangutans are among the planet’s most critically endangered creatures and they can only be seen in certain areas of Borneo and Sumatra. A visit here may well be a highlight of your trip and it will offer the unique chance to see orangutans up close and learn all about the incredibly important work carried out here to rehabilitate orphaned and injured orangutans before they are reintroduced into the wild.

After your Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre visit you will then move on to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre to meet the world’s smallest bear and learn all about the conservation efforts in place to protect them, before transferring to your lodge in the small village of Kampung Bilit. After checking in and some time to relax at the lodge, you can embark on an exciting evening cruise through the crocodile-infested waters of the Kinabatangan River in search of sightings of everything from monkeys and elephants to birds and insects. And after a tasty dinner at the lodge, you may wish to set out on a guided jungle night walk to observe the area’s unique nocturnal wildlife.

2 nights’ accommodation at the Borneo Natural Sukau Bilit Lodge (or similar) with breakfast, lunches and dinners included.

Today’s adventures will see you take a memorable wildlife cruise along the thriving Kinabatangan River to look for sightings of proboscis monkeys and orangutans, abundant birdlife, crocodiles, and the rare pygmy elephant. Back on dry land, you will then take a guided trek along an oxbow lake in search of even more unforgettable wildlife encounters.

On the morning of day 9, we bid farewell to Kampung Bilit and take an approximately 2 hour drive to the fantastic Tabin Wildlife Reserve where we will check into our wildlife lodge and begin our exploration of this stunning reserve. Home to nine primate species, three species of cat, and hundreds of bird species, this area is a wildlife enthusiast’s paradise and over the next couple of days there will be plenty of opportunities to search for memorable sightings of these iconic animals.

Dusk and nighttime safari drives will offer the chance to spot some of the reserve’s unique nocturnal creatures such as clouded leopard, slow loris, Horsfield’s tarsier, palm civet, mousedeer, flying lemur, colugo and more, whilst jungle night walks and morning bird walks will bring you up-close to some of the reserve’s smaller creatures such as frogs, insects and a number of endemic bird species.

Another highlight here will be a hike to the active Lipad mud volcano where you can climb the observation tower for spectacular views over the bare mud volcano and surrounding forest, and even try the effects of the volcanic mud which is said to be beneficial for a glowing complexion. Another enjoyable trek will bring you through the lush green rainforest to the beautiful Lipad Waterfall where you can enjoy a dip in the natural pool and relax under the waterfall surrounded by the sights and sounds of the area’s natural world.

2 nights’ accommodation at the Tabin Wildlife Resort with breakfasts, lunches and dinners included.

After a relaxing morning at the lodge, you will transfer to Lahad Datu airport for your flight back to Kota Kinabalu where you will check in and enjoy free time to explore this bustling coastal city at your leisure. After breakfast the following morning, your itinerary will sadly come to an end, and it will be time to head homewards or onwards should more adventures beckon you.