Mrs A has always wanted to go so has booked a family trip there this summer. We’ve backpacked many years ago and more recently with the kids done a bit of Thailand trekking, diving stuff which has worked really well.

For Borneo, the idea is (apparently) to stay in the north, and split the holiday up into 4 parts
– beach/diving
– orangutans/wildlife stuff
– ideally a bit of rafting/adventure stuff
– trekking for 3-4 days

Our boys (14 & 17) are pretty relaxed and happy to have a go so that’ll be fine. Keeping budget down is very good, so we’re happy to backpack it a bit.

Any advice, places to go/avoid, book now or keep it open for when we’re there, how to keep costs down, great stuff to do etc. Have digested Lonely Planet but keen to hear other real experiences.

Thanks

I would advise against visiting the East Coast sea. i.e. Sulu or Celebes sea. Do Not be tempted.

If you are unlucky you will become world news if you are kidnapped by the extreme religious group. Visiting East Coast land area is fine but just apply common sense coz many of the people in the East Coast are not really local.

Plenty of good food but again apply common sense. Those food that are cooked in front of you should be safer than those that are cooked in the hidden kitchen.

North Borneo

UK Govt advice

I spent 3 months there – making rafts out of driftwood on the beach (they all sank) Driving a jeep in the jungle up logging tracks till it got stuck. Eating god knows what. Exploring the jungle which was amazing and climbing Mt Kinabalu. Also did a lot of Diving and Sailing. Oh and the rafting was brilliant – I went up the river by railway. A tiny railway and a single carriage powered by an old bus engine. Still had the clutch, brake and accelerator, they just took off the steering wheel. Then rafted back down.

Great fun, but that was in 1989. I would check up on the safety aspect now, but apart from that it was brilliant. The capital of Brunei was pretty interesting as well.

Work with a bloke who spent some time there in 1994 – not sure he’d go back there though . . . . . probably because he spent a few weeks stuck in a gully near Mt Kinabalu and nearly didn’t get out alive.

tonyplym, was your mate one of that military training group ? It’s a funny mountain, as the main tourist route up it is a piece of piss – like a long mtb green run (in fact, ….. )

It’s a bloody lovely place in my (2.5 week, 25 years ago) experience, including the east coast. Shame if parts are now off-limits.

OP I have done a couple of holidays there and wish I’d done more when I was living out in Asia. To be honest I found it quite depressing how much nature has been destroyed by man and Palm Oil plantations. It was 5 years ago I was there and Asia changes so fast, I hope this is useful

Everyone uses Lonley Planet but quite a lot on internet these days, trip advisor

Borneo is split into a number of distinct reas, Malaysian, Brunei and the bulk being Indonesian. I’ve visted Sabah (the bit in @chew’s map) with two of my daughters, Brunei (for business) and a good friend of mine went hiking with his mum in Sarawak. Firstly imo the easiest way in/out is via Malaysia as there are more flights but you can fly to Kota Kinabalu from Singapore for example.

Kota Kinabalu – a potential arrival point, nothing much here aside from the Mountain which is a popular tourist hike up
Sandakan – old colonial town, famous for the death marches of fhe Japaneese who marched 1500 Australian pow’s to their death
Famous caves where the Chinese harvets the birds nests for soup, Richard Attenborough’s walk through the stinking S..t – now a wooden walkway but still a sensory experience !
Turtle Island – there is a popular tourist trip to see turtle’s laying eggs, involves a boat ride and overnight stop
Kinabatangan River – really excellent wildlife river trips to see probiscus monkeys, birds and elephants – many riverside lodges – sadly all the wildlife has been hemmed in there by the palm plantations.
Sepilok Orangutan Reserve – popular with toursts, I skipped as it sounded a bit like an outdoor zoo – it is one of the easiest ways to see the Orangutans
Paulu Sipadan World famous diving, not for beginners I am told due to very steeply shelving underwater cliffs perhaps they do snorkeling I don’t know
Danam Valley Borneo Rainforest ledge – quite up market lodge 80km into the jungle in a protected natural parl, the most natural way to see wildlife via walking trips (and as its the jungle you may not see that much as its not a zoo experience). Really beautiful location on a river clearing with a rocky outcrop above, bit expensive

Finally these is a book I really enjoyed called “Land Below the Wind” written in the 1930’s by the American wife of a British Diplomat about life in Sandakan beyween 1st and 2nd WW. 2 others in the series inc one about being captives of the Japaneese.

Will try and dig out some photos and video

Any other questions ask …

Very jealous of you guys who where out there 20+ years ago

@tony – 3 weeks the army group where lost I think, if I recall they’d made some poor decisions and got themselves lost ?

Great but expensive IMO.

Jambas given lots of good iideas

We mixed wo nice hotels KK and the coast (with golf) with Kinabatangan River, Orang Utan sanctuary the beautiful Daman River Lodge. The latter was luxurious, the river anything but – student hostel stuff but at a £££££

Very hot trekking, plus the fun of leeches.

Man made devastation an eye opener and very sad.

A week in Miri – not too exciting but lovely people and fantastic food!

Ha! – yeah, the leeches. Never seen anything quite like that anywhere else

I forgot to mention Sarawak (Southern Borneo) and Brunei (one small but very rich Kingdom) but Jambalaya has covered that so no need to repeat.

The whole region is devastated by palm oil plantation and my heart bleed each time I see the plantation. The environmental damage is severe to say the least.

As for leeches … Tiger leeches … they are all over in the forest and usually hang around waist height plant or branches waiting for passer-by. Then they take a ride with you for a free meal … you the meal. 😆 I wonder if the leeches become hungrier now considering most of the mammals no longer appear in the forest …

I just wrote a long and detailed post, complete with links, about my wonderful trip there last year. Then I realised you weren’t going to Burma so it’s a little redundant.

I’d love to go to Borneo though.

It’s a real shame that the instability / piracy on the east coast has escalated. We visited Borneo about 8 years ago and I found it a great place to backpack / travel cheaply with great transport (local flights, buses and cheap taxis) but also easy to organise stuff from the UK. However, it was also tragic the amount of jungle lost to palm oil plantations and the political undertone wasn’t pleasant (a significant proportion of the palm oil workers are not Malaysian and accept low wages, and the profits are syphoned off by the Chinese owners, so the locals just see their natural assets being destroyed and any profit going abroad).

To do rafting / trekking I would think you will need guiding. Do you know where you want to go? For multi-day options or to hike Kinabalu you either need to know where all of the operators are and have enough spare time to go in and barter with them, or (less stressful) pre-book with them over the ‘web. Similarly to get in to the jungle, though I don’t think there is much left in Sabah.

We snorkelled in Sipadan and it was by far the most amazing place I have visited (macro, pelagics, shallow coral, loads of turtles) but it now looks off-limits. When we were there the dive islands to the north (live-aboard territory) were also not secure and there are renewed disputes with the Chinese. Similarly, I expect travel to the turtle ‘sanctuary’ off Sandakan is now advised against (although it was very touristy). Sepilok orangutan sanctuary is touristy but the animals are completely free to roam, it’s just that their habitat is so restricted now by palm oil plantations and they are guaranteed food there so they come back. If you want to visit Kinabatangan River area, it would be worth booking it because transfers will be included with your accommodation and activities (river trips, etc). It’s about 2 hours including 4×4 along dirt roads then transfer by boat to the lodges. (We stayed at Proboscis Lodge Bukit Melapi which was very affordable.) There is lots of wildlife to see, but my memory of the trip to see the Proboscis monkeys was of them penned in to a small area of forest and they come down for food which gives you the opportunity to photo them, so similar feel to Sepilok.