Sabah Tours & Trips

What people love about Sabah Tours

• Traveled in November

  5

  Awesome adveturous tour. Includes jungle stay (pic above) where we went spotlighting wildlife at night, slept in a tree house, planted trees for reforestation and went out on the river to look for monkeys and orangutangs along the river banks. We also did a homestay. Due to the earth quake this year we couldnt climb kinabalu but we still did a very challenging trek through cave systems in the junlge and by doing this Geckos were making sure hte mountain guides weren't out of work while the mountain trails were repaired. Our guide was so knowledgable having grown up in the jungle since the age of 4. The country is full of wildlife, the people are friendly and the place is non touristy. Meals and beer were cheap. wifi in the country is dodgy. I would definately go back to see the other half of the country one day... My tip pack lots of quick dry sports clothing because the jungle is HOT! Our group was a good mix of international people, all young, fit, active and most importantly easy going!

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  Real Borneo (6 destinations)
• Traveled in June

  4.5

  This trip was so much fun! It was really well coordinated with the right amount of free time. The first hotel in kota kinabalu is extremely nice but there are heaps of other cheaper hotels quite close if you're staying an extra day. If you want to see the city, stay an extra day or two as you don't get much time included in the tour. 1-2 days in KK would be enough as it's pretty small. Sepilok is really cool and there are heaps of things to do, however a lot of them are guided tours and they cost quite a bit. If you're trying to save, you could just opt to stay at the hotel as it has a pool and a restaurant. Wifi is only in the restaurant area and rooms have fans, no air con. Next is the eco camp which is really cool as it's right in the middle of the jungle. There are SO many mosquitos so don't think you can get away without repellant. Bring snacks as there's no where to get food outside of meal times. You'll probably also want lots of loose, long clothes to avoid sunburn. The tree planting you do here was pretty average but I guess cool to see. At lunch we got to do a cooking class which was pretty cool. The Batu Tulug caves were nice and worth a visit. The homestay depends a lot on your family but it's great to see how locals live. There's no wifi here or on the river at the eco camp, so if you need to check more than once every couple of days, get a local sim (they're pretty cheap anyway). Next you stay in the Kinabalu national park, which was bloody great for us because we got upgraded to this really fancy room. Once again there's no wifi and you have to buy something at a really expensive restaurant to use it. Food is all buffet here which is really fun. The hike was awesome and you can read reviews on it elsewhere, but some things specific to geckos might put some people off this tour. Firstly, we had some people on our group who had chronic medical conditions such as asthma. They were only told the day before the climb that they wouldn't be covered by insurance and if they wanted to climb it would be at their own risk. If you have something like this, it would be worth getting more comprehensive insurance and clarifying what this means for you with geckos before you go, as only learning about this the day before doesn't allow much time for decision making. Secondly, our group leader decided that we wouldn't go all the way to the summit as the weather was really bad. This was fine as we still got to base camp and got to do another smaller walk, and it's totally understandable of our group leader to put our safety first. However, a lot of other people went to the summit regardless (ie people not on our tour) and so if you're really really keen to get to the top, there's a risk you won't be able to with this tour. The poring hot springs were awesome as there are heaps of things to do there, but mostly the beds are comfortable which you'll need after the hike! The small waterfall (you'll find out when you get there) is awesome and definitely worth the 15 minute walk. The hot springs themselves are sort of gross, especially at the end of the day, as they get sort of dirty and you can see hair in them! So it's worth getting a private spa. There's also no wifi here but local cafes (ie across the road from the resort) have it. It's best to eat there too as the restaurant at the resort is really expensive. On the last day we didn't get back to KK until about 5pm and our guide organised a snorkelling trip for those of us who were still there for the next day which was really really good. Our tour guide, Felix, was absolutely awesome and was so passionate about Sabah and wildlife. This tour is a really comprehensive tour of Sabah and you get to see so much. It may seem expensive per day but we had a lot of transfers (including a flight) and got to climb Mt Kinabalu, and some of the hotels were a lot nicer than expected. One thing to keep in mind is that Malaysia is a Muslim country and for us they were celebrating ramadan at the time. This meant that a few restaurants were closed but we always found somewhere to go. We also got to experience the ramadan bazaars which were really cool! However it would have been marginally easier to go at a different time of year. This is also a great introduction into hiking and wildlife types of holidays if you haven't done that before. Sabah is a great place to travel and this tour makes it really easy and shows you the best bits.

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  Real Borneo (6 destinations)
• NahmanTraveled in April

  5

  Two comments 1. To add the Urang Hutan reservation in Kuching to the itinerary 2. The hotel in Bilit was not up to par, so if there are other options, it is worthwhile to check

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  Journeys: Best of Borneo National Geographic Journeys