johanad

Hi,
I've really appreciated all the good advice you've given. As of today- my daughters will meet up in Kuala Lumpur on December 20 and will finish their vacation on January 1 back in Kuala Lumpur. Now we need to help them plan the rest of their trip which will be mostly in Borneo.

We've made contact with The Borneo Rainforest Lodge and have a tentative reservation for them to stay there from December 24-26. That would be our gift to them-the cost of the rest of their vacation will be up to them and they're on a real budget.

I'm thinking that they could fly Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan on the 21st and go to the Lankayan Dive Resort for a couple of days, then somehow travel by land to meet the BFL driver in Lahad Datu the morning of the 24th.

After their BFL stay I thought they might be able to go to the Kinabatang River for a couple of days- til about the 27th. I guess they would then fly back to Kuala Lumpur from Sandakan.

They hoped very much to include a longhouse stay. Would that be possible? It seems like the best way to do that is to make a local contact while they're there. Also, considering dates, weather, and budget am I way off-base with my suggestions?

One daughter is spending 5 months traveling throughout Southeast Asia and is having many amazing experiences, but out other daughter just has this short time available to her.

Thanks very much for any help you can give us,
Jo

Kathie

To do a longhouse stay, they would need to go to Sarawak. That means a flight to Kuching, and complicates the itinerary. I say there is plenty to do in Sabah.

The BRL will be a real treat for them!

johanad

Thanks Kathie,

You add great information to this forum!

Jo

debnyc

I was in Borneo June 2010. LOVED it! I traveled with my 16 year old son and we were there for 15 days. We did an itinerary that included Kuching (longhouse stay), a night in KK, Sandakan and KL. As Kathie says, a longhouse stay would be from Sarawak. Specifically, Kuching. We booked our trip through Borneo Adventure and we stayed 4 nights with an Iban trip. Honestly, I wouldn't do less time. Borneo adventure was top notch and the guides were terrific. If you go this route, ask for Lemon as your guide. For the Sandakan leg of our adventure, we booked through S.I tours. We stayed 2 nights at the Kinabatangan River Lodge and 1 night at the Abai Jungle lodge. They're both run by S.I. tours. Abai lodge is further down the river and not grouped with the other lodges. It's only about 2 years old. The nice thing was that it wasn't overly touristed. It is very small and actually I think there was only one other guest there. The grounds are beautiful. The unique thing about this lodge is that we boated over to the village across the river to have dinner. It was the most authentic dinner we had in Borneo eating off of banana leafs with the locals. We easily transferred to the Kinabatangan river lodge which is more set up for tourist. Nicer accomodations. You have to wear a sarong to dinner, supplied by the lodge and a fun touch. But most important , the boats were very comfortable. We couldn't help but notice the other boats on the river which were completely packed with tourist seated on uncomfortable benches. In contrast, we had comfortable chairs with no more than 6 people. Also, the guides went out of their way to find wild life. I was so dead set on seeing wild elephants. The last day we were there, we took such a long trip to a "sighting". And we did. A herd of 70 elephants had made their way to the river. And, our guide was happy to let us be there for an hour and a half. I swear I could of stayed there longer, but it was getting dark.
I was enormously happy with both the lodges we stayed at. Both provided a unique and comfortable experience. The guides and food were all top notch. I would do it again. Before you book Borneo rainforest lodge, I would look at SI tours.

Kathie

Hi, Deb, would you please tell us what kinds of wildlife you saw in the Sandakan area other than the elephants? Did you see any orangutans in the wild?

susncrg

Deb- Is it just S.I. tours or do the letters stand for something? Also, did you do BRL? Are you going to do a full trip report? We're going in March and I'm trying to finalise an itinerarary and am still up in the air on some things. Thanks for any more info you might have.

FromDC

Yes, Deb, I am looking forward to more details as I finalize the itinerary for my Feb trip. I have a specific question - - for the boat rides on the Kinabantagan River, was there any shade on the boats? DH cannot be in full sun for any extended period of time. We'd like to have a couple of days at a river lodge but I am hesitating because of this. Thanks.

debnyc

The Kinabatagan river has loads of very viewable wildlife. Twice from our boat we clearly saw Orangutans in the wild. We also saw a lot of Probiscus monkeys, macques and various other small primates. Actually, they pulled the boat rather close to where the monkeys were and the monkeys seemed quite fine with this. Also, we were told, seeing the elephants is a rare happening. So we felt very lucky.

FromDC– none of the viewing boats had a canopy. Most likely because the canopy would block your view as many times we were looking up. Also, you go out VERY early in the morning and then later in the day, I'd say about 3-4pm. So we never found ourselves out in the high heat of the day. I'd say were were on the boat for about 2 1/2 hours a trip.

susncrg- here's the website for SI tours. www.sitoursborneo.com. I found them to be a together operation and when I emailed them with questions, they happily responded in a timely manner.
One other thing, a lot of these tours include the Gomantong caves. We did this. It was the most vile and disgusting smell I ever experienced. The only reason why I'm glad I did this was it convinced me that I didn't miss a thing by NOT going to the Mulu caves. Basically, both caves are completed covered with bird crap and billions of roaches. The ground is slimy with excrement and roaches and if you lose your balance and touch the railing to steady yourself, for sure you'll be grabbing a bit of mother nature. Our guide told us the Mulu caves don't even have walkways. Not for me, but apparently, there's something to the experience as it's one of the top things to do in Borneo.

I know, I need to do a trip report....one of these days I'll get to it. In the meantime, I'm happy to field my fellow travelers questions.

FromDC

Very helpful, Deb, thanks a lot

susncrg

Thanks Deb, I will check out the link. Hope you find time for a report soon.

StanKase

Deb; At the Lankayan Dive Resort were there accommodations for snorkeer's or did they have to tag along on the dive boat and hope that the dive site had a shollow enough area of 15-20 ft. for quality snorkeling. We want to combine 4 days of snorkeling with 5 days in Borneo before re-visiting Central and West Java (assuming the Mt. Merapi situation is well under control by then) in April. Thanks.

frogoutofwater

johanad - I'm looking forward to hearing how your trip goes, because I'm in the early stages of planning a 2-week Borneo holiday for Christmas 2011. Like you, we want to visit a rainforest lodge and fit in some diving. We'll be meeting my dad and stepmother (in their mid-70s) for a few days somewhere along the way and are trying to decide what the best meeting location might be. My dad is not a stranger to the region, having worked in Indonesia for several weeks at a time more than once, and they're both intrepid travellers. I'm thinking of Penang or Singapore as the meeting point.