Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.
Helen Keller
Borneo is one of those mystical places, almost seemingly more myth than reality. Many might even struggle to point it out on a map. It’s certainly an exciting place to visit for adventurers – wild and remote but also a place where you’ll receive a joyfully warm welcome.
I have to start by admitting that I didn’t make the most of my time in Borneo. If I could go back I would do it all so differently. Hopefully here I can share some of my regrets, but also highlights, for anyone considering travelling there.
Firstly – where is Borneo?
Borneo is an island southeast of the Malaysian Peninsular. It doesn’t belong to any one country but instead houses regions of Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as the whole country of Brunei.
Sabah or Sarawak?
As you start planning your trip the first thing you’ll probably want to decide is which part of the island you’d like to visit. Borneo is the third largest island in the world so unless you have ample time to spare it’s generally sensible to pick one particular region and explore it in detail.
The Malaysian side is split between the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Let’s not kid ourselves, the big draw for travelling to Borneo is to see orangutans in one of their last remaining natural habitats. You can do this in either state, so what else is on offer?
Sabah boasts vast natural conservation areas with incredible biodiversity and the chance to see proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants, amongst plenty of other flora and fauna. Sabah is also home to the mighty Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Malaysia at just over 4000 metres.
Sarawak has plenty of wildlife encounters on offer too, but is also great for beaches. Its capital city Kuching is a bit more modern and developed than the cities in Sabah – ideal if you’re the type of person who enjoys home comforts.
On the Indonesian side of the island, life is centered around the great rivers and deltas. It’s a special place to visit if you’re looking for an authentic cultural experience or you’re keen to do some volunteering.
My choice was Sabah, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on here, but the responsibletravel.com website has some really useful information if you’re looking to find out more about the other parts of Borneo.
Accommodation in Sabah
My big mistake when travelling to Borneo was that I had funded my trip through an award prize that only allowed me to book certain hotels. This meant that we had to base ourselves in the cities and only venture out on day trips – definitely not the best way to experience all Borneo has to offer. If you’re planning a trip to Borneo I would highly recommend that you find somewhere remote to stay, in the heart of the jungle, to maximise your wildlife encounters.
We were also very lucky to stay in the Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort at the end of our trip, which was of course amazing!
Activities in Sabah
Despite the limitations, we still managed to cram in plenty of fun activities. Here are my top three:
- Orangutans – I sadly didn’t venture deep into the jungle but I did visit the Sepilok sanctuary which is a rewilding centre for captured, orphaned or injured orangutans. Although you’re not seeing orangutans in their “true” natural habitat, it’s a great way to support this important conservation work and get a close up encounter without encroaching on the animals. In the same location there was also a sun bear sanctuary which was an unexpected bonus and definitely worth a visit. Annoyingly I forgot to take my good camera with me so I only came home with fuzzy photos of the animals!
- Mount Kinabalu – if you’re really daring you can climb to the peak but this involves a 2-day hike and you have to be accompanied by a guide. Instead, we hiked some of the nature trails around the base of the mountain which was challenging enough, and it still felt remote and wild.
- Tunku Abdul Rhaman National Park – this is a group of 5 islands easily reachable by speedboat from Kota Kinabalu. Think stunning tropical islands – an ideal place to clock up some downtime after all the adventuring.
Transport in Borneo
If you’re not a confident traveller it might be worth planning an organised tour for your trip to Borneo. It’s not the easiest place to get around, and having an expert plan it for you will help you avoid wasting precious time that could be spent on amazing wildlife encounters.
Personally I’m a big fan of taking public transport wherever possible, and we gave it a go whilst we were in Borneo. The first attribute you’ll need in order to survive a self-guided tour of Borneo is patience. There aren’t really bus schedules as such, you just rock up as early as possible and the bus will leave once the driver decides he has enough passengers to make the trip worth his while. This can mean a several hour wait, something we experienced first hand. It’s also not always easy to find bus stops or stations and, even when you’re at the station, identifying the right bus can be difficult.
Before visiting I had read that it was easy to flag buses down, so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting back to our hotel. However we found that buses weren’t that frequent and didn’t always stop as we frantically waved at them. When we did manage to catch a bus they were often completely full and ended up with people sitting on each others’ laps, on the floor etc. An exhilarating experience in my opinion, but not for everyone.
Internal flights are straightforward and easy, but worth noting that the local airports are tiny so don’t get there hours ahead of time. You’ll have nothing to do!
Sustainability in Borneo
Some parts of our trip made us really sad. As we were travelling across Borneo, by road and by air, the destruction from logging was both evident and shocking. Vast areas had been reduced to dust, all the more upsetting when you think that – along with Sumatra – Borneo is the last remaining habitat of our closest relative, the orangutan.
Litter is also a clear problem in Borneo, as it is in many countries across the world. Although the beaches off Kota Kinabalu were stunning, there were areas where the current had gathered big pools of rubbish.
Often as privileged ‘Westerners’ it can be difficult to visualise the impact our lifestyles are having on the planet. But nowhere has this been clearer to me than Borneo.
Favourite memory in Borneo: Visiting the Sun Bear sanctuary – they were super cute!
Best food in Borneo: generally we found it quite difficult to hunt down good food in Borneo. As independent travellers we probably could have benefited from some local knowledge.
Borneo was exciting, educational, tiring but unforgettable. I would genuinely love to visit again one day and do it all properly (maybe see an elephant!) Hopefully by that time we will have seen more progress in the fight to protect its natural treasures.
Hidden Corners 