Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary — Attraction in Borneo

Stayed here in march 2020:

positive

+very nice homestays that are all offering great packages that include safaris,meals and accomidation(i recommend Sukau Backpackers B&B)

+very friendly local people

+you will see a lot of wildlife (monkeys, hornbils, crocodiles and if you are lucky orang-utans, wild elefants and leopards. But it is not sure that you will see them so do not come here only to see orang utans. The best place to see them is the forest around the gomantong caves near the sanctuary!)

+because of the tourism in this area they will not cut down these last parts of the rainforest

negative

-there are many safari boats on the river. They are all very loud and air polluting what is not nice for you and especially for the animals. (sometimes 30 people on 4 diffrent boats watching one monkey)

-the river is polluted by plastic and oil (probably from the motor boats) it was not nice to see the crocs swimming in the oil and plastic.

-the night safaris do not show any respect to the animals. Guides and guests wake up sleeping birds with giant torch lights and phone flashes directly shining into their eyes

-you can only see the animals because there is only a small part of rainforest left between palm oil platations and the river. The animals can just not hide from you

-no atm or big shop around so...

The sanctuary is one of only two areas in the world inhabited by ten species of primate, four of which are endemic to Borneo. It is also one of two places in the world where four medium-sized colobines inhabit the same place: namely proboscis monkey, silvered langur, maroon langur, and Hose’s or grey langur. Other fauna found here include: orangutan, long-tailed macaque, pig-tailed macaque, Bornean gibbon, two nocturnal primates – western tarsier and slow loris, Asian elephant, Sumatran rhinoceros, wild cattle and pigs, and deer. Carnivores include the world’s smallest bear, the Malay sun bear, and four feline species: clouded leopard, leopard cat, marbled cat and flat-headed cat. Among the numerous other small mammals are otters, rats and civets, whilst reptiles include reticulated python, tortoise, freshwater terrapin, monitor lizard and crocodile. Over 200 species of birds are found here. These include eight species of hornbill, oriental darter, several species of egret, Storm’s stork, Sunda ground cuckoo, stork-billed kingfisher, Brahminy kite, crested serpent eagle, greater coucal; plus herons, hawks, ospreys, buffy fish owl, frogmouths, bulbuls, flowerpeckers, spiderhunters,...

Kinabatangan River was an amazing experience that provided so much diverse wildlife.

With palm plantations encroaching towards the river, the wildlife is essentially funneled into the forest that aligns with the river. The result is you see a lot more wildlife than you would see in the primary rainforest was my experience.

That being said we saw Orangutans, all types of monkeys including proboscis, salt water crocodiles, otters and so many birds. This included hornbills, kingfishers, storks, egret. Unfortunately we did not see pygmy elephant.

If you have limited time in Borneo, this is the easiest way of viewing wildlife in their natural habitat. In terms of accommodation I recomend the Last Frontier Resort.

The best way to see this wildlife is via boat and most accommodation on the river provide guides and boat tours in both the morning...