Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) — Attraction in Borneo

We visited RDC three times during our stay in Sepilok. The first time we went on a night walk, which I signed up for via their website. The night walk was exceptional: we say flying squirrels, a western tarsier, 2 slow loris, a couple of snakes, and some interesting insects. The guides on the night walk were fantastic: we really could see that it was important for them that we saw as many animals as possible. The second time we spent the whole day here starting at 8 am and finishing at 5 pm. In the morning, we saw 3 different types of hornbills, including a rhinoceros hornbill. During the day we saw numerous squirrels, macaques, different birds and I was even bitten by a leech most probably while hiking the Kabili trail (I never saw the leech itself, only the results of its feast). The third time I went to the RDC in the morning and saw a couple of gibbons on the tree. Later on we also were very lucky to spot a pigmy squirrel which we initially thought was a lizard (yes, it was so small!). A lot of different colourful birds were seen around Birder's rest area. We also really liked the cafe in the grounds. The food was very good and really inexpensive, so we had a couple of meals there. We bought a couple of souvenirs from RDC's souvenir shop as well, they had quite a nice selection, especially considering that in Sandakan we didn't find any souvenir shops (only saw them inside the airport building eventually). I really recommend visiting RDC, especially in the morning (8 am - 10 am) and in the afternoon (after 3 pm), that's I guess when you have better chances of seeing wildlife. There are a lot of hiking trails, which we really enjoyed as well. The night walk here is a must: you are guaranteed to see flying squirrels and some other wildlife depending on your luck. Also, the entrance fee to RDC is only 20 MYR per person and the ticket is valid...

Review is for both day visit (solo) and night walk (ranger-led group).

This place is great. The suspended walkways are seriously impressive, I’ve never seen any so long, so high or so far reaching. They offer you a view of all the different layers of the rainforest and also include spiral-staired towers which you can climb even further (I think one is as high as 30 meters) or get down to the ground paths at regular intervals. You do need a good head for heights for the elevated walkways though!

Because the place is so sprawling and with so many trails, it’s really easy to feel like you’re there on your own. E.G. the ‘Kingfisher Trail’ I didn’t see a single person! Magical.

I hiked 0800-1100 one morning (you can choose which trail / how long you want to spend there), and the ticket office will give you a really handy map (keep it safe)! There aren’t maps in the jungle but there are trail-name signs which is handy.

I also did the 1800-2000 night-time tour too. This is with sharp-eyed park rangers and around 8-10 persons per group and costs 30 MYR. Not for the faint-hearted as they’ll have you walking through the undergrowth. You can take a torch but you don’t need to, I didn't. On the night-time walk we saw flying squirrels, a scorpion, 2 snakes, a slow loris, frogs, spiders, bats, 2 Western Tasiers. Funnily enough I saw almost nothing by day so really happy I did the creepy night-time hike.

Good footwear, water and insect repellent a must any time of day / night! Some numpy turned up in flip flops for the night time walk! Silly! Not advised in the natural habitat of snakes, scorpions and spiders (obviously)! There's a cafe there near the entrance and it was open (depending on your route you could stop there half-way) but I didn't enter so not sure on...

This review is for the center's night walk. I signed up for one after reading so many positive reviews, but was very disappointed. I hope sharing my experience helps you make an informed decision.

First, the quality of the guides was very low. There was no introduction or explanation about the environment at all. Of course this is nature, and it's best to go in without expectations of seeing anything. But the most exciting thing we saw was a sleeping hornbill right overhead, and that was spotted by a participant - the guide had walked right past it. Second, the walk was two hours long, which was very exhausting given the pacing. Third, when the walk ended, the guides all promptly ignored the participants, turning amongst themselves to count and divide the money from the walk. It was very rude. Fourth, we were taken advantage of at the end of the tour when looking for transportation back into town. We were planning on ordering a ride through Grab, not realizing that the service does not run there after a certain time. The guides knew this, and charged us 4x the price it would have taken on Grab. It is understandable that they would charge more, even double, especially since it is later and there were no other choices. But to charge many times the expected rate is exploitative. It was a very stressful experience, the last thing one wants on holiday. I would save a night walk for one of many other more qualified places in the area.

Walking around the center itself during the day is lovely, and the reason why this is 2 stars instead of 1. If I could, I would have rated the center separately from...