Sukau Evergreen Homestay B&B — Hotel in Borneo

A Truly Unforgettable Kinabatangan Experience with Sukau Evergreen Lodge Visited: July 13–15, 2025

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience on the Kinabatangan River.

Sukau Evergreen stood out immediately—not only because they had space when other lodges were full, but because they far exceeded expectations across the board. The experience felt genuinely local, peaceful, and intimate, without the touristy polish of the bigger names.

Accommodation: Rooms were basic but comfortable, with both air-conditioning and a fan. The ensuite bathroom had a hot shower, and despite being in the middle of the jungle, the room stayed clean and bug-free. It was more than adequate for resting between wildlife excursions.

Food: Meals were good and filling. While the options were a bit basic if you’re vegetarian, each lunch and dinner included rice, a meat dish, and two vegetable dishes. There was free tea, coffee, and drinking water available all day, and a fridge with soft drinks you could purchase.

River Cruises & Wildlife: We did four river cruises and one jungle walk, and what we saw honestly surpassed all expectations. Highlights included: • A herd of 27 pygmy elephants rolling in the mud and crossing the river • Two separate orangutan sightings, including a mother and baby building a nest • Multiple close-up encounters with proboscis monkeys, macaques, and crocodiles • A wide range of birdlife, including rhinoceros hornbills, oriental pied hornbills, kingfishers, owls, storks, and even a white eagle • Civets, bats, and even a snake in the river during our night cruise

We saw wildlife on every single outing. The boats were small, only four guests per cruise at most. This gave us a much quieter, more personal experience than the larger groups we saw from other lodges.

Jungle Walk: Hot and sweaty, but full of interesting finds—mushrooms sprouting from elephant dung, large millipedes and centipedes, bat caves, and all sorts of creepy-crawlies. A great addition to the river-based wildlife viewing.

Guide & Team: Our guide was incredible at spotting animals and gave us time to really observe and enjoy each sighting. He wasn’t very fluent in English, but it didn’t matter. The rest of the staff were also kind and welcoming.

Overall: This was one of the most rewarding and authentic wildlife experiences I’ve ever had. The small group sizes, excellent guiding, and sheer amount of wildlife we saw made it feel incredibly special. Sukau Evergreen offers exceptional value for money and a down-to-earth, meaningful connection with the landscape and animals.

Highly recommended to anyone who prioritises wildlife and authenticity over luxury. If you’re looking for the real Borneo, this is it.

Tips: -bring extra snacks if you’re vegetarian -don’t expect luxury. It’s basic but great for the experience and price -do your own research on the wildlife and facts about them as the guide here does not speak English very well. He will spot them but the knowledge...

Do not come here for D.I.Y cruises choose a tour company. |||PLEASE PLEASE do not come here for D.I.Y SAFARIS AS ITS A CON, don't let it ruin your experience like it did us .... ||I stayed here for two nights the owner is smiley and the accommodation is ok. ||My issue was with their cruises, I saw many reviews some bad on cruises some good (turns out good reviews on cruises are because this individuals have chosen Mr Adji tour and just stayed with evergreen not actually done the cruises with them) ||I asked the lady is it an English speaking guide she replied yes, we went for the night cruise first (most expensive ) when guide turned up , it turned out his English was very poor but he did manage to say "night cruise not very good most activity in morning or afternoon" ... great I just spent on most expensive and already being told it's not best as I get into the boat. ||He was right it was rubbish the had two small torches (we didn't receive a torch ) they went 6mph and flashed their lights around so quick you can't see, then spotted Afew birds , they would now and then stop and do some fake bird call pretending to know what they are doing. When we asked them a question we got no reply or a pit of context "yes" . He just kept saying come in morning or afternoon.||If I'm honest they don't have a clue what to do.||We spoke to the lady voicing our concerns and said we don't want to spend any more money because we don't feel confident , she offered no discount. ||Next day we went to lodges to see if any other tours would take us on in the afternoon , everyone was too "full" ... paranoia maybe but I think they may have received a phone call from our friends in evergreen as she knew we was going to do this.||So we didn't want to miss out so we booked and afternoon with evergreen and was told if it rains it will be cancelled ... low and behold the rain POURS at 16:00 , so we wait to see if it clears, I asked when will we call it cancelled as the as the light will go they stayed 16:30 , at 16:30 it still raining and the guy goes to get our money but returns with life jackets???||We try and say ... there will be no sunlight and no other tours going passed will we see anomalies "yes lots animals" but really they don't understand . Then they get the lady and after chatting she says "yes it's raining there's no animals in the rain" (funny contradicting each other) and we finally got our money back. (I don't think the guy wanted to give it back)||Overall it's easy dosh for them running us up the river and doing some bird calls pretending they know what their doing. ||PLEASE PLEASE do not come here for D.I.Y SAFARIS AS ITS A CON, don't let it ruin your experience like...

nice lodge and rooms are spacies and kept very clean by the owner. very good food, could be maybe a little bit cheaper, but ........... the matraces are the only problem, because they are really bad.||we stayed there twice within a period of 14 days. first just two nights and than we came back for another week. we didn't go there on a package. go there weekdays, because weekends there are more guests and it gets noisy. traveled sabah with a rented car a had perfect moments in the area around sukau. the river cruises are o.k. but one or two are enough. the offered jungle treck you can do by your own, just pass through the last resort ( B&B ) and after the resort on the right side there is a possibility to open the fence. there is not a lot to see, but we met some angry monkeys and have seen some birds there ( whole track take you maybe one hour return ).||we have even seen orang utan in sukau !!! one guy and one mother with baby. we made great pictures, but we have seen them five kilometer away from the lodge up the river ( where the car ferry stops - on the same side of the river where the lodge is situated - there is also a ferry stop on the other side of the river ). i don't know if the live there all the time or we have been just lucky. ||another good spot for getting close to monkeys is the road to the gomantong caves. from the main road to the caves there are around 4 to 5 kilometer jungle. we drove the road up and down maybe five times during the time we stayed in sukau ( even we didn' t visit the cave ) and every time we met monkeys, even mothers with babys and two orang utan in the trees ( buy bananas on the way there - it really helps to get them out of the jungle !! )||evergreen lodge is a good, clean and cheap place to stay in sukau ( 70 RM room, you can ask for a discount ). i wouldn't go there on a package, but with a rented car and explore the area by yourself. in sukau there are no restaurants except expensive one at the resorts, but just a few kilometers outside of sukau you will find restaurants where you can get meals from...