Borneo Eco Tours — Local services in Borneo

My husband and I have just had a fantastic experience with Borneo Eco Tours. We booked the 4D/3N Sandakan Wildlife Safari, which includes one night on Selingan Island (one of three Turtle Islands) and two at Sukau Rainforest Lodge up the Kinabatangan River. From my first enquiry, communication with Lisa was clear and helpful.

We were collected from our Sandakan hotel (the Elopura) by Shirley, our guide for Selingan Island. Shirley is very knowledgeable and ensured we were looked after at all times. There were 30 guests on the island, travelling with a variety of tour companies. Some were guided, and others not. The Chalet accommodation is basic, but the rooms each have a private bathroom (with cold shower). All meals are buffet - we enjoyed trying local treats, but most things we were familiar with. Everything was delicious and the staff were cheerful. There is a limited amount of beer available at the restaurant, but they ran out the night we stayed. There is no other alcohol available so, if it's important to you, consider BYO. We noticed they do not have a corkscrew.

Your afternoon on the island is free time, and the beach is the perfect place to spend the day. Just be aware, I had read on the Chalet's website that snorkel gear was available to hire, and this was not the case.

The turtle experience begins sometime after dinner, whenever the first turtle is found laying eggs on the beach. The timing is random, and we were lucky our night started early, around 9pm. The second part of the evening is seeing the new eggs transplanted to the hatchery. After that the day's baby turtle 'harvest' is released on the beach, each hoping to be part of the 1% which survive to become adults.

Our second day was long, starting with 7am departure from Selingan Island, with visits to the Sepilok Orang Utan rehabilitation centre, and the Sunbear sanctuary (optional), before transferring to Sukau Rainforest Lodge. The Orang Utan stop was the highlight, particularly as we were unable to find any Orang Utans in the wild later, despite the best efforts of our wonderful Rainforest guide, Yunus. He was amazing, and we could not have asked for a better guide up the Kinabatangan river. Another hint - the trip up the river is done at speed, and the noise from the outboard motors is loud. I suggest earplugs/earbuds.

The Lodge was fantastic - our Villa room was quite luxurious after the simplicity of the previous night's accommodation. Again, staff were helpful and cheerful. The buffet was extensive, particularly given the remote location. A range of drinks was available to purchase at the bar.

We went on three river excursions with Yunus and saw a wide variety of different animals. Our highlights were the large herd of pygmy elephants, and numerous encounters with our favourites - the proboscis monkeys. They are such fun!

Thank you Borneo Eco Tours, we have memories to...

Booked the 5D/4N Borneo Wildlife Safari tour visiting Sukau Rainforest Lodge and Utan Rainforest Lodge. We were expecting a world class wildlife experience but unfortunately our expectations might have been too high. The accommodation quality and transfer logistics were excellent - but the guide quality and wilderness appeal were disappointing.

Our main guides at both Sukau and Utan did not seem to have any particular passion for nature and wildlife, and they weren't able to explain much about the rainforest ecosystem. Our guide in Sukau even asked if any of the guests had knowledge in biology or botany because he tries to learn about the rainforest from his guests. Better training and more engaging guides would elevate the experience.

The stretch of river around Sukau is very busy with boats, and the protected land area is small. The boat was filled with three guests per row which is not ideal for photography and tends to split up couples and groups. There seems to be two main areas where the guides will go - a river channel and the famous oxbow lake. Unfortunately when we visited the oxbow lake was inaccessible, and the alternative was to visit and area along a palm oil plantation. Utan was also located right on the edge of a palm oil plantation, but since Utan was the only lodge nearby we were alone in nature during our activities. Unfortunately, the areas accessible to activities was very limited, so walks, night drives, and transfers to the boat were all on the same 2.5 km road.

Many of the activities felt too short. I wish we a arrived in Sukau earlier because the 1 hour a afternoon cruise and the 2 hour morning cruise were not nearly enough time for wildlife watching. The speedboat transfer was just that - a transfer - and d did not provide any meaningful chances for wildlife viewing. In Utan we often found ourselves waiting around in our room waiting for the next activity to start. I understand some people prefer a slower pace but it was frustrating to come all the way to the rainforest of Borneo to spend so much time in the hotel.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to Gomantong Caves where we saw wild orangutan with a very small baby. We were unfortunately not able to see the elephants, rhinoceros hornbill, or...

We have a 9yr old and 13yr old boy and as a family normally do not book tours when we travel as it tends not to give you an individual or personal experience. Normally we go off road and remote such as New Guinea. We did Book with Borneo Eco Tours as we were limited for time, Mt Kinabalu Climb and Borneo Big Five as they guarantee smaller group bookings which worked out well. Worth paying extra for a small group booking as you see alot more of the wildlife and we were away from the big loud groups . We climbed Mt Kinabalu as a family of 4 with two guides. Particular thanks to Ahani our guide that assisted our 9yr old to the summit. From here we went onto do the Borneo Big 5. Every region in Borneo had completely different animals, landscapes and things to see. Mulu was Very unique and different well worth it. Head Hunters Trail A MUST. Mt Kinabalu a very arduous climb and very big achievement. Borneo Big 5 a great package and a great way to finish off our holiday with amazing animals. Borneo Eco Tours Service- One Child left a Head torch up Mt Kinabalu, Borneo Eco Tours located the torch and had it delivered to our hotel when we got back to Kota. The other child left an Ipod in one of the tour vans, the guide located this and had it transferred over 2 days to meet us at our last location. We Got to Sepilok Orang Utang sanctuary and due to a bear escaping and going for a walk it was closed (seriously). We were devastated. Eco tours organised other activities for us to do. We asked if they could organise for us to go back to the sanctuary if possibly as we did not want to miss it. For a nominal extra fee we skipped a morning river cruise and they organised for us to get picked up in a private van get transported back to Sepilok Sanctuary and then back to resume the rest of our tour. Booking a tour was well worth it and made our trip easy and enjoyable. Very difficult to organise all these activities...