Borneo travel advice

[DelinquentSnails]

DS14 is desperate to go to Borneo as he loves wildlife and especially primates. We’ve said maybe Summer 2027, possibly combining with a few days is Kuala Lumpar. We’d do it with a decent budget.

Any travel advice would be amazing as I’m just starting the planning. Specifically:

How easy is Borneo to plan independently? (we’ve never booked a package before, even for safaris- I love planning holidays)
Any ideas for an itinerary and places to stay? It’s really all about the primates, but given there’s going to be at least four of us, other experiences welcome.
Kuala Lumpar ideas and tips.
Anything to be aware if or avoid? Animal welfare is really important to us.

Many thanks 🙂

We booked it all ourselves. Flew from KL to Kota Kinabalu. While there, we did the cultural village experience and a proboscis monkey/firefly river cruise, then caught this shuttle to Sandakan. https://www.river-junkie.com/west-to-east-shuttle.html At Sandakan, we did the orangutan sanctuary, rainforest discovery centre, moon bears and a 2 night trip to Sukau. The accommodation in Sukau took care of everything for us, including transfers to and from Sandakan. We flew back from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu.

@Forgottenmyphone Amazing- that sort of trip is just what we were looking for. I’ll look at those places to build a trip around.

This was the Sukau trip https://www.sukau.com/all-tours/kinabatangan-wildlife-safari-overland/?_gl=1qrgxci_upMQ.._gaMTMzMzQ5NDI4Ny4xNzY4MjA5NjMz_ga_VP6YDX6GDF*czE3NjgyMDk2MzIkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjgyMDk2MzIkajYwJGwwJGgw

I'll check my past itinerary and come back to you (my memory is shocking). But yes, it was easy to do this independently.

I am the same as you @DelinquentSnails - never used a travel agent. We are going to Borneo this Summer and I initially contacted an agent before deciding I could book it all myself! We booked flights via BA direct to KL (around £1000 pp return), and then internal flights with Air Asia.
I did book us a tour with a company called SI Tours in Borneo for 4 days for the wildlife bits. Happy to feedback after our trip!

Just to add - my DS is also 14 and loves wildlife! Hoping for a nice mix of jungle lodges and beach plus city.

Very easy to do independently. I’d highly recommend climbing Mount Kinabalu. Amazing experience and takes only two days.

Kuala Lumpur is amazing.

There's an indoor market with restaurants, you can go up the twin towers and there's a hotel opposite them where you can go to see them lit up at night. I forget the name but your hotel reception can help.

I also did the Hop on hop off bus. Ticket is valid for 24 hours so did one in the afternoon and one the next morning.

The people are lovely. Malaysians, Indians and Chinese. The Chinese have been there since 16th Century or so and some beautiful Buddhist temples around.

Some advantages of smoking..... I was outside smoking one and got chatting to these lovely Chinese girls - mini skirts and make-up - who invited me to their mother's birthday party next door. That was great!

Enjoy OP, I had a lovely time (was travelling solo), never went to Borneo but met up with a friend who used to go there every year.

DD spent a year there in a wildlife centre as part of her degree. Loved it! We’ve just booked to go this summer but have done it through Trailfinders, don’t have the bandwidth to DIY any more. But maybe have a look at their tours + kuoni, intrepid et al for inspiration? @suburberphobe v helpful for our stopover, thank you