Borneo for wildlife - Sabah, Sarawak or Indonesia?

[notallthosewhotravelarelost]

We're keen to book a trip to Borneo to take DD17 on some wildlife trips. She is very keen to see orangutans and bornean forest elephants. DH and I visited Sandakan and the Kinabatangan about 20 years ago when I remember it being quite undeveloped.

We were thinking of seeing Kuching/Sarawak instead of KK this time but there doesn't seem to be as much tourist infrastructure there. I've looked at a few of the lodges recommended on other threads here and am quite shocked at the prices. No 20 quid 4 star hotels anymore eh! We'd be willing to give Indonesia a go too as DH speaks Bahasa.

Can anyone recommend any lodges or experiences? TIA.

We flew into kota kinabalu a few years ago but I'm afraid I can't recall the names of all their local places. I think you're right that if you fly into the KK side you can go to sandakan to see orang utans, but they are not in the wild.

If I remember correctly, to see them in the wild, they are closer to the kuching side. There are tour companies who bring you into the forests with a ranger over 2 or 3 days, to look at their wildlife. We didn't look into this too deeply at that time as our children were too young, but I think it's probably the direction you want to be looking into.

I looked at going to Sumatra last year and decided against it due to the cultural norms around women. I didn't fancy swimming in leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt TBH.

@NotDarkGothicMamaI've travelled to many parts of Malaysia and a couple of bits of Indonesia. Although it is sensible to be respectful, I've not been anywhere that tourists are expected to do that. Last time I was in KL was about two years ago and it was so chill compared to the 90's.

I did KK for a couple of nights then went into the Kinabatangan area with a guide for another 4 days. We stayed at 3 different resorts and managed to spot all Big 5 in the wild (but barely caught the elephants on our last evening boat ride - they hadn’t been spotted for 2 weeks prior to that… we were very lucky, it’s not a guarantee). Villages still quite underdeveloped but lodges were very comfortable, and full of tourists! I booked pretty late and it ended up being ca. 700pp all included, for the river safari bit.

We go next month. We are spending a week in Sarawak, based in/around Kuching and planning a mix of Bako (particularly good for proboscis monkeys), Semengoh (orangutan sanctuary), a day on bikes and a Borneo adventure 3 day trip to Tanjung Datu which looks fab. We then go to Mulu for 3 days and then to Gaya Island.
So, our itinerary is probably less wildlife heavy than you would want. I suspect Sabah is a bit better for that.

I think there is great tourist infrastructure in Sarawak but less fancy lodge vibe!

Kuching is a lovely place!

Not sure what you you mean by "tourist infrastructure", we turned up without much of a plan (beyond visiting Kuching as my then partner's dad was born there), but we did orangutan trips, river cruises, mangrove tours etc from there last minute. There are some big hotels too

We saw pygmy elephants and wild orangutan etc, flew into Sandakan and stayed at Last Frontier Boutique Resort. We saw elephants every boat trip but it depends if they are around at the time. It's kinabatagan river. It was good value as superb food and boat trips included. Sepilok has the reserves for sun bears, orangutans. There are £30 a night places to stay around there but it was no air conditioning/fan and bucket for a shower and I would not survive the heat. There seemed to be huge variation in prices from £30 to £500 a night.

Where we went you should be respectful but wasn't segregated swimming but some hotels said that in KL. In house in Sandakan (Agnes Newton Keith) you took shoes off on entry but was absolutely spotless and the most beautiful wood.

I think I want fancy lodge without the fancy lodge price tag..... I was looking at one place that cost almost as much as a week safari in Africa but for 2 nights!

I'm tempted by the Last Frontier lodge.