Day-by-day programme of this 11-day itinerary across Malaysian Borneo: Sabah, from the orangutans of Sepilok to the reefs of Sipadan.
Day 1 â Arrival in Kota Kinabalu
You land in Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah, after the connecting flight from Italy. An afternoon to settle in, sunset over the sea at Tanjung Aru and a seafood dinner at the night market. Tomorrow you head for coral islands.
- âïļ Kota Kinabalu â Aeroporto Internazionale di Kota Kinabalu (BKI)
- ð Tanjung Aru Beach â Kota Kinabalu is not a city of monuments but of sunsets: and Tanjung Aru, the long brown-sand beach south of the centre, offers one of the most famous in Southeast Asia. You sit on a low wall or at a kiosk with a cold beer or a sugarcane juice, and watch the sun drop behind the marine-park islands as the sky blazes orange and violet. It's the right way to shake off the jet lag and grasp where you've arrived: on the edge of Borneo, facing the Sulu Sea. Then a Grab takes you back to the centre for the seafood dinner at the market.
- ð―ïļ Kota Kinabalu Night Market â On the waterfront, KK's night market is the realm of seafood: you pick from the ice â prawns, squid, parrotfish, crabs, scallops â and they grill it on the spot with sambal and lime, to eat at communal tables for a few ringgit. Next door, the Filipino Market sells pearls and crafts, and the fruit stalls display rambutan, mangosteen and the inevitable durian. It's hearty, loud, delicious seafood street food. Full and happy you head back to the hotel: tomorrow an early start, you set off by boat for the marine-park islands.
- ðĻ The Klagan Hotel â Centro, Kota Kinabalu
Day 2 â The marine park islands
A sea day twenty minutes from the city: the coral islands of the Tunku Abdul Rahman park, white sand and snorkelling, and on the way back KK's spectacular floating mosque. A relaxing break before the jungle adventure.
- ðŊ Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park â A few minutes by boat from the city jetty, five forested islets float in a turquoise sea: the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park. Manukan and Sapi are the most equipped, with white beaches, corals near the shore and tropical fish that swarm close; Mamutik is quieter. You island-hop with mask and fins, between dips, perhaps a zip-line between two islands for the bold. Half a day of pure sea relaxation. In the afternoon you head back to the city, stopping on the way at the mosque that seems to float.
- ð Kota Kinabalu City Mosque â Called 'the floating mosque', the Masjid Bandaraya stands on an artificial lagoon that reflects it entirely: blue and gold domes, slender minarets and the surrounding water create a postcard effect, especially at sunset when the golden light sets it aglow. Non-Muslim visitors can enter outside prayer times, suitably covered (robes lent at the entrance). It's the most iconic image of Kota Kinabalu. Back in the centre, a last city dinner: tomorrow you leave the sea and climb towards Borneo's giant, Mount Kinabalu.
Day 3 â Mount Kinabalu
You leave the coast and climb into the mountains to Kinabalu Park, a UNESCO site, dominated by Malaysia's highest peak (4,095 m). A walk in the park, the cool of the Kundasang plateau and the Poring hot springs with the canopy walk. Tomorrow you descend towards the land of orangutans.
- âïļ Kota Kinabalu â Kinabalu Park â Kinabalu Park HQ, Ranau
- ð Kinabalu Park â Kinabalu Park, Malaysia's first UNESCO site, holds one of the planet's richest biodiversities: orchids, carnivorous Nepenthes (the giant 'pitcher plants'), ferns and cloud forests, all beneath the granite bulk of Mount Kinabalu, which at 4,095 metres is the highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Even without climbing it, the trails around the park headquarters offer glimpses of the jagged summit and cool forest walks. The botanical garden shows the endemic species. Then you drop down to Poring for a thermal soak and a treetop walk.
- ðŊ Poring Hot Springs â Half an hour from the park, the Poring hot springs gush warm sulphurous water that the Japanese, during the occupation, channelled into open-air pools set in the forest: you soak tired feet with the jungle around you. Right there, a canopy walk suspended up to 40 metres among the giant trees gives a bird's-eye view, and with luck you'll see the Rafflesia bloom, the world's largest flower (up to a metre, smelling of rotten meat). A mix of relaxation and adventure. In the evening you sleep in the cool of Kundasang, at the mountain's foot. Tomorrow a long descent towards Sandakan and Sepilok.
- ðĻ Kinabalu Pine Resort â Kundasang, Ranau
Day 4 â On to Sepilok
A long descent across eastern Sabah to Sepilok, near Sandakan. In the afternoon the Rainforest Discovery Centre for a first taste of the lowland rainforest, with its treetop walkway and hornbills. Tomorrow the most awaited day: the orangutans.
- âïļ Kundasang â Sepilok â Sepilok, Sandakan
- ð Rainforest Discovery Centre â A few minutes from the animal centres, the Rainforest Discovery Centre is the best way to enter the lowland rainforest without a guide: a network of suspended walkways and observation towers threads among the canopy at 25 metres, where at dusk you spot hornbills (with their huge bills), flying squirrels and a myriad of birds. A lake, botanical trails and panels explain the ecosystem. It's the perfect appetiser: tomorrow, just nearby, you meet Borneo's stars, the orphaned orangutans of Sepilok.
- ðĻ Sepilok Nature Resort â Sepilok, Sandakan
Day 5 â Orangutans and the Kinabatangan River
The morning at the orangutan rehabilitation centre and the nearby sun bear centre, Borneo's signature experience. In the afternoon a transfer to the Kinabatangan River and a first river safari at sunset, when the wildlife comes down to the water.
- ðŊ Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre â Founded in 1964, the Sepilok centre was the first in the world to rehabilitate orphaned orangutans â victims of deforestation and illegal trade â and teach them to live free in the forest again. At 10 and 15 the rangers bring fruit to the feeding platforms and the great red apes come swinging down from the trees, mothers with clinging babies, mischievous youngsters: you watch from a balcony, metres away, as they climb the ropes. They are semi-wild, so each encounter is a gift, never guaranteed. It's Borneo's strongest emotion. Next door, the sun bears await.
- ð Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre â Beside the orangutan centre, this sanctuary protects the sun bear, the world's smallest bear: a honey-coloured muzzle, a very long tongue for termites and a pale crescent on its chest. They too are rescued from captivity and re-accustomed to the forest. From an elevated walkway you watch them dig, climb and forage in the undergrowth. They are shy, little-known animals: seeing them up close is a privilege. Having spent the morning with Sepilok's two symbols, you set off towards one of the planet's most wildlife-rich rivers, the Kinabatangan.
- âïļ Sepilok â Sukau â Sukau, Kinabatangan
- ðŊ Kinabatangan River â The Kinabatangan is Malaysia's second river and Borneo's greatest wildlife refuge: the forest along its banks, squeezed by plantations, has become a corridor where animals concentrate â so spotting them is almost a certainty. On the late-afternoon boat, as the sun sets, you glide along the banks looking for proboscis monkeys (the males with their pear-shaped noses, endemic to Borneo), macaques, crocodiles, hornbills returning to roost and â with great luck â pygmy elephants and wild orangutans. You return to the lodge in the dark, the river turning into a chorus of frogs. Tomorrow two more cruises.
- ðĻ Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge â Sukau, Kinabatangan
Day 6 â Kinabatangan safari
A full day devoted to wildlife: the dawn cruise as the forest wakes, a guided jungle walk and the evening safari. The Kinabatangan is the most reliable place in Borneo to see wild animals up close.
- ðŊ Kinabatangan River â Dawn is the river's magic hour: you board the boat as the mist still rises from the water and the forest wakes in a crescendo of calls. It's the best time for sightings â proboscis monkeys leaping among the branches, gibbons singing in the distance, hornbills crossing the sky, brilliantly coloured kingfishers and, if luck helps, a herd of pygmy elephants drinking on the bank. Breakfast at the lodge on return, then a guided forest walk to find the smaller inhabitants: stick insects, spiders, snakes, perhaps a wild orangutan in its nest.
- ðŊ Oxbow Lake Kinabatangan â The afternoon safari heads up the narrower tributaries and the oxbow lakes, where still water reflects the forest and animals gather for the evening: more proboscis monkeys settling to sleep in the riverside trees (to escape predators), fish eagles, monitor lizards and motionless crocodiles. After dinner, for the curious, there's the night walk or the dark cruise with torches, hunting for the glint of eyes: owls, slow lorises, flying frogs and insects the size of a hand. Two days on the Kinabatangan leave their mark. Tomorrow you head south, towards the sea at Semporna.
Day 7 â On to Semporna
A transfer south to Semporna, the port town from which boats leave for Borneo's most beautiful islands. An afternoon on the lively waterfront, among the markets and the stilt villages of the Bajau Laut, the last sea nomads.
- âïļ Sukau â Semporna â Semporna, Sabah
- ð Semporna Waterfront â Semporna isn't beautiful in the classic sense, but it's authentic and alive: the waterfront is a bustle of colourful boats, fishermen unloading the catch, children diving off the jetties and the stilt villages of the Bajau Laut, the 'sea gypsies', a people who have always lived on the water, partly without nationality. At the market you buy pearls and eat the freshest fish there is, grilled on the spot. It's a world of its own, suspended between land and ocean. A stroll and a seafood dinner are enough to taste it. Tomorrow you sail for the islands of the Tun Sakaran park.
- ðĻ Sipadan Inn â Semporna, Sabah
Day 8 â The Semporna islands
A day by boat among the islands of the Tun Sakaran marine park: the scenic climb of Bohey Dulang above a heart-shaped lagoon and snorkelling among the corals of Mantabuan and Sibuan, some of the clearest waters in Southeast Asia.
- ðŊ Bohey Dulang â Bohey Dulang is the crater of an ancient volcano risen from the sea: you land and climb a steep path (about 30-40 minutes, closed shoes) to a breathtaking viewpoint over the lagoon below, a ring of emerald and turquoise water dotted with islets, one of Borneo's most famous views. It's hard and sweaty, but the reward at the top is postcard-perfect. Below, the pearl farmers' platforms and the floating villages. Back down, the boat sets off for the snorkelling islands: the water here is unreally clear.
- ð Sibuan Island â Sibuan is the island of dreams: a handkerchief of white sand with a few palms, a strip of beach reaching into the water and a reef that starts a metre from shore. You float among parrotfish, clownfish, giant starfish and sometimes a turtle, in a natural aquarium of incredible colours. Around it, the Bajau boats selling fruit and fish. Half a day of snorkelling and relaxing in the sun, before returning to Semporna at sunset. Tomorrow the grand finale underwater: Sipadan and Mabul, divers' paradise.
Day 9 â Sipadan and Mabul
The highlight day for sea lovers: diving (or snorkelling) at Sipadan, Malaysia's only oceanic island, and Mabul, kingdom of macro photography. Turtles at every metre, spiralling schools of barracuda and walls that plunge into the blue.
- ðŊ Sipadan Island â Sipadan is legend among divers: Malaysia's only oceanic island, the tip of a coral pinnacle that drops 600 metres into the blue. The walls are carpeted with life: green and hawksbill turtles everywhere, the famous barracuda 'tornado' spiralling, schools of jacks, grey and whitetip reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse. Access is capped (limited daily permits, to book well ahead through the dive centre): that's why the reef has stayed pristine. Non-divers can do spectacular snorkelling at the surface. It's one of the planet's finest dives.
- ð Mabul Island â Unlike Sipadan, where you can't stay overnight, Mabul is inhabited: Bajau stilt houses, water resorts and shallow seabeds that have made it the world capital of 'muck diving', the hunt for tiny, bizarre creatures â pygmy seahorses, mimic octopuses, vividly coloured nudibranchs, frogfish, flamboyant cuttlefish. For photographers it's a dream. Even just walking through the stilt village and watching the Bajau children dive reveals a whole world. At sunset you head back to Semporna. Tomorrow the journey nears its end: route to Tawau and the flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Day 10 â From Tawau to Kuala Lumpur
A transfer to Tawau airport and a domestic flight to Kuala Lumpur, where you overnight ahead of the international connection. A last evening in the capital, perhaps beneath the Petronas, to close the journey's circle.
- âïļ Tawau â Kuala Lumpur â Aeroporto Internazionale di Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
- ðĻ Sunway Velocity Hotel â Kuala Lumpur
Day 11 â Heading home
The intercontinental flight home from Kuala Lumpur, your head full of orangutans, proboscis monkeys, rainforests and teeming reefs. Borneo is unforgettable.
- âïļ Kuala Lumpur â Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa (MXP)
