Essence Of Borneo

This city tour will take visitors past the main attractions such as Chinatown amd Cat Monument. Go up City Tower for a bird’s eye view of Kuching city: The Malay Houses on stilts, Old State Mosque, Main Bazaar, India Street, Gambier Road, Wet Market, Colonial Centre, Textile Museum, Chinese Museum, Sarawak Museum. Head to Kuching Waterfront to view the ultramodern State Legislative Assembly building alongside the historical Astana, and Fort Margherita.

We depart from Kuching for a 4 hour drive through the scenic greenery of rain forest, fields of pepper and rubber. Visit the local market at Serian. Drive to the Lemanak River, where a traditional longboat takes you upriver under the rain forest canopy to the longhouse. Pay a courtesy visit to the headman of the longhouse. Explore the surrounding forest and visit pepper garden. In the evening, a traditional style dinner while sitting on a floor mat will be served followed by a night of ceremonial dances and merry making. Overnight in the longhouse.

After breakfast, participate in the blow pipe demonstration, followed by a guided nature walk. Learn about some medicinal plants, edible fruits and leaves, the agricultural activities of the community, and some game traps used in the past for trapping animals. We will stop along the riverbank for a backwoods style picnic lunch with our foods cooked in bamboo. After lunch, depart by longboat down river and continue overland for your return journey to Kuching. Arrive at Kuching in the late afternoon. Overnight at hotel.

Transfer to airport for flight to Mulu with a short transit in Miri. Meet at Mulu Airport and transfer to resort (or Park Chalet) for check-in. After lunch, trek 45 minutes on raised boardwalk through lowland rain forest and peat swamp to Skywalk Canopy and Lang Caves. Walk inside the largest cave passage of Deer Caves. Witness the daily exodus of millions of bats at the Observatory at sunset before we return. Overnight at hotel or chalet.

We take a 45 minute ride by longboat up Melinau River to explore the Wind Caves. Visit Clearwater Caves to see the subterranean river passage, which at 100 km, is the longest cave system in South East Asia. Lunch at nearby Clearwater River and swim in the pristine water before we return.

Fly back to Miri and then transfer overland to Brunei. Overnight at Bandar Seri Begawan.

This 4 hours’ tour of Bandar Seri Begawan. Brunei ‘s Capital unfolds part of Brunei ‘s history, heritage, religion, culture, and daily living of the local people. Tour includes a photo stop outside the Royal Palace, and visit to Istana Nurul Iman “Palace of Light”, which is the largest residential palace in the world. Also, visit the magnificently built, “The Jame ‘Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque,” before we take a boat ride through the famous Water Village with a chance to disembark and walk around. Then, we move on to the Brunei Museum, and learn about the birth of Brunei. Also see the Borneo ethnographic display, natural history collection, and treasures of ceramics, glassware, and carpets, before heading back to your hotel.

Transfer to airport for a morning flight from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu and transfer to hotel. We will pick you up from your hotel in the afternoon for a brief sunset tour covering Signal Hill overlooking the city centre and the offshore islands and Tanjung Aru beach. Visit the night market to bargain for the wide array of local spices, souvenirs, fruits and vegetables. Proceed to a restaurant for dinner before we return to your hotel.

Note: Due to access limitation, the visit to Signal Hill is only accessible by 8 seat vans and is not feasible for a group of 8 persons and above.

Transfer to Kinabalu Park. Visit the Education Centre and Mountain Garden. Then, go to Poring Hot Springs for a treetop canopy walk. Return to Kota Kinabalu. Overnight at hotel.

Board morning flight MH2042 to Sandakan before 0800 hours. On arrival at Sandakan Airport, transfer to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Walk ten minutes through the rain forest on wooden boardwalks to witness the feeding of the orangutans at 1000hrs. Watch a short video show of the rehabilitation process.

After lunch, transfer to Sandakan jetty for a 2.5 hour boat journey to the multi award winning Sukau Rain forest Lodge along Sabah’s longest river, Kinabatangan. An excellent opportunity to view birds and wildlife in virgin mangrove, wetland, and rain forest habitats. After check-in and afternoon refreshment, we take a river cruise using electric motor in search of primates. Sukau is home to Borneo pygmy elephants, orangutans, proboscis monkeys and all eight species of hornbill in Borneo.

Return for solar heated hot shower, candle light dinner overlooking the riverbank followed by slide show and interpretation by a naturalist guide. Overnight at the newly renovated 20 room Sukau Rainforest Lodge, named by National Geographic Adventure magazine in 2009 as one of the top 50 jungle lodges in the world.

Wake up to the calls of gibbons and hornbills, while indulging in hot Sabah tea. A 0600hrs, take a morning river cruise up the Kinabatangan River to Kelenanap Oxbow Lake to view more birds and wildlife. After breakfast, proceed for an educational tour of our own in-house Hornbill Boardwalk located behind the lodge with our in-house naturalist. In the afternoon, we proceed for another river cruise for more wildlife. Overnight at Sukau Rainforest Lodge.

Try the lodge’s rejuvenating Foot Spa Treatment (with a service fee)

After breakfast, return to Sandakan by boat journey. After lunch, transfer to airport. For those on a late evening flight, we have a chance to visit Sandakan War Memorial and proceed to Rain forest Discovery Centre. Take a bird’s eye view of the centre from the canopy walk and hanging bridge before exploring the botanical garden, home to various species of flora. Transfer to Sandakan Airport. Arrive Kota Kinabalu, meet and transfer to hotel.

Pick up from hotel and transfer to Kota Kinabalu International Airport for departure.

Please bring along sun block lotion, personal toiletries, swim wear, torch light, insect repellent, drinking water bottle, walking shoes, sandal, binoculars, camera, hat & raincoat.