Wild Borneo tour

Today is at leisure to settle into your surroundings or perhaps head out and explore the local area. The hotel can help arrange boat trips to nearby Satang Island, hikes to Mount Santubong or tee off at their nearby golf course. For some cultural immersion, the Sarawak Cultural Village offers an insight into various ethnic groups and the heritage of the state.

Today, you will visit Bako National Park with your guide. Explore the wild flora and fauna of the park, with its rugged nature trails that can be explored by foot or boat, with its jungle streams that lead to waterfalls and secluded beaches dotting its coastline. Keep a lookout for the abundant wildlife that call this park its home.

After breakfast, your driver will collect you and transfer you back to the airport in time for your flight to Mulu National Park. On arrival, take a short five-minute shared transfer to your hotel on the fringes of the national park, where you have a chance to freshen up. This afternoon, explore the boardwalks around the park headquarters. At around 4pm, walk for around 45 minutes along the boardwalks to the entrance of Deer Cave for your first chance to see the bat exodus.

Explore the incredible Wind and Clearwater Caves this morning with your private guide. These cave systems are best seen in the morning light, and you can swim in the Melinau River outside the cave if you like. Return to the park café for lunch before braving the heights of the canopy walkway with your guide this afternoon. You have the rest of the evening at leisure to relax at your hotel.

After a last morning to explore Mulu National Park, you will take the short shared transfer back to the airport in time for your flight back to Kota Kinabalu. Due to the remote nature of the Mulu National Park, flights to and from here are often subject to delays and cancellations, so you have a night in Kota Kinabalu before moving onto the rainforest. On arrival at your hotel, you will spend the evening at leisure. If in the city on a weekend, the markets on Gaya Street are worth a visit.

After breakfast, you will be transferred back to the airport in time for your short 45-minute flight over to Sandakan. Here you will be met by your guide and transferred around 40 minutes inland to Sepilok, to your lodge in the middle of the rainforest. Here you have the afternoon at leisure.

Today is your first day to spot orangutans! You will meet your guide and travel a short distance to the nearby orangutan and sun bear sanctuaries in time for the morning feeding, where you'll spend a couple of hours. After lunch, the day trippers will leave the sanctuaries, and you will have a much quieter and nicer experience as a result. Your ticket is valid all day, so return for the 3pm feeding for another chance to see Borneo's endemic species. Later in the afternoon, you could explore the nearby Rainforest Discovery Centre, with its canopy walkways and extensive jungle trails.

After breakfast, you will be met by your private guide and transferred from Sepilok to the Deramakot Forest Reserve. This journey is around four to five hours along bumpy roads; Deramakot is a truly off-the-beaten-track destination. On arrival at Deramakot, you will have lunch and can relax briefly before reconvening with your guide and driver. Spend the evening driving the trails through Deramakot in search of the plentiful wildlife in the area. The accommodation in Deramakot is basic, just one step up from camping, but the rangers' wives who manage the rooms are warm and welcoming, and the experience is worth it getting off the beaten track and exploring one of Borneo's hidden gems.

Deramakot is a sustainable logging reserve certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and, as such, there are many trails to explore. On the Domingos Trail, you can read about the reserve's history and how they have learnt from their previous mistakes. Today, you will spend the full day driving the many trails through the reserve with your private guide. There are a few chances to explore on foot, but as Deramakot is a huge expanse of forest and a fantastic way to escape the crowds in Sabah, there is much to see, so driving is the best way to do so. There is a multitude of wildlife in the forest, and your guide and driver will take you around the reserve so you can spot the flora and fauna. Previously, this has included hornbills, orangutans, pygmy elephants and even the incredibly rare clouded leopard. More common are the smaller creatures that need an expert eye to spot, such as the tiny slow loris and the snuffling bearded pig.

After a last morning exploring the trails of Deramakot, you will be transferred for around four hours back along the bumpy roads to the Kinabatangan River for a different kind of wildlife experience. Although this is more on the beaten track, the Kinabatangan River is also one of Borneo's best places for wildlife. It is great to combine with Deramakot for real wildlife lovers whose main purpose of visiting this tropical island is to explore as many endemic species as possible. The accommodation is more comfortable here, and you can relax and freshen up before heading out on a cruise on the river this afternoon.

Today, you have the full day at Sukau Rainforest Lodge, your last chance to see as much of Borneo's wildlife as possible. You will have two river cruises, at dawn and dusk. During the day, you could explore the boardwalks behind the lodge or simply relax by the lodge's refreshing plunge pool.

After breakfast, you will be transferred around two hours downriver back to Sandakan Airport, where you will continue your onward journey.