Borneo Family Holiday
Borneo Family Holiday
Borneo Family Holiday
9 Days Starting and ending in Kota Kinabalu
Visiting: Kota Kinabalu, Poring Hot Springs, Kinabatangan River, Sandakan, Sandakan/Sepilok, Turtle Island
Tour operator:
Tour code:
TMFG
Guide Type:
Fully Guided
Group size:
2 - 16
Age range:
5-99 years
Tour operated in:
EnglishInterests:
Tour Overview
Travel to Borneo on an 9-day family adventure and discover the curious wildlife and spectacular landscapes of the region. Learn how orphaned orangutans are rehabilitated back into the wild, swim among colourful fish, watch baby green turtles take wobbly steps towards the waterfront and relax on sandy beaches. Along the way you'll make friends, try some delicious cuisine and forge some incredible memories. With all of the essentials included, and plenty of free time to explore at your own pace, you and your family will fall in love with the unique animals, lush ecosystem and sandy islands of Borneo.
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1: Kota Kinabalu
Location: Kota Kinabalu
Accommodation: Dreamtel Hotel or similar
Selamat datang! Welcome to Malaysia. Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, is an intriguing city located between the Borneo jungle and the South China Sea. Having survived WWII bombings, KK (as it's commonly known) has a charm unique to the frontier town. Your adventure begins with a welcome meeting at 5 pm at your hotel. Here you will meet your leader and fellow family travellers. Following the meeting, perhaps head out with your fellow families to the waterfront market. Here you’ll find smoky stalls serving up grilled meat and fish and heaps of local delicacies. If you arrive with significant time before the welcome meeting, you can immerse yourself in history at the Sabah State Museum or explore the islands off Kota Kinabalu which are excellent for swimming or snorkelling.
Optional Activities:
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Day 2: Poring Hot Springs
Location: Poring Hot Springs
Accommodation: Sabah Tea Garden or similar
Meals Included: breaksfast
Head to the Poring Hot Springs to enjoy a scenic canopy walk and relaxing swim in the springs themselves, which the kids will love. The entrance to the hot pools themselves is optional as there are a few pools to choose from. Parents and older children may enjoy the hot pools while younger children will prefer the slide pool. You get to choose on the day.
Tonight you will spend the night in a reconstructed longhouse on the tea plantation. Rooms are twin/triple-share and have fans and shared bathrooms.
Included Activities:
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Day 3: Kinabatangan River
Location: Kinabatangan River
Accommodation: Kinabatangan Eco Camp or similar
Meals Included: breaksfast, dinner
This morning we visit a Sabah Tea Factory and learn the process of tea leaves before saying goodbye to the mountain and heading into the jungle. Travel by private bus to Batu Puteh, a small village on the banks of the Kinabatangan River (approximately 5 hours). Your hosts for the night are the local community-run conservation organization KOPEL whose aim is to provide villagers with the means of making a sustainable living from the forest. KOPEL are responsible for a reforestation project in which the community are actively involved in growing seedlings and replanting back degraded forested areas. Arrive in the afternoon meet your hosts and learn a little more about KOPELs work, before jumping in a boat and heading upriver to your accommodation in the jungle (approximately 30 minutes). This afternoon, you’ll head out on a sunset cruise up the river in search of wildlife, including macaques, wild orangutan and proboscis monkeys. Be prepared for an adventure! Return to your jungle camp by an oxbow lake, freshen up for dinner and afterwards, let the cicadas sing you to sleep.
Included Activities:
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Day 4: Kinabatangan River
Location: Kinabatangan River
Accommodation: Kinabatangan Eco Camp or similar
Meals Included: breaksfast, lunch, dinner
Wake up to the sounds of the jungle ready for a busy day. After breakfast you’ll head upriver to the village where you take a walk around the village to learn more about the life of the local people. For lunch, it’s all hands-on deck as you partake in a fun traditional cooking class, eating the fruits of your labour for lunch! The afternoon is free to relax, enjoy some boardgames or keep spotting wildlife, before heading back on the boat for another trip on the river. After dinner tonight, you’ll don headtorches and head out into the jungle for a night walk in search of insects and nocturnal animals. See what happens to the jungle at night, and what creatures come out to play!
Included Activities:
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Optional Activities:
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Day 5: Sandakan
Location: Sandakan
Accommodation: Sabah Hotel or similar
Meals Included: breaksfast
Say goodbye to your Eco Camp and take a drive to Sandakan. On arrival, you will notice the strong Cantonese influence, seen in the lively harborside market, the many Chinese temples and the local cuisine. Here there is free time to catch up on your essentials, like laundry and banking, as well as to explore the city. Otherwise, just spend some time relaxing by the pool!
Day 6: Sandakan/Sepilok
Location: Sandakan/Sepilok
Accommodation: Sabah Hotel or similiar
Meals Included: breaksfast
Today is an exciting day and a favourite with the kids – here come the orangutans! It’s a 45-minute drive by minibus to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. The centre was set up to help re-introduce these wonderful creatures back into the wild after a life of domestication or having been orphaned. From the viewing platform, you can see these charming creatures as they swing into view and eat a supplementary balanced diet of fruit, vegetables or milk, laid out for them twice a day. Human contact must be kept to a minimum and it's essential that you follow the instructions of the park, as directed by your leader, but you are free to snap plenty of photographs. You will also have the privilege of viewing a nursery where you can view young orangutans as they learn how to climb on a specially constructed jungle gym. The viewing area is behind one-way glass so as not to disturb the animals.
Heading back to Sandakan you will have the afternoon free.
Included Activities:
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Optional Activities:
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Day 7: Turtle Island
Location: Turtle Island
Accommodation: Chalet
Meals Included: breaksfast, lunch, dinner
Leave your large bags at the hotel and transfer to a nearby jetty, then board a speedboat bound for Turtle Island. Travel past small fishing villages and bamboo fish traps, arriving at Turtle Island Marine Park after about an hour. The rest of the day is free for you to soak up the island life. Relax on the beach and take a swim or perhaps hire some snorkelling gear and investigate the underwater world. Under the cover of darkness, watch as giant green turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs under the moonlight. Witness the island researchers release protected hatchlings and guide them in their frantic dash to the ocean. It's a moving experience that is bound to be rewarding for you and your family, but please be aware that this is a very delicate environment and you must follow instructions from your leader and the local rangers to ensure minimal impact on the turtles. Spend the night on this beautiful island – even though the accommodation is quite basic, this will be a memorable experience.
Included Activities:
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Optional Activities:
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Day 8: Kota Kinabalu
Location: Kota Kinabalu
Accommodation: Dreamtel Hotel or similar
Meals Included: breaksfast
Today you will transfer back to the mainland. Once back in Sandakan the group will have the opportunity to visit the War Memorial before heading to the airport and for your flight back to Kota Kinabalu (approximately 1 hour). Keep in mind that the luggage allowance for this flight is only 15 kg, and any excess baggage may incur a further charge. Back at your hotel in Kota Kinabalu you will have time to relax before heading out for a last night optional dinner.
Included Activities:
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Day 9: Kota Kinabalu
Location: Kota Kinabalu
Meals Included: breaksfast
With no activities planned for today, you and your family are free to depart the accommodation at any time following check-out.
What's Included
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Accommodation
Hotel (4 nights), Longhouse (1 night), Jungle Camp (2 nights) Chalet (1 night) -
Mt Kinabalu National Park - Entrance Fee
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Poring Hot Springs - Canopy Walk
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Kinabatangan River - Afternoon Wildlife Cruise
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Sabah Tea Plantation - Tea factory tour
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Kinabatangan - Night jungle walk
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Kinabatangan - Cooking class
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Kinabatangan – Cultural Performance
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Sepilok - Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary
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Sepilok - Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
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Turtle Island - Turtle Night Nesting viewing
What's Not Included
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International Travel
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Tipping and Gratuities
Included Activities
- Mt Kinabalu National Park - Entrance Fee
- Mt Kinabalu National Park - Botanical Gardens
- Poring Hot Springs - Canopy Walk
- Kinabatangan River - Afternoon wildlife cruise
- Sabah Tea Plantation - Tea factory tour
- Kinabatangan - Night jungle walk
- Kinabatangan - Cooking class
- Kinabatangan River - Afternoon wildlife cruise
- Kinabatangan – Cultural Performance
- Sepilok - Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary
- Sepilok - Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
- Sandakan - War Memorial
- Dinawan Island - Day trip
- Kota Kinabalu - Mari Mari Cultural Village
Transport
- Bus , Minibus , Plane
Accommodation
- GENERAL ROOMING CONFIGURATIONS:
- Family of two: All family groupings of two will be accommodated in a twin room.
- Family of three: Wherever possible we will put you in a triple room. Please be aware that in some places triple rooms are in short supply. This means that a triple room will often be a twin room with a rollaway bed or mattress on the floor. Where triple rooms aren’t available it will be at your discretion which of your family takes the single room.
- Family of four or more: You will most likely be accommodated in two twin rooms. Where possible, we will accommodate your family in a quadruple room.
- While we do our very best to ensure that family groups are roomed close together (in some cases, we can arrange adjoining rooms), we can’t guarantee this. Most family holidays occur during peak season and we sometimes have little to no control over the exact placement of rooms within a hotel. Please be understanding if we are unable to room your family in immediate proximity of one another.
Important Information
- 01. Please note that these trips are for adults and children travelling together and there must be at least one child under 18 with you.
- 02. Minimum age for children on this trip is 5 years old.
- 03. A discount of 10% applies on this trip to children 17 years and under at time of travel.
- 04. A single supplement is available if you’d prefer not to share a room on this trip. The single supplement excludes Days 02 (Sabah Tea Garden) , Days 3 & 4 (Jungle Camp) and Day 7 (Turtle Island) where you will be in shared accommodation and is subject to availability. Please speak to your booking agent for further information.
- 05. For some departures throughout the year we will only spend 1 night in the Eco Camp and 1 night in the Village in accommodation with attached bathrooms due to availability.
- 06. Borneo is a tropical country so rain can be expected at any time. The wet period in Borneo runs from November to February. Temperatures remain fairly constant year round with averages of 27-32°C/80-89°F and relative humidity of around 80%. Consider bringing a portable small neck fan with you to keep you and your family cool.
- November to February is monsoon season for Selingan (Turtle Island) so if travelling during this time you should expect big waves and choppy seas. In cases of extreme weather, the trip to Selingan may be cancelled and alternative arrangements made.
- 07. Many hotels outside of the big cities of Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan have been built so travellers can enjoy the countryside, forest/mountain views, where people can wake up to nature sounds not cars. Many of the hotels we use are in such locations and can be quite remote. So access to restaurants are limited.
- 08. Borneo’s food is known for being fairly mild, with high reliance on fresh fruit and vegetables.
- The cuisine is a mix of Thai, Malay and Indian. Cuisine staples include grilled fish, barbecued prawns, fried rice, noodles, and local vegetables seasoned with garlic, ginger, and rich sauces. Fish and chicken based soups with noodles cooked in a hot clay pot are very traditional.
- 09. We recommend that you check your government's advice for their latest information on travelling in Eastern Sabah before your departure and ensure that your travel insurance covers you for all areas of your itinerary. Further information can be found in our "Safety" section of the Essential Trip Information. You can find links to prominent government travel advisories our Travel Alerts page https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/travel-alerts
Mode of Transport
- Bus , Minibus , Plane
Check out our Q&As
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Is this trip right for you
There's a wide range of accommodation on this trip, from hotels and guesthouses to jungle camps. Some may be a little more basic than your standard Intrepid hotel, but their unique location and close proximity to wildlife is what makes them special.
There are a few days that we cover long distances with some travelling times of 4–5 hours. A little bit of patience will go a long way towards your enjoyment of this beautiful land!
Travelling light is essential, as there is a strict 15 kg maximum luggage limit due to the internal flight. Excess luggage will incur extra fees. -
What policies are in place for Covid-19?
Please contact us for latest COVID-19 policies
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How long has the tour company been trading?
Intrepid Travel has been taking travellers around the world for over 30 years
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Will the accommodation included meet local health and safety regulations?
Yes
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What Ethical Travel credentials does the tour company have?
Since 2002, The Intrepid Foundation has supported over 130 organisations across the world. We’re creating positive impact through the joy of travel, community and connection.
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Do you operate a “single share” option and how does it work?
Over 50% of traveller travel solo with Intrepid. You can choose to share a room with another solo travelle of the same sex for no additional charge, or choose to pay a single supplement if you’d like your own room. Please request this when booking, and we will secure you a single supplement wherever possible. Please note, if you are booking a last-minute trip, it may be harder for us to secure a single room
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Free Date Changes
Intrepid Travel allows you to make 10 free date changes, as long as the change is made at least 56 days before the start of the tour.
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Transfer as credit to Future Tours
Intrepid Travel allows you to transfer existing payments to a future tour to avoid cancellation fees if you can't travel and inform intrepid travel, 56 days before departure.
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Low Deposit
Intrepid Travel requires a minimum deposit of 400 USD per person or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 56 days before departure.
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Cancellation Policy
We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of intrepid travel charges.
Up to 56 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.
At 55 days before tour starts: Forfeit 30% of booking price.
At 30 days before tour starts: Forfeit 60% of booking price.
At 14 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of booking price.
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Terms and Conditions
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