Sarawak

One of the best places in the world to see semiwild orangutans in their natural rainforest habitat, swinging from trees and scurrying up vines, Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is home to 28 orangutans who often (literally) swing by park HQ to dine on bananas and coconuts. There’s no guarantee that orangutans will show up, but even when there's plenty of fruit in the forest (November to February) the chances are excellent.

There's good walking in this pleasant little park, but most visitors come to see the rare Rafflesia tuanmudae. These massive flowers, blessed with a spectacular bouquet of rotting flesh, appear year-round but at unpredictable times and in varying locations. Check whether any are in bloom by ringing park HQ; the flowers only last for a few days, so get here as soon as you can if one is out.

It's easy to see why Raja Brooke chose this spot for his capital. Hugging the curves of the languid Sungai Sarawak, Kuching was an ideal trading post between other Asian sea ports and Borneo's interior. It's still a gateway to both jungle and sea, and Kuching’s proximity to national parks makes it the ideal base for day trips to wild coastal and rainforest destinations.

Sarawak's sophisticated capital also merges cultures, crafts and cuisines, and the city's energetic collage of bustling streets and narrow alleys lined with carpenter shops, cafes and bars is best explored on foot. Attractions include time-capsule museums, Chinese temples decorated with dragons, a weekend market, heritage shophouses, and a riverfront esplanade that's perfect for a warm-evening stroll and a delicious meal. For history buffs, galleries, museums and walking tours present the thrilling stories of the Brooke family, white rajas of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946.

Bako National Park is one of the best places in Sarawak to see rainforest animals in their native habitats. It's notable for its incredible biodiversity, encompassing everything from terrestrial orchids and pitcher plants to proboscis monkeys and bearded pigs. Hiking trails cross the sandstone plateau that forms the peninsula’s backbone and connect with some of the main beaches, all of which can be reached by boat from park HQ.

A trip up the tan, churning waters of 640km-long Batang Rejang (Rejang River) – the ‘Amazon of Borneo’ – is one of Southeast Asia’s great river journeys. Express ferries barrel through the currents, eddies and whirlpools, the pilots expertly dodging angular black boulders half-hidden in the roiling waters. Though the area is no longer the jungle-lined wilderness it was in the days before Malaysian independence, it retains a frontier, ulu-ulu (upriver, back-of-beyond) vibe, especially in towns and longhouses accessible only by boat.

The Rejang drains a swath of highland Sarawak that used to be covered in pristine rainforest. Today, vast areas have been logged and replaced by tree plantations and the ubiquitous oil palm, or are underwater thanks to the controversial Bakun Dam. To get a sense of the extent of logging, road building, inundation and oil-palm monoculture, check out Google Earth.

Nestled in Sarawak’s remote northeastern corner, the mountains and rainforests of the Kelabit (keh-lah-bit) Highlands are sandwiched between Gunung Mulu National Park and the Indonesian state of East Kalimantan. The area is home to the Kelabits, an Orang Ulu group who number only about 6500. Also here are the Penan people, a seminomadic group whose members have not fared well in modern Malaysia as their traditional forest lands have been cleared away from under them.

The main activity here, other than enjoying the clean, cool mountain air, is hiking from longhouse to longhouse on old forest trails to witness and experience traditional lifestyles and meet the locals. Unfortunately, logging roads are continuously encroaching and swaths of the highlands’ primary forest have already succumbed to the chainsaw.

Arguably the most impressive destination in Borneo, World Heritage–listed Gunung Mulu National Park manages to pack some of the planet's most incredible (and accessible) caves, brilliant old-growth tropical rainforest and out-and-out oddities such as the Pinnacles formation on Mt Api into its modest 529 sq km. The park is an enthralling and magnificent example of Borneo's natural heritage. Pride of place goes to the amazing cave systems, part of a karst landscape that also influences the area's biological diversity.

Niah’s caves have provided ground-breaking insights into human life on Borneo way back when the island was still connected to mainland Southeast Asia. In 1958 archaeologists led by Tom Harrisson discovered the 40,000-year-old skull of an anatomically modern human, while rock paintings and several small canoe-like coffins (‘death ships’) indicate that the site was used as a burial ground much more recently. The caves also accommodate a staggering number of bats and are an important nesting site for swiftlets.

Ask anyone in Kuching where to find old-time longhouses – that is, those least impacted by modern life – and the answer is almost always the same: Batang Ai, many of whose settlements can only be reached by boat.

Batang Ai is also the best place in Sarawak to have a chance of seeing truly wild orangutans. Sightings are not guaranteed, of course, but they're not rare either: a female orangutan was recently seen just 90 minutes' trek from lodge accommodation.

This remote region, about 250km (4½ hours by road) southeast of Kuching, can only be visited through organised departures with Kuching-based tour companies. Whistle-stop overnight visits are available, but to truly experience Iban culture amid stunning river and jungle landscapes, and have a decent chance of seeing orangutans in the wild, a minimum of two nights' stay is recommended.