12 days in Sabah......

You can do Island hopping in KK, it's really nice and if you are interested in culture I also recommend you to visit the cultural village.

Many thanks RestlessCat! Are the Islands around KK okay to do day trips to, or would you recommend staying there, as I've had a look and some of the resorts look quite expensive :-\

You don't need to stay for a night at that Islands, I visited 3 Islands on a day and it was really nice no rush at all. And I also think that most people just do the Islands hopping without staying there as there are not that many opportunities to spend a night there.

Is it possible to climb Mt Kinabalu at the moment? Last thing I heard was that they were looking for a new path to the summit.

Going to Mulu is possible, as there are direct flights between KK and Mulu.

The islands off Semporna are much more pretty than those off KK:
http://www.molon.de/galleries/Malaysia/Sabah/Islands/

Hi Alfredm,

Thanks very much for the recommendation, Semporna wasn't even on my radar and it looks fantastic and fairly easy to get to so we may well add it to our itinerary. I also wasn't aware of the recent earthquake, so I've them via their website to see if Mt Kinabalu is accessible at the moment.

Thanks for your advice :)

Hi me and my boyfriend are also planning on going to Borneo in September and have been looking into a lot of different options, so I can't give you any advice from personal experience but I can pass on some info I've got from friends :)

For the the Danum Valley trip I got the following quote from sticky rice (they aren't the cheapest tour operator but not the most expensive either and are supposed to be pretty good)
Danum Valley Field Centre - per person
3D2N Danum Valley Field Centre - MYR 1,655 (Dorm Room) MYR 1,780 (Standard Room)
4D3N Danum Valley Field Centre - MYR 2,110 (Dorm Room) MYR 2,295 (Standard Room)
Includes: Accommodation, meals, coffee, tea & drinking water, entrance fees, scheduled transfers from Danum Valley Field Center's office at Lahad Datu, Sticky Rice Travel Nature guide.
Excludes: Travel to Lahad Datu, optional activities - 4x4 night drive at DVFC, 4x4 sunrise at Bukit Atur.

From research online seems you can do the trip by yourself for cheaper but have to time it well for transport and seems like people who did it this way were disappointed as they didn't have guides to help them spot things. Not sure if we will do this trip yet as will have to see if it fits in the budget with everything else we want to do.
Sticky Rice offer a lot of other trips too.

Did you find out whether you can climb Mount Kinabalu after the earthquake?? If it is I have been recommended to go with Jungle Jack (they have a website and facebook page). Again supposed to be a really good trip and a friendly guide but you could do it slightly cheaper yourself - for us we are happy to go with this tours as it is definitely still more of a backpackers budget than a holiday budget, and it will save us time. The cost is roughly 680 MYR (this is a price from last year, hopefully it will be pretty similar) for 3 nights accommodation, 2 at Jungle Jack's hostel and 1 at the base camp on the mountain, climbing permits, a guide, food at Jungle Jack's and 1 dinner at the restaurant on the mountain. You also get food to take up with you for the climb for breakfast and lunch for no extra charge.

Hi there,

Thanks so much for your email, we'll definitely look into the Danum Valley trips! I received an email from Amazing Borneo Tours with the following info about Mt Kinabalu:

IMPORTANT - LATEST MOUNTAIN UPDATE
Mount Kinabalu’s restoration works are ongoing, but there is a possibility that the mountain trail MAY NOT be open by your rescheduled climb dates in Sept/Oct/Nov 2015. Until we receive the next Sabah Parks official updates, the following is our company’s estimation:

MONTH CHANCE OF CLOSURE
September 95% Probability
October 80% Probability
November 45% Probability
December 10% Probability

Disappointing as we were hoping to climb it, but it looks like we'll now be there in November instead so might be able to. They suggested a couple of alternative treks, one was Mt Trusmadi which isthe 2nd highest mountain but I think a bit of a harder climb!

Have you looked at any places to stay yet?

In regard to visiting Danum Valley, my wife and I were there last summer and it was one of the most magical places we have ever been (the other being Corcovado Nat'l Park in Costa Rica). Just being in the rainforest makes one feel in awe at its majestic beauty. Also, the abundance of wildlife is astounding. However, to get the full experience of Danum Valley, you really do need a guide. They are experts at spotting wildlife that can be difficult to see in the cover of the rainforest and they also provide information to understand the workings of the ecosystem as a whole.

Our guide's name was Denny and if you can book him, I highly recommend him. We booked him through the Borneo Rainforest Lodge. The lodge itself is expensive, but nice and since we went all the way to Borneo, we wanted to make sure we got the most of our experience, so we decided to splurge. We felt that the experience was well worth the cost. However, if you don't want to pay the cost if the Rainforest Lodge, Denny may also do private tours, independent of the lodge. If you want to contact him, this is his personal email: Dennysiusalaysius@gmail.com. Denny had what amounted to a sixth sense when spotting and identifying wildlife. He would often stop and cup his ears behind his head to listen to the sounds of the forest - a real forest man. He showed us orangutans, gibbons, rhinoceros hornbills, and much much more. At one point, while watching an orangutan build a nest, we saw a large flying squirrel gliding across the sky in front of us. None of these amazing creatures we would have seen without Denny's help. He took us on night walks and even led a night drive to see nocturnal animals. On top of all that, Denny was a super-nice and interesting individual. We frequently got into deep intellectual discussions about life and spirituality. He was full of positive energy and really did love the rainforest.

Good luck and enjoy Danum Valley!

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.