Ultimate Malaysia Wildlife
What you'll see
The journey, one day at a time
Arrive Kinabalu National Park
Arrive in Kinabalu National Park, met and transferred to your accommodation. Kinabalu adds the montane dimension — endemics and flora found only in the cool cloud forest.
Kinabalu National Park
Walk the mountain garden trails for pitcher plants and orchids. A dawn start for the highland birds below Mount Kinabalu.
To Sepilok
Transfer to Sepilok. Visit the orangutan and sun bear centres, then bird the canopy walkway. A morning at the rehabilitation centre and an afternoon at the Discovery Centre.
Sepilok
A morning at the rehabilitation centre and an afternoon at the Discovery Centre. Sepilok eases you into Borneo with near-guaranteed orangutans before the wilder forests.
To Kinabatangan River
Transfer to Kinabatangan River. Dawn and dusk river cruises for proboscis monkeys, orangutans and elephants. Boat the oxbow lakes and tributaries for birds and crocodiles.
Kinabatangan River
Boat the oxbow lakes and tributaries for birds and crocodiles. A night walk for civets, frogs and roosting birds, plus more river time. Nowhere else delivers Borneo's headline mammals as reliably, or as comfortably, as the Kinabatangan.
Kinabatangan River
A night walk for civets, frogs and roosting birds, plus more river time.
To Danum Valley Conservation Area
Transfer to Danum Valley Conservation Area. Walk the primary forest and canopy walkway for orangutans and birds. A night drive in search of clouded leopard and nocturnal mammals.
Danum Valley Conservation Area
A night drive in search of clouded leopard and nocturnal mammals. Trails for red leaf monkeys, gibbons and the forest's grandeur. Danum's never-logged forest shows what the island once was — and is among the last places to find it intact.
Danum Valley Conservation Area
Trails for red leaf monkeys, gibbons and the forest's grandeur. Dawn birding and a deeper forest walk among the giant trees.
To Mulu National Park
Transfer to Mulu National Park. Explore the great show caves and watch the dusk bat exodus. Cave walkways by day and the bat spectacle at evening.
Mulu National Park
Cave walkways by day and the bat spectacle at evening. A rainforest and karst day, with the caves and their bats. Mulu's chambers are among the largest underground spaces on the planet — and the bat exodus is unforgettable.
To Belum-Temengor Rainforest
Transfer to Belum-Temengor Rainforest. Boat the lake and bird the forest for the ten hornbill species. Trek to a rafflesia bloom and search for lowland mammals.
Belum-Temengor Rainforest
Trek to a rafflesia bloom and search for lowland mammals. A full day of lake and forest for hornbills and peninsular birds. Few forests on earth hold ten hornbill species — Belum-Temengor is one of them.
Departure
A final morning in Belum-Temengor Rainforest — a last outing or a slow start as time allows — before the transfer onward and the journey home.
The season changes what you see.
Peak season
Driest, clearest highland weather for birds and the mountain.
Good season
Montane birds are resident; mist and rain are common at altitude.
Hand-picked camps & lodges
Borneo Rainforest Lodge
The only lodge inside Danum Valley — a benchmark rainforest lodge amid primary forest.
Sukau Rainforest Lodge
A pioneering eco lodge on the Kinabatangan, National Geographic Unique Lodges, superb for the river cruises.
Mulu Marriott Resort & Spa
A polished resort by the Melinau river, the comfortable base for the Mulu caves.
Belum Rainforest Resort
A resort on an island in Lake Temenggor, the base for the hornbill and forest trips.
Sutera Mountain Lodge
A comfortable lodge near Kinabalu Park HQ, well-placed for the montane birding.
Kinabatangan Wetlands Resort
A comfortable riverside resort with easy access to the wildlife corridor.
Make it yours.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.