Borneo Family Adventure
Explore Borneo’s rainforests and spot wildlife in their natural habitat, including the island’s renowned orangutans. Our experts have paired canopy walks with secluded white-sand beaches where you can rest and recharge beside clear tropical waters.
Trip highlights
- Visit wildlife rehabilitation centres in Sepilok
- Cruise the Kinabatangan River in search of Borneo’s Big Five
- Explore Lipad mud volcano, a mineral source for wildlife
- Join locals in tree planting and conservation at Batu Puteh
- Sleep deep in the jungle at Danum Valley
- Unwind on white-sand beaches near the Tip of Borneo
Bespoke trips with Jacada
We design one-of-a-kind journeys incorporating luxury in all its forms. Our bespoke trips include:
- Luxury accommodation throughout
- Privately guided tours
- Private transfers
- Meticulously selected experiences
- Expertise and support from your Jacada concierge
Itinerary in detail
Every Jacada trip is tailored to your personal preferences and interests. Below you’ll find a sample itinerary to inspire your own custom-designed journey.
Days 1-2
Welcome to Sandakan
Sandakan sits on Malaysia’s northeast coast in the state of Sabah, a small port city surrounded by tropical forest and mangroves. It’s a relaxed place to begin your journey through Borneo, and is well known for its role in local conservation with important wildlife projects nearby.
Just a short drive away in Sepilok, you’ll find remarkable centres, such as the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre and the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Together, they give you an intimate look at Sabah’s wildlife and the dedicated work being done to preserve it.
Make it mine
Among the treetops
Wildlife
A canopy walk at Rainforest Discovery Centre
Join a guided walk through the verdant trails of the Rainforest Discovery Centre near Sepilok, one of Sabah’s most important conservation hubs. As you make your way to the 25-metre-high canopy walkway, pause to learn about the centre’s ongoing habitat restoration projects and efforts to protect local wildlife. From the top, take in sweeping views across the rainforest, keeping an eye out for hornbills and eagles overhead, flying squirrels gliding between branches and the occasional orangutan moving through the canopy.
A visit to Sepilok’s wildlife rehabilitation centres
Begin at the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre within the Sepilok-Kabili Forest Reserve, where rescued sun bears are cared for and prepared for life in the wild. Learn about their rehabilitation process and the centre’s vital work to protect the world’s smallest bear species. Continue to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre to witness the afternoon feeding session, which provides a supplemental food source for semi-wild orangutans. This carefully managed process helps them develop the skills needed for independent life in the forest while allowing you to observe their natural behaviours up close.
Days 2-5
Three days in Kinabatangan River
In eastern Sabah, the Kinabatangan River winds through dense rainforest and fertile floodplains for more than 500 kilometres, creating one of Malaysia’s most wildlife-rich regions. Along the river, you might spot the Big Five of Borneo – orangutans, proboscis monkeys, Bornean pygmy elephants, hornbills and crocodiles. Early morning and late-afternoon cruises offer the best chance to see them, when the light is soft and the forest stirs with movement.
Make it mine
By boat
In the dark
With locals
A morning wildlife cruise to Kelenanap Oxbow Lake
Set out at first light for a quiet cruise along the Kinabatangan River to Kelenanap Oxbow Lake. The calm backwaters attract wildlife from every direction. Watch for hornbills overhead, proboscis monkeys feeding by the riverbanks and crocodiles basking on the sandbanks.
A visit to Gomantong Cave
Drive 27 kilometres from the river lodge into the forested hills near the lower Kinabatangan to reach Gomantong Cave in Sabah. Follow a 15-minute boardwalk through lush rainforest to the cave entrance, where you might see more than two million bats take flight and hear raptors calling overhead.
Inside, swiftlets cling to the limestone walls, and the vast cave system forms a self-sustaining ecosystem – nutrient-rich guano supports a thriving web of insects and small creatures, which in turn feed larger species throughout the surrounding forest.
A tree planting experience with the Batu Puteh community
Join a boat transfer from the community jetty in Batu Puteh to the reforestation site, where you’ll help restore the floodplain rainforest by planting native tree saplings along the waterways. Learn about KOPEL’s ongoing conservation efforts – from planting more than 400,000 trees to reconnecting habitat corridors and protecting local wildlife.
Days 5-7
Spend two nights in Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Reserve lies about a two- to three-hour drive from the Kinabatangan River region, making it a natural next step in your journey. It’s one of Malaysia’s largest protected rainforests, home to a wide range of wildlife.
Guided walks here invite you to slow down and notice the small details – the hum of cicadas, the pattern of leaves, even animal footprints pressed into the mud. Birdwatchers can look for around 300 species, from hornbills and broadbills to the striking Bornean bristlehead. As evening falls, join a night walk to spot civets, flying squirrels and other nocturnal life moving beneath a starlit sky.
Make it mine
Mineral trail
A moment of calm
A guided trek to the Lipad Mud Volcano
Follow a rainforest trail to the Lipad Mud Volcano, a mineral-rich salt lick that attracts a wide variety of wildlife. Look for tracks of pygmy elephants, wild boar and deer imprinted in the soft mud, and pause to observe the birdlife flitting through the trees along the way.
Unwind with a Tabin Rainforest foot soak
Soothe your feet in a herbal soak infused with local rainforest plants, long used by the communities of Sabah for their natural healing properties. The treatment blends warm water with lemongrass, ginger and wild herbs gathered from the surrounding forest. As you unwind, listen to the sounds of the rainforest and absorb the stillness before evening settles in.
Days 7-10
Beautiful Danum Valley
Journey from Tabin Wildlife Reserve to Danum Valley, a 130-million-year-old rainforest covering more than 43,000 hectares of protected lowland forest. This ancient ecosystem shelters orangutans, gibbons and pygmy elephants, along with an extraordinary diversity of flora.
Trek to viewpoints such as Coffin Cliff and, when conditions allow, cool off in the clear natural pools of the Segama River. Fairy and Serpent Falls can be visited year-round – Borneo lies within an ever-wet zone, where rainfall is possible at any time – though from November to April the cascades are at their fullest.
Make it mine
Best views
Gliding
Twin waterfalls
A guided hike to Coffin Cliff
Follow a primary rainforest trail to Coffin Cliff, an ancient burial site of the Kadazandusun people, one of Sabah’s largest Indigenous groups. Believed to bring the spirits of ancestors closer to the sky, the cliff holds hardwood coffins carved from single tree trunks and tucked into the rock face – a tradition that has endured for centuries. Continue to the viewpoint for sweeping vistas of the valley below.
A tubing adventure down the Danum River
Begin at the riverside launch point near the rainforest lodge and step into an inner tube that carries you gently downstream along the Danum River. This is a great chance to experience the rainforest from the water, with trees lining the banks and roots reaching into the river, surrounding you on all sides. Gradually, the current slows and the jungle closes in, wrapping you in its dense green stillness.
A swim at Fairy Falls and Serpent Falls
Hike through lowland forests to two of the Danum Valley’s hidden waterfalls – Fairy Falls and Serpent Falls. Cool off with a swim in the pools, then pause to take in the jungle’s tranquil sounds as mist hangs softly in the air.
Days 10-13
Enjoy your last days in Kudat
Fly to Kota Kinabalu and continue by road for about three and a half hours to reach Kudat, in northern Sabah. The area is best known for the Tip of Borneo; the island’s northernmost point, where the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea converge.
Around Kudat, you can visit traditional Rungus longhouses, explore quiet beaches such as Kalampunian and enjoy clear views across the coastline at sunset.
Make it mine
Tradition
Water adventures
A day with the Rungus community
Spend a day or half day alongside local villagers as they share their traditional ways of living – from rice planting and rubber tapping to fishing with hand nets and foraging for seafood along the foreshore. Depending on the season, you might help prepare coconuts for market or learn the age-old process of de-husking rice.
A day in Pantai Kalampunian beach
Dive or snorkel among vibrant coral gardens where green and hawksbill sea turtles glide through clear shallows. Schools of parrotfish, butterflyfish and batfish move gracefully between the corals, and in the deeper blue you might catch sight of rays or reef sharks drifting past.
From the minute Joyce got our email, she was efficient, contacted us to see if there were any special requirements ( which there were due to disability), and organised everything we needed. We thought we wouldn’t be able to do some of the excursions, but everything was planned to perfection. I can only highly recommend Joyce and Jacada Travel, and…
Why book with Jacada
Personalised design
We’ll plan your trip around your personal interests, tastes and preferences, providing honest advice based on first-hand knowledge.
Authentic experiences
Our expert guides and brilliant concierges are hand-picked for their ability to bring your destination to life with care and passion.
Positive impact
We seek out unforgettable experiences that benefit both local communities and the environment.
