More than orangutans: Animal spotting in Borneo

Okay, let’s do orangutans first as you’ve still got to see these awesome primates in the flesh if you visit Borneo. A 40-minute flight from Kota Kinabalu is Sandakan. Just outside the town, at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (Sabah Wildlife Department, Sandakan), adult orangutans live semi-wild, emerging from the forest for two daily feeding sessions while the infants play in a nursery. Just $55 gets you in for the whole day, with a $20 fee for taking a camera in. The 9am feeding session is extremely popular. You’re likely to see the beasts out in the open but they’re vastly outnumbered by the human visitors. We recommend staying for the centre’s 2pm feeding session instead, where we’re treated to a beautifully intimate up-close-and-personal encounter with these fantastic animals.

There’s a lot more to see around Sepilok, though, than just the orangutans. Opposite the rehab centre is the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (PPM 219, Elopura, Sandakan; bsbcc.org.my). Sun bears, the smallest species of bear in the world, are threatened by deforestation and the demand for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. While the orangutan rehab centre closes between 11am and 2pm each day, the sun bears can be seen at that time gamboling and eating lunch. Entry is just $30. A bargain for this captivating bear necessity.

Nearby is the Rainforest Discovery Centre (90715 Sandakan; forest.sabah.gov.my), a much quieter attraction which offers opportunities to walk well-marked forest trails and climb a spectacular forest canopy walkway. It’s also just $30 admission and, for this, we see flying lizards, both graceful and dramatic in flight, plus Borneo’s giant squirrel. The day is spent exploring and meeting countless critters. Tip: come back here on different days to see as many weird and wonderful creatures as you can handle.

Rehab and wildlife centres in the rainforest are all well and good but we find trekking out to Borneo’s caves is a hugely worthwhile experience. From our base near Sepilok, we join a tour to the Gomantong Caves (Gua Gomantong, Sandakan; sabahtourism.com), which are famous for housing edible swiftlet nests that are used in bird’s nest soup. Only the easily accessible Black Cave is open to the public but it provides an unforgettable multi-sensory experience. The vast cave’s interior is a hellish scene. British TV wildlife legend David Attenborough allegedly called it the worst place he’d ever filmed. Even our guide seems scared to enter this landscape that’s formed from mountains of guano excrement littered with the carcasses of unfortunate baby birds and dead bats, crawling with countless millions of cockroaches and venomous centipedes. Yup, venomous centipedes. We see a few of these beautiful-yet-deadly crawlers. A constant light rain of bird droppings falls on us from high above and an acrid ammonia smell fills the air. Yet people actually live in here, precariously scaling the cave roof to collect the precious bird nests. Insane. But an incredible experience.

After a good wash, our tour continues to the Kinabatangan River, with the Borneo Dream team (one-day tour is $985 inc lunch; borneodream.com). We climb into a small boat but, unfortunately, there’s no guarantee the animals you’ve travelled all this way to see will appear. But, after our overwhelming experience in the cave, it’s a relief not to be confronted by the river’s man-eating crocodiles. We don’t see the pygmy elephants that dwell in the area but we do spot a magnificent water monitor, a huge lizard which we initially mistake for a small crocodile. We also meet wild orangutans, silver leaf monkeys and proboscis monkeys. Found only on Borneo, the proboscis monkey’s incredible nose lends it the appearance of a Jim Henson puppet. But they’re not shy about it, mooching around the riverbank like cantankerous old barflies.

After returning to Kota Kinabalu, we head to the island of Pulau Dinawan, just off the coast. It’s occupied by a small resort and split in two by a lagoon. As we arrive, our hosts show us a pair of huge alien-like horseshoe crabs that have been found in the lagoon and introduce us to the island’s flock of gregarious hornbills, a bird which looks like it’s been flown in from Jurassic Park. The island is surrounded by coral reefs. They’re a short way from the beach and teeming with tropical fish. Later on, we take a nighttime wade in the lagoon, where our guide points out bioluminescent jellyfish larvae and hundreds of starfish and sea cucumbers. The starfish come in an array of sizes and the cucumbers, with their leathery skins, are fascinating to watch as they move at a sloth’s pace in the waters.

While it’s billed as a beach retreat, Pulau Dinawan surprises us with its wealth of wildlife. In fact, when you get past the orangutans, Borneo may surprise you with its collections of creatures at every turn. If you fancy playing Indiana Jones in the Gomantong Caves or Robinson Crusoe on your own private island after you’ve visited the rehab centres and trekked in the rainforest, then you must go. An animal extravaganza awaits just three hours from Hong Kong.