Hi everyone, just back from the pioneering first departure on JY's new Borneo tour, with Singapore add-on! The verdict? It was terrific! I know Jaya is writing a day-by-day account of the tour, but I thought I'd write a review in my usual style, focusing on different aspects of the tour so that our reviews should complement each other! I know Taffy and some others are keen to hear how we got on in advance of the June departure so here goes...
The first few days in Kota Kinabalu were not very exciting to be honest - and I suppose this was in part due to the fact that we were all so excited about the possibility of seeing orang utans and other wildlife in the coming days. Whilst based in KK we visited a couple of markets, Kinabalu National Park (a good experience of being in a rainforest but we didn't really see much by way of wildlife) and the Poring Hot Springs (the canopy walk was worth doing - but be warned, it is a fairly hard uphill slog over rough ground in the stifling heat and you have to walk along four very narrow and wobbly suspension bridges! No one went into the springs, as they are not very appealing but on the upside we did see a rafflesia plant - the world's largest flower!). We travelled through some amazingly lush countryside and saw some spectacular views, including a clear view of Mount Kinabalu.
Things stepped up a gear when we went to Sandakan - we had a wonderful time at Sepilok and saw the nursery where the young orangutans play and also a number of other orangs in the jungle area of the park. It was also great to visit the sun bear sanctuary. The next day marked the beginning of our three day stay at the lodges, deep in the heart of the rainforest. We had a truly wonderful time - we had five river safaris and we were delighted to spot six sightings of orangs, high up in the canopy, as well as loads of proboscis monkeys and macaques - and finally, we were incredibly lucky to have three sightings of the wonderful pygmy elephants - including a family crossing the river! This was the icing on the cake and we were all thrilled.
After our time in the jungle, we returned to KK and on our final full day, we took the steam train ride. Unfortunately the train broke down half way and we returned early - we still had time for the tiffin lunch and the company gave us a 50% refund, which many of us used to have a massage in the hotel and had enough left over for a few drinks or souvenirs as well! Then we said goodbye to eight of the group, who returned home with Erica, our excellent tour manager. The remaining fourteen of us went on to enjoy a three day add-on in Singapore and what a wonderful time we had! Some of the group had been there before, whilst others like me, had not. I was very impressed - it is a big, modern city with some amazing architecture and there are so many things to see and do - we were spoiled for choice! A few of us had asked Erica if some additional excursions could be arranged, over and above the one included excursion and two optionals offered by JY. She kindly liaised with Buffalo Tours, the local agents and they organised a great programme for us and I did all the tours on offer, including the night safari at the zoo, breakfast with the orangutans (fantastic!), a visit to the Gardens by the Bay (a must see experience) and a trip to Sentosa Island (Butterfly Park and Aquarium). It was a marvellous end to a great tour.
The hotels were all very good although the service in the restaurant in Sandakan was very slow. The lodges were wonderful - the bedrooms had varished wooden floors and panelled walls and were very comfortable. They didn't have air-con, but had efficient fans, whilst all the hotels had air-con. The food was excellent throughout the tour, except for the farewell meal which had too much shellfish for our taste! The food in Malaysia has strong Chinese and Indian influences but it wasn't too spicy. Beer was generally cheap; however wine was expensive and both were expensive in Singapore - meals were generally much more expensive there too. The weather was typical for the tropics - on a couple of days we had thunderstorms with torrential rain (thankfully we were on the bus at the time!); mostly the weather was fine, sunny with cloudy periods and occasional showers. Bring a poncho if you have one (you can also buy them in the markets there) and an umbrella if you are doing the Singapore add-on. It is too hot and humid for rain jackets!
Some final tips - after all the discussion, there was no real need for leech socks!! Perhaps we were lucky, but we didn't encounter any. Most people got a few mossie bites - be diligent in applying DEET as if you miss any areas of skin, you can be guaranteed that the little blighters will find them! It was hot (c. 28-35C throughout) and very humid (up to 99% humidity at times!) - especially in the jungle and we got used to feeling sweaty! As someone who finds heat and humidity draining, I coped reasonably well and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the tour. It is very easy to get dehydrated - so I recommend that you bring a couple of large boxes of Dioralyte with you - I generally used about three sachets a day to help me keep well. A couple of people had mild stomach upsets for a day, but no one missed out on anything as a result.
Finally, don't expect to get amazing photos of the wildlife! We all got some reasonable pics but it was challenging for a number of reasons. Firstly, the humidity slows down cameras so that there will be times when they are slow to focus and at times, they may refuse to focus at all (for those who take their photography seriously, DSLR cameras generally performed better than compact or bridge cameras). Secondly, the orangutans tend to stay at the very tops of the trees, so they are far away (you need a good zoom and bring binoculars if you have them) and you are shooting into the sky/sun so they can look shadowy. The foliage is very thick so it can be difficult to see them. They also tend to sit with their backs to the river, keeping an eye on the jungle rather than us! So rather than obsessing about getting the perfect shot, we focused more on enjoying the experience of seeing them in the wild.
So all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and seeing so many orangutans in different settings was wonderful. Singapore was just as special, for me at least, and I urge you to do the add-on if you can. I hope you find this review helpful and I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
All the best,
Bob
