Responsible tourism in Sabah
Our Sabah Holidays
Borneo tour, Great Apes and Beach escapes
Explore bustling cities, lush jungles and paradise beaches.
Borneo orangutan holiday
Trekking, wildlife and beach adventure holiday to Borneo
Borneo tailor made holidays, wildlife & beaches
A luxury tour of the best wildlife & beaches of Sabah
Family holiday in Sabah
Discover the best of Borneo in just under 2 weeks
Kuala Lumpur and Sabah wildlife tour
Wildlife adventure in the heart of Borneo
Borneo tailor made tour on a shoestring
The Best of Borneo: Wildlife, Adventure, Idyllic Beaches
Borneo luxury holidays, tailor made
Rainforests, orangutans, beaches tailor made
Sabah holiday, land beneath the wind
Wildlife & culture in Malaysia
Sarawak and Sabah tour, Orangutans & Ibans
Explore Borneo's unique culture, heritage and wildlife
Borneo holiday, Highlights of Borneo
The highlights of Sabah, from Orangutans to Mt Kinabalu
Borneo tour, Sarawak, Sabah & Brunei
Exotic Trans-Borneo Overland from Rainforest to Beach
Borneo Mount Kinabalu climb holiday
Adventure holiday to see wildlife and climb Mt Kinabalu
Borneo wildlife volunteer project
Encounter orangutans and elephants in the Bornean jungle.
Highlights of Borneo group tour
Small-group culture and wildlife tour of Borneo
Borneo holiday, Land below the wind
9-day tour of Malaysia's spectacular Sabah State
Borneo small group holiday
Head into Borneo's jungles, rivers and villages
Malaysia and Borneo 15 day tour
Discover the highlights of Malaysia and Borneo
Wild Borneo holiday, private departure
Highlights of Malaysian Borneo including Deramakot
Borneo family holiday, tailor made
13 day Family Holiday - Wildlife, Apes & beaches of Borneo
Sabah & Sarawak holiday in Borneo
Wildlife, jungles, culture and idyllic beaches
A taste of Sabah, Borneo holidays
Climb through dense jungles to explore Sabah's wild heart.
Borneo wilderness adventure holiday
A totally immersive Borneo Wilderness Experience.
Sabah wildlife holiday in Borneo
Explore the best of Borneo's unique wildlife
Borneo tailor made tour
A Borneo holiday tailor-made for the adventurous traveller.
Borneo wildlife encounter tour
Tailor made adventure holiday viewing wildlife in Borneo
Sarawak wildlife & beach holiday
Encounter an orangutan & hike through virgin rainforest
Borneo ultimate wildlife safari in Sabah
The ultimate exploration of Borneo's diverse wildlife
Borneo wildlife holiday
Showcasing the best of Borneo - wildlife, rainforests and tropical beaches
Borneo highlights tour, small group
Spiritual ,wild, colourful and mysterious beautiful Borneo.
Wildlife & environment
Deforestation & the story of palm oil
"Deforestation" is a buzzword in Sabah. While Malaysia has, to a certain extent, rebuffed the onward march of the palm oil plantations that have destroyed Indonesia, deforestation is still a massive issue, and not just for Sabah's orangutans. Many rare and endemic species are found here, including the proboscis monkey – found only in Borneo – as well as the sun bear, pygmy elephant and clouded leopard. To give a sense of the wealth of biodiversity found here, on average, three new species were discovered in Borneo's forests each month between 1994 and 2004. Many will have become extinct before we were even made aware of their existence.What you can do
Malaysia's biggest marine park
While the future of Borneo’s forests remains undecided, at sea it’s a cheerier story. In May 2016, after 13 years of planning, Malaysia declared its largest marine protected area just off Sabah’s northern tip; the Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) now protects 10,000 square kilometres of marine landscape including a vast coral reef, mangroves and over 50 islands. It is situated within the highly biodiverse Coral Triangle.As well as thriving reefs, TMP encompasses commercial fishing areas and coastal communities – meaning that along with the gazetting of the park came sustainable management plans that will ensure fish stocks are allowed to recover and damaged reefs have chance to recuperate. Seagrass, fish, dugongs and green turtles thrive in this region, so the potential for developing well-managed, responsible tourism is high – and to prove that protecting this marine environment can prove more lucrative in the long run than destroying it.
What you can do
Simply visiting TMP while in Sabah is one of the most valuable things you can do – and ensuring you do so with a responsible operator with a commitment to protecting this fragile environment. For extra points, pack an eco friendly sun screen to wear while in the water to avoid contamination, and gather any discarded bottles or plastic bags you may find in the sea. Be sure to report to your holiday company any irresponsible actions on behalf of your boat driver or tour guide – such as dropping anchor on the coral, touching marine life or disturbing nesting sea turtles or hatchlings.
Volunteering – responsibly
After hearing about the plight of the world's last orangutans, it's natural to leap at the opportunity to volunteer with them, and to support their conservation. However, philanthropic travellers should take a step back. Choosing the wrong volunteer placement is not just worthless – it can actually do even more harm. Fortunately, volunteer opportunities are better managed in Sabah than across the rest of Borneo, thanks to them being dominated by a number of well-established projects. Work there tends to consist of cleaning enclosures, building cages and climbing frames, clearing paths and any other construction or general maintenance work – so you need to be fit. However, there are still questions that all wannabe-volunteers must ask to ensure their money is going to the right place, and that their hard work really is making a difference.Harriet Whitmarsh, from our volunteering specialist The Great Projects, says:
“If a project allows people to do hands-on volunteering with orangutans, that is something to look out for. Now and again you do come across a project that allows it – however, these volunteers will have been in quarantine for 10 days, and the tests you have to go through are quite rigorous. So if our volunteers were going to be close to the orangutans, they would have to be in quarantine for a two-week period and have all the tests done, as well as significant training.
So people do need to look into these "hands on" projects – as well as asking about infant mortality rates at the centres that allow this without quarantines. A common cold can kill a baby orangutan very quickly, and then it can spread though the entire group. So people should keep their eyes out for it.“
Do your research before going out by asking your operator very specific questions about the kind of work you will be doing, the success rates of the rehabilitation centre and where exactly your fee is going. Check online traveller review sites; the reviews on Responsible Travel are also unedited and honest.
Finally, remember that helping rehabilitated wildlife is really sticking a plaster over a wound. Ideally, there would be no need for these centres in the first place. Look for initiatives that work with communities – on reforestation projects, or in community tourism which allows them to make money from the forest in its natural state, thus reducing the incentives for logging and poaching, and empowering them to stand up to big businesses. Planting fruit trees on the edge of a national park may sound less glamorous and exotic than snuggling a baby orangutan, but it's far, far more helpful in the long term.
People & culture
What you can do
Community tourism is a way for visitors to learn about these traditions; for local communities to continue practising them and sharing the knowledge with younger generations; and for people who have faced ongoing discrimination by the government and businesses to demonstrate that their culture, their sustainable way of life and their knowledge is valuable – even in the modern world. Across the border in Sarawak, a Dayak community was saved from government-enforced eviction from the forest after establishing themselves as a money-making tourist centre. Community tourism really does make a difference.