Responsible tourism in Sarawak
Our Sarawak Holidays
Sarawak family holiday
An action-packed holiday got the whole family to enjoy!
Borneo 8 day tour, the wild heart of Borneo
A unique experience in the untouched, beautiful Sarawak.
Sarawak wildlife & beach holiday
Encounter an orangutan & hike through virgin rainforest
Sarawak and Sabah tour, Orangutans & Ibans
Explore Borneo's unique culture, heritage and wildlife
Borneo wildlife holiday, Sarawak
A light trekking and jungle adventure holiday in Sarawak
Singapore and Sarawak holidays
A wildlife and Cultural Holiday to Singapore and Sarawak
Orangutan conservation holiday in Borneo
Meet Iban tribes and encounter orangutans in Borneo
Borneo wildlife cycling holiday
Ultimate Borneo wildlife experience on two wheels
Borneo tour, Sarawak, Sabah & Brunei
Exotic Trans-Borneo Overland from Rainforest to Beach
Luxury beach holiday in Borneo & Orangutans
Relaxation in one of nature's most picturesque settings
Wild Borneo holiday, private departure
Highlights of Malaysian Borneo including Deramakot
Sarawak and Singapore holiday
Discover beautiful Sarawak with a 2 night Singapore stopover
Sarawak cultural tour in Borneo
A cultural jungle adventure through Sarawak
Borneo wildlife holiday
Showcasing the best of Borneo - wildlife, rainforests and tropical beaches
Sarawak off the beaten track tour
Explore Remote Sarawak’s Coastal and Interior Region
Borneo cycling holiday, Headhunters Heartland
An epic ride into The Iban Heartland
Orangutan volunteering in Borneo
Volunteer at an award-winning orangutan rehabilitation centre in Malaysian Borneo
Sarawak rainforest cycling tour, Borneo
Discover the sights, sounds & taste of authentic Sarawak
Borneo tour, Orangutans and Iban
Spotting wild orangutans and meeting indigenous tribes
Sarawak and Sabah holiday, tailor made
Tailor made Sarawak and Sabah adventure holiday
Borneo holiday, Sarawak highlights
Wildlife, Orangutans, longhouse stay & beach in Sarawak
Sabah & Sarawak holiday in Borneo
Wildlife, jungles, culture and idyllic beaches
Sarawak holiday, wildlife adventure
Tailor-made wildlife and turtle holiday to Sarawak
Sarawak 5 day cultural tour
Explore Sarawak’s remote and fascinating coastal region
Highlights of Borneo group tour
Small-group culture and wildlife tour of Borneo
Borneo tailor made tour
A Borneo holiday tailor-made for the adventurous traveller.
Borneo small group adventure holiday
A varied and exciting 2-week Borneo tour of Sabah & Sarawak
Wildlife & environment
Reforestation
Huge steps are being made across Sarawak to conserve and manage its valuable and unique forests. In addition to some 800,000 hectares of Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) that are off-limit to logging companies, large areas of land classed as ‘terrain 4’ (steep and hilly) areas, ‘High Conservation Value Forests’, buffer zones and verified ‘Native Customary Rights’ land remain pristine. In addition, Sarawak has adopted a land-use policy that provides for the long-term economic well being of the State, which includes provisions for a sustainable forestry sector based on a targeted 6 million hectares of natural forests, and a further 1 million hectares of planted forests, and a robust agriculture sector based on a targeted 3 million hectares of agro plantations and smallholdings.What you can do
Visiting Sarawak’s national parks and protected areas and paying fees contributes to the upkeep of these fragile forests – much of them pristine primary growth – and protects the unique wildlife that lives within them.
Some operators offer the chance to get involved in reforestation initiatives; park buffer zones are extremely important in increasing the available habitat for wildlife, so by extending the forest cover you are helping to protect what lives within it.
Orangutans: volunteering - responsibly
Harriet Whitmarsh, from our supplier The Great Traveller, explains more: “Now and again you do come across a project that allows hands-on volunteering – however, these volunteers will have been in quarantine for ten days, and the tests you have to go through are quite rigorous. There is also quite a significant amount of training – this just isn’t suitable for someone on a two-week holiday.”
Pick your placement well. Most involve daily tasks such as cleaning, constructing and repairing enclosures, building climbing frames and maintaining paths. You should never be offered the chance to come into contact with the orangutans themselves to avoid the spread of disease.
Do your research – find out more about the place you will be volunteering, including the kind of work you will be doing there and where your money will end up. One way to do this is to check online traveller review sites; the reviews on Responsible Travel are also unedited and honest.
Think outside the rehabilitation centres, and look for initiatives that work with rural communities and conservation. Community tourism allows local people 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.
Read more about Orangutan conservation here
People & culture
Positive community tourism
Community tourism is a way for visitors to learn about local traditions; for local communities to continue practicing them and sharing the knowledge with younger generations; and for people to demonstrate that their culture, their sustainable way of life and their knowledge is valuable – even in the modern world. Some of the best community tourism projects are in Sarawak, where you can stay in a communal longhouse and live alongside the tribe knowing that your money will go directly into their community and conservation initiatives.
Responsible tourism tips

Responsible Travel would like to thank the Sarawak tourist board for their sponsorship of this guide