Responsible tourism in Sarawak
Responsible tourism in Sarawak is about creating value around unspoilt jungle, natural waterways and forest habitats for local communities. The importance of the Sarawak’s unique culture and nature is finally being recognised by travellers, photographers, wildlife fans and adventure-seekers, and as it steps out independently from the shadows of both Sabah and Borneo, responsible tourists from across the globe are travelling here to see these natural riches and to contribute to their protection. Far from the stampedes of mainland Southeast Asia, tourism here is largely being developed sensitively and sustainably. Income contributes to the wellbeing of communities, the preservation of the forests and of course, the orangutan rehabilitation centres. The steady yet controlled growth of tourism across Sarawak could provide hope for the survival of its most endangered species and its unique way of life, just as long as it’s done well.
Our Sarawak Holidays
Borneo 8 day tour, the wild heart of Borneo
A unique experience in the untouched, beautiful Sarawak.
From
£895
8 days
ex flights
Sarawak wildlife & beach holiday
Encounter an orangutan & hike through virgin rainforest
From
£1260 to £1430
10 days
ex flights
Wild Borneo holiday, private departure
Highlights of Malaysian Borneo including a homestay
From
€3780
18 days
inc UK flights
Luxury beach holiday in Borneo & Orangutans
Relaxation in one of nature's most picturesque settings
From
£1915
13 days
inc UK flights
Sarawak family holiday
An action-packed holiday got the whole family to enjoy!
From
£998
9 days
ex flights
Borneo wildlife cycling holiday
Ultimate Borneo wildlife experience on two wheels
From
MYR8242
9 days
ex flights
Borneo wildlife holiday, Sarawak
A light trekking and jungle adventure holiday in Sarawak
From
£3015
14 days
inc UK flights
Singapore and Sarawak holidays
A wildlife and Cultural Holiday to Singapore and Sarawak
From
£3095
15 days
inc UK flights
Sarawak and Singapore holiday
Discover beautiful Sarawak with a 2 night Singapore stopover
From
£1720
15 days
ex flights
Orangutan conservation holiday in Borneo
Meet Iban tribes and encounter orangutans in Borneo
From
£1195
13 days
ex flights
Borneo overland tour, Sarawak, Sabah & Brunei
Exotic Trans-Borneo Rainforest Discovery, including Brunei
From
US $1098
13 days
ex flights
Sabah & Sarawak holiday in Borneo
Wildlife, jungles, culture and idyllic beaches
From
£2535
14 days
inc UK flights
Sarawak Rainforest music festival holiday
Explore Malaysia's diverse flavours and gastronomic delights
From
£1475
11 days
ex flights
Highlights of Borneo group tour
Small-group culture and wildlife tour of Borneo
From
£3160
14 days
inc UK flights
Sarawak and Sabah holiday, tailor made
Tailor made Sarawak and Sabah adventure holiday
From
£3595
17 days
inc UK flights
Borneo tailor made tour
A Borneo holiday for the adventurous traveller.
From
£1960
12 days
ex flights
Borneo cycling holiday, Headhunters Heartland
An epic ride into The Iban Heartland
From
MYR6980 to MYR7626
7 days
ex flights
Orangutans and Ibans tour to Borneo
Vast jungles of Sabah and Sarawak & Iban Headhunter tribe
From
£3750
15 days
inc UK flights
Sarawak rainforest cycling tour, Borneo
Discover the sights, sounds & taste of authentic Sarawak
From
MYR6226 to MYR6600
8 days
ex flights
Iban longhouse experience in Sarawak, Malaysia
Take a 3 Day Tour to be part of the Iban Tribe!
From
£595
3 days
ex flights
Borneo tour, Orangutans and Iban
Spotting wild orangutans and meeting indigenous tribes
From
£3499
22 days
ex flights
Sarawak holiday, wildlife adventure
Tailor-made wildlife and turtle holiday to Sarawak
From
£2770
15 days
inc UK flights
Orangutan volunteering in Borneo
Volunteer at an orangutan rehabilitation centre in Borneo
From
£1280 to £1995
15 days
ex flights
Borneo holiday, Sarawak highlights
Wildlife, Orangutans, longhouse stay & beach in Sarawak
From
£2296
13 days
ex flights
Borneo wildlife holiday
Showcasing the best of Borneo - wildlife, rainforests and tropical beaches
From
£3499 to £4199
17 days
inc UK flights
Borneo small group adventure holiday
Explore Borneo's spectacular landscapes and wildlife
From
£2475 to £2775
15 days
inc UK flights
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
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 cause even more harm. A common cold can quickly kill a baby orangutan, and spread rapidly throughout the group. Additionally, fully wild orangutans will avoid contact with people; it is the ones who have become habituated to our presence that are caught straying on plantations or farmland – or attacking a human. So any contact they have with people reduces their chances of successful rehabilitation, and reintroduction into the wild.
Stef Studley, from our supplier Regent Holidays, explains the company's stance: “I get so many requests from people who want to hold an orangutan, which is understandable because they’re so lovely, but it’s a really bad idea – they aren’t pets, they’re 96 percent the same as humans, so the chances of them picking up an infection is enormous if they’re handled by someone who might not be well. A responsible volunteer programme will make sure its handlers have lots of jabs and a thorough check over beforehand. We recommend sponsoring orangutans through reputable companies like Orangutan Appeal UK.”
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.”
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.”
What you can do
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
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
Sarawak is home to thousands of endemic species, 40 indigenous groups including sea gypsies, longhouse-dwelling communities and former head-hunting tribes, and one of the largest rainforests remaining in the world, so as well as the incredible wildlife, a Sarawak holiday has everything a cultural traveller could ask for. Longtail boat trips upstream through the emerald green waters of the Batang Ai reservoir are a truly mesmeric way to reach the remote villages of its near impenetrable jungle; the skilled Iban boatman will manoeuvre your boat around huge black boulders in the lake and treetops that emerge from the water as a visual reminder of the valley that flooded in 1980 to create the reservoir. And there’s plenty of chance to get stuck in locally too, with floating markets and living museums. Don’t overlook a rustic longhouse homestay; the Iban of Sarawak are famous for their longhouses, sharing communal life with dozens of local tribespeople. It’s a seductive and incredibly enriching experience.
What you can do
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.
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.
Tom Hewitt, from our supplier Adventure Alternative Borneo, works with the Penan tribe in Sarawak: “We work with the Penan in an old rice-growing region bordering the forest, so our volunteers plant fruit trees which increases the amount of food that’s available for the orangutans. It also brings income into the community to persuade them to keep their forest intact. In rehabilitation centres the orangutans are all semi-habituated; they’re never going to go back to the wild. But there are still places to see them in the wild, and if the tourism dollars are coming into these places then that’s putting value on those forests and habitats.”
Harriet Whitmarsh, from our supplier The Great Projects: “Our project is in Batang Ai, where there are wild orangutans. You stay with a local Dayak tribe and go out trekking with them in the forest, which provides local jobs. It really does help.”
Harriet Whitmarsh, from our supplier The Great Projects: “Our project is in Batang Ai, where there are wild orangutans. You stay with a local Dayak tribe and go out trekking with them in the forest, which provides local jobs. It really does help.”
Responsible tourism tips
Responsible Travel would like to thank the Sarawak tourist board for their sponsorship of this guide
More about Sarawak
A quick glimpse at our temperature & rainfall chart will tell you the best time to visit Sarawak in terms of the weather however, delve a little deeper and you’ll discover a month by month guide, expert recommendations and our cultural pick from the Sarawak calendar.
If you’re looking to learn all about Malaysia’s largest state then our Sarawak travel guide does just the job with a brief history of Sarawak as well as a 2 minute summary to help you travel like a local on your Sarawak holiday.
Make the most of your time on your travels by checking out our interactive map of highlights, travel times and suggested itineraries which will give you a much better idea as to where to go in Sarawak and what to do when you get there.
There are loads of things to do in Sarawak with Mulu National Park, Bako National Park and Gunung National Park all providing ideal trekking and nature trail locations to help travellers get to grips with everything from orangutan conservation to how to live like a local.
If you travel into the Central Highlands of Sarawak, you should take the opportunity to stay with the Lun Bawang people.
Adventure amongst a place of dense rainforest and vibrant green plateaus snaked across by the toffee-coloured waters of the Sarawak
If the late, great Ella Fitzgerald were still singing on our mortal coil, she would almost certainly have graced the stage of the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak.
Orangutans are eerily human and, ironically, many conservationists believe that it is this similarity to humans that has endangered them so.
An unsurpassed destination to see the highly endangered orangutan in the wild living symbiotically with the local Iban community which contribute to it's protection.
Travelling in Sarawak with kids is all about finding what to do with little ones that they’ll enjoy and learn from at the same time with cultural villages, Kuching Cat Museum and the Sarawak Caves in Gunung National Park all perfect activities for families in Sarawak looking to inspire future responsible travellers.
If you’re searching for Sarawak travel advice then make sure you pay attention to the tips from our friends in Sarawak as from Stef Studley to Harriet Whitmarsh, we’ve published a few pearls of wisdom to help you travel safely with kids, and without.
