5 independent reviews for Borneo small group adventure holiday
Reviews for Borneo small group adventure holiday
Patricia Hipperson review 2 Apr 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Seeing the orangutangs, probocis monkeys, evening boat trips wildlife spotting.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take toilet paper, sensible shoes, and be prepared for more strenuouus activity than indicated in the publicity.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes because we ate out "family style" in local restaurants. I particularly enjoyed all the food. We visited conservation centres for local wildlife.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very challenging; my friend and I pushed ourselves physically and only coped because our fellow travellers and guides held out helping hands. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world and feel proud of ourselves have survived it.Alek Sadowski review 4 Nov 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Seeing the unique Bornean wildlife; the tropical weather!2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Pack an excellent waterproof poncho!3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Hopefully. We had a local guide, used lodges and Bornean businesses. We visited conservation centres.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent overall although the weather did negatively impacted some activities. The Bornean people are wonderful. Some of the hotels were not good.Read the operator's response here:
Thank you for your comments and so pleased your enjoyed your tour. Weather is noticeably less and less predictable as the years go by and we do our best to minimise any impact this has on a tour, but there are times it just isn't possible - glad at times you found it "memorable" or "exciting" ...
We will look into which hotels were used on your departure date as it is not usually something we have complaints about - apologies some fell below the standard you/we expect.
Julie Legge review 2 Apr 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Seeing wild orang utangs and other memorable wildlife in their natural habitat.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
In all honesty, look for similar trips with other providers. There were several 'inconsistencies' in the trip notes to put it politely. There was a lot of free time in not very exciting places, the pristine island was rubbish-strewn,changes to accommodation we're not notified till halfway through the trip, the Manukan Island extension did not offer the activities mentioned - to name but a few issues.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Not especially. Although one day trip was advertised as in conjunction with a conservation project we saw no evidence. I hate to think how many plastic water bottles we used.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We had an amazing trip to Thailand with this tour operator. We had high expectations of this one. Regrettably it did not live up to expectations. The guides were good but the overall experience would not encourage me to consider them again.Read the operator's response here:
Thank you so much for your comments Julie. We have had a review of the itinerary in the light of your comments and have changed a number of things. Since our last visit to the "pristine" island the authorities have permitted the building of at least 2 resorts and consequently ruined a previously beautiful place - we have removed it from the itinerary. In addition we no longer offer Manukan Island as an extension since the management of the resort has changed (and not for the better).
In terms of our commitment to responsible travel the same ethos applies to the Thailand tour you enjoyed so much - small groups, eating in local restaurants, staying in smaller locally run hotels, visiting off the beaten track destinations. Plastic bottles are an issue throughout Asia and governments seem slow to address the problem - we do encourage taking our own refillable bottle and using these where possible, but agree, it's an uphill struggle.
Glad you did get to see the wildlife and especially the orangutans in their natural habitat and it goes without saying we would love to see you on a future tour with us.
Linda Hudson review 12 Jun 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Seeing the Borneo 'Big 5' i.e. elephant, crocodile, probiscus monkey, rhinoscerous hornbill and, or course orangutans. Very special were the boat trips early morning on the Kinabatan River. Here we saw a group of pygmy elephants beside the river and also a crocodile swimming past! Another exciting day was in Mulu visiting the Deer Cave and watching the bats fly in the evening.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared for long forest walks - even hikes! Also heavy rain nearly every day - everyone bought plastic ponchos which were very effective.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
There were definite conservation efforts at the hotels visisted. Benefit to local people was only gained when visiting local shops and markets and spending the tourist Ringit at their shops, rather than in the hotels.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
A wonderful holiday with such a myriad of experiences.Eirini Sperelaki review 6 Aug 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
I loved the flora and fauna of Borneo - although it's sad to know you get to see all those animals from so close because their habitat is being destroyed. The caves were spectacular, as were the canopy walks. Local people impressed me with their smiles and friendliness.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
I was a bit disappointed by the snorkeling trip - dead corals and not much to see where we were taken. I know there are many good places for snorkeling and diving out there, so make sure you choose the right one!3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
That's a tough one! Yes and no... Mass tourism is never good, on the other hand I know lot's of people (and animals) are in dire need of some well spent money.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
I had a very good time. I would recommend this trip to anyone for it's diversity. Thumbs up for our guide, Manuel!Read the operator's response here:
We are so pleased you had such a good time in Borneo and enjoyed Manuel's company. Couldn't agree with you more on point 1 where I suspect you are largely referring to Sepilok Orang Utan centre. The Centre cares for young orangutans orphaned as a result of illegal logging and deforestation and those who have been illegally caught and kept as pets. At Sepilok the new arrivals are given a complete health check before starting on the long road to rehabilitating them back into the wild. While this is sad, the Centre was doing all they can to nurture the wildlife back to health and then back to the wild.
With regard to point 2 about the coral, What our team usually do, if the weather is good, is guide you to snorkel at the corals area. However if the weather is bad and the coral area is unreachable, we have no choice but to take you to the nearest coral area.
A couple of points on point 3, again we agree totally that mass tourism is far from ideal, but we stand by our words to never support tourism activity that not environmental friendly and visit areas which are well selected to reduce the impact of mass tourism. We also only work with local people to run the tour with us, for example, all local guides we use in Sarawak are local people and this at least helps them to support their families and local communities. On point 4 - thank you very much and we hope to see you again!
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