Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia

5ClaireUzzell55 5:00 PM Feb 27, 2020

Pristine rainforest stay
Love this place. Yes it takes 2 and a half hours on an unmade road to get to the lodge but worth the drive. Everything about this place is wonderful. The location and staff were fantastic. I have never tasted better food, and I am vegan so this makes it very hard to find tasty suitable dishes when eating out. Our guide for the three days we were there (Ali) was so good, he took us on day hikes and night walks too. He was excellent at finding animals both large and small. He explained everything in great detail and we learnt a lot about the rainforest and it’s inhabitants whilst under his care. This is truly a special place for those that love nature. You may not see huge amounts of wild animals as this is up to the animals at the end of the day, but if you want to experience nature at its truest it’s a wonderful place to stay

5Franc C 5:00 PM Jul 20, 2017

The 2nd best place in Borneo to see wildlife :)
I think most people reading this will be as I was a couple of months ago; trying to decide where to visit to experience the “real” Borneo and have the best chance of seeing its wildlife in their natural habitat. After doing a lot of research the 3 places I ended up choosing were the Kinabatangan river, Danum Valley, and Mulu national park. Each are very different and I loved them all. So rather than just speaking about Danum Valley here I’ll give some comparisons between it and the other two. My favourite of the 3 was undoubtedly the Kinabatangan river, due in no small part to my incredible guide (Osman) there. You’re almost guaranteed to see a larger variety of wildlife along the river there than you would pretty much anywhere else in Borneo. Danum Valley is different in that the wildlife spotting there is mostly done on foot or from the back of a 4x4 rather than on a boat safari. It’s always a little trickier to get as close to the wildlife without them disappearing on you when you’re on foot. However, being on foot does mean that you get to see more of the unusual insects and other creepy crawlies that Borneo has to offer. The downside is that two species of leeches are amongst that list of creepy crawlies. There are many trails of various lengths in Danum Valley but it’s forbidden to hike the longer ones without a guide. Before I got there I had been looking forward to doing some of the longest treks, thinking that if you go far enough into the jungle, far away from people, you would have the best chance of seeing wildlife. This isn’t actually the case though. Because the longer trails are full day treks you’ll spend most of the time out in the jungle during the hottest part of the day when the animals are asleep. Ironically, to have the best chance of spotting wildlife you’re better off getting up early and doing the self-guided loop trail near the Field Centre. And again doing the same trail in the evening. It’s better to do a short trail slowly and quietly than race through a longer one and see nothing. The highlights for me were the gibbons and seeing a giant flying squirrel gliding from tree to tree during a night tour. Also, I definitely recommend the sunrise tour. Seeing the sun rise over the jungle is an incredible experience and obviously you’ve a great chance of spotting some cool animals at that time of the day too. The lookout tower (not to be confused with the sunrise observation tower) was closed for repairs when I was there and looked like it had been for some time. With regard to spotting wildlife, Mulu would come 3rd of the 3 places I visited. Caving is a passion of mine so for me Mulu was paradise, but it’s not as easy to spot wildlife there as it is in Danum Valley. So, for spotting wildlife; Kinabatangan gets gold, Danum Valley in silver medal position and the bronze goes to Mulu :) Tip: forest roadways are always a good place to spot wildlife so keep your eyes open on the road in and out of the park and don’t be too shy to ask the driver to stop if you spot something cool. On our way in we seen a large bird of prey that was just after making a kill. On the way out there was a binturong (bearcat) on the road in front of us at one place and an argos pheasant a little further along the road at another, and the bus driver let me out to photograph it. Tip #2: I travelled independently and stayed in the Danum Valley Field Centre. It can be quite difficult to book into this place online. I have left some tips in a separate review of the “Danum Valley Field Centre”.