Responsible tourism in Sabah
Our Sabah Vacations
Borneo tour, Great Apes and Beach escapes
Explore bustling cities, lush jungles and paradise beaches.
Borneo orangutan vacation
Trekking, wildlife and beach adventure vacation to Borneo
Family vacation 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 tailor made vacations, wildlife & beaches
A luxury tour of the best wildlife & beaches of Sabah
Borneo vacations, tailor made
Rainforests, orangutans, beaches tailor made
Borneo small group vacation
Head into Borneo's jungles, rivers and villages
Borneo family vacation, tailor made
13 day Family Vacation - Wildlife, Apes & beaches of Borneo
Borneo Wildlife Volunteer Project
Encounter orangutans and elephants in the Bornean jungle.
Malaysia and Borneo 15 day tour
Discover the highlights of Malaysia and Borneo
Borneo vacation, Land below the wind
9-day tour of Malaysia's spectacular Sabah State
Highlights of Borneo group tour
Small-group culture and wildlife tour of Borneo
Borneo Mount Kinabalu Climb Vacation
Adventure vacation to see wildlife and climb Mt Kinabalu
Borneo vacation, 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
Sarawak and Sabah tour, Orangutans & Ibans
Explore Borneo's unique culture, heritage and wildlife
Wild Borneo vacation, private departure
Highlights of Malaysian Borneo including Deramakot
Sarawak wildlife & beach vacation
Encounter an orangutan & hike through virgin rainforest
Borneo activity vacation
Private trip exploring Borneos remote jungle & mountains
Borneo and Malaysia small group vacation
Visit both halves of Malaysia
Borneo highlights tour, small group
Spiritual ,wild, colourful and mysterious beautiful Borneo.
Borneo rainforest & beach adventure vacation
Wildlife adventure in the oldest rainforests in the world
Borneo wilderness adventure vacation
A totally immersive Borneo Wilderness Experience.
Borneo wildlife highlights vacation
10 day adventure through the wilds of Sabah
Sabah wildlife vacation in Borneo
Explore the best of Borneo's unique wildlife
Borneo tailor made tour
A Borneo vacation tailor-made for the adventurous traveler.
Borneo wildlife vacation
Showcasing the best of Borneo - wildlife, rainforests and tropical beaches
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 vacation 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 travelers 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 centers 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 center and where exactly your fee is going. Check online traveler 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 centers 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 center. Community tourism really does make a difference.