Lori & David - Borneo May 2025

Lori + David - May 2025

We had an absolutely wonderful experience in Borneo.  While I don’t think I’d stay in sandakan again or particularly that hotel, the rest of the trip was magical.  

We found our time at Sukau Rainforest Lodge to be both peaceful and exhilarating.  We met a ranger at the orangutan sanctuary who added so much information and color to the viewing. Our guide was knowledgeable and enjoyable.  It’s a very crowded place but we had many up-close encounters with the orangutans.  At the lodge, the boat rides were full of moments with all the different monkeys and birds. Wild orangutans and the proboscis monkeys were incredible.  The crocs were shy as are most of the animals there.  We saw the “big 5”!  On our last evening boat trip, after over an hour of going up and down the river, we came upon the Pygmy elephants.  One fairly close to our boat. In this experience you are randomly assigned a boat and the people we shared our time with were fabulous.  I feel I have some new friends in the world.  Sharing and caring about our world and its inhabitants can make for fast friends. 

The trip to the Borneo rainforest lodge was long but uneventful and it’s just lovely. The staff, guides, rooms, activities and food were all exceptional.  We enjoyed the canopy hike and night drives. We added a rafting (floating) trip.  We did not do the big hike due to rain and muddy conditions and our fear of leeches but found plenty to see right at the lodge where an orangutan, named Kate, after the princess, was hanging out.   We encountered about 50 long tailed macaques on the boardwalk too.  

It was a very quick few days but exceeded all our expectations. Thank you to you and Kirsten.

Lori & David - May 2025