Sandakan Borneo Malaysia Sabah
Malaysia

30 Cruises availables At departure or passage at this port

Azamara Club Cruises (13 Cruises)

Silversea Cruises (17 Cruises)


Frequently Asked Questions

Right in the heart of town on the wide bay, or by tender at the yacht club jetty depending on the ship. It is one of the few Borneo ports where the town can be explored on foot straight off the gangway: nearly all the urban attractions lie within a kilometre and a half of the landing point.
For the Sepilok orangutans. Almost everyone comes here first for that specific reason, and the rest of the call is arranged around it. The town itself, the former colonial capital of Sabah, is then easy to visit.
It is a centre that has taken in orphaned orangutans since 1964, victims of deforestation or poaching, to teach them to live wild again. It lies about twenty-five kilometres from the pier, roughly forty minutes by road. Raised wooden walkways run through the trees to the feeding platforms.
At feeding times, morning and afternoon: that is when the residents swing from vine to vine toward the platforms. Watching a mother and her young emerge from the foliage, clinging to each other, is something few travellers forget. Build your day around those times, not the other way round.
Distance, silence, no visible food. The guides state them firmly, and for good reason: these great apes share most of our curiosity. They are rules that protect the animals as much as the visitors.
It is a walkway suspended at treetop height, placing you level with hornbills and flying squirrels. The best time is morning, in the green light, when mist still clings to the highest branches. It combines easily with Sepilok in a single outing.
The markets, piled with dried fish, spiny fruit and highland vegetables, in a mix of smells that leaves nobody neutral. The vendors call out cheerfully to passers-by and the old scales sway. The waterfront, rebuilt after the Second World War, moves to the rhythm of fishing boats unloading their catch right on the quays.
Water, a compact umbrella and light clothing. Borneo's humid heat demands respect, and its downpours arrive without warning, including while you are on the Sepilok walkways.
The Malaysian ringgit and Malay, with English widely spoken and a great deal of Chinese in local commerce. Keep ringgits for the markets and the reserve entry fees, where every ticket contributes concretely to the conservation teams' work.
Few destinations confront the traveller so directly with conservation issues. Orangutans, sun bears and proboscis monkeys owe their survival to teams working with modest means, and the centres' shops return their profits to the care programmes. That gives souvenir shopping a particular flavour.