July 31, 2026 – Safari in Borneo, Malaysia

Borneo is famous for being one of the only two places in the world where Bornean orangutans are found.  A different variety of these apes lives in neighboring Sumatra, but Borneo is also home to other exotic creatures. Animals like elusive pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, gibbons, and rhinoceros hornbills are common to this country, and the town of Sandakan, Sabah, is the best jumping-off point to the rainforests where they live.  Stan and I agreed months ago that we had to do this.

A little advance research told us all safaris to find these exciting unusual animals are done along the Kinabutangan River by boat, which sounded great to us, but we did not like the fact that most of these pricey tours offered no option to change dates and no refund. With our fiscally conservative nature, we thought it would be wiser to book when we were certain of place and time.  That was NOT a good idea. When we were sure of our availability here in Sandakan, every tour we saw was completely booked. Some reservations had been made over a year ago.  Yikes.  We had no idea this might be the case. My hair stood on end. Seeing the wildlife here was on my hot list.

That reminds me of a story. . . like when Stan and I took off in his silver E-Type Jag, heading to Miami for a cheap flight to Jamaica in 1975. We’d been married only three months.  Lord, we were cute and in love!! Our first night out in Stan’s cool-looking but horrendously hot car was to be on the Gulf Coast, Panama City, Florida  It was Memorial Day weekend.  At about 5 pm, I asked Stan, “Where are our motel reservations?” As he sped down the highway, that cute guy in the leather visor answered, “I never make reservations.”  Boy, with that, I got a glimpse into our future! 

There was no room in the inn!  About midnight, after passing what seemed like hundreds of “No Vacancy” signs, we arrived in Tallahassee to sleep.

Somehow it all worked out. We slept and the next morning we continued on. I still think Stan Weeks is amazing and darn cute, but from then on, I usually took care of the reservations!

Ok, back to today.  Shoot, a trip on the river for a possible glimpse of just one or some of these wild animals was why we came to this part of Borneo, the only reason!.  Otherwise, Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo has little more to offer.

Getting us on one of these tours became my mission, or rather, my obsession. 

I found that, yes, we could go this week if we agreed to sleep in an unairconditioned dormitory with 4 or more other people, no A/C, and no attached bathroom.  Uhhh! No, unequivocally, no!  With 90% humidity and an air temperature of 85 degrees, under a mosquito net, with both young and old compadres snorting and snoring??  No matter what animals we might see, we cannot, will not, do that.  We are not that poor, and we are by far too old for that!

I spent the better part of the next several days searching, making offers, and harassing tour operators for a three-night, a two-night, or even just one-night tour booking with A/C and private accommodations.  Time after time, no luck.  Yet, like a snappig turtle, I just could not let it go.

Finally, an email hit my inbox from Ibrahim, the agent I harassed the most because he occasionally responded.  A last-minute cancellation was made on July 29.  We loaded our backpacks and boarded the bus the next morning, July 30, for just one night in the jungle with two river cruises, in search of the animals. Our greatest hope was that we might see pygmy elephants.

A 3-hour bus ride from Sandakan took us to our lodge on the Kinabatangan River.  Observation: Along the roadside, we got a real look at deforestation for the sake of palm oil farms. Jungles disappeared, recently clear-cut, bulldozed! Native animal habitats, gone! The globe’s natural cooling system, severely impacted. Scary! On the flip side, almost immediately, these former jungles were and are being replanted with young palm sprouts that can produce the palm oil nuts in only three years. Malaysia and Indonesia together produce 80% of the world’s palm oil; millions of acres are devoted to this crop to supply demand for foods, soaps aand cosmetics, and industrial use. Even with fast growing crops, though, clearcutting wages a high price, like land erosion, loss of habitat for native animals and greenhouse gas emissions.

Okay, getting real for a moment, I think we all can admit that people all over the world must make a living and provide for their families. Sometimes the best work opportunity is in oil fields, pipelines, mines, chemical plants, corporate farms, etc.; often these endeavors are not environmentally friendly; some are environmentally devastating. What a conundrum! Here in Borneo, people lucky enough to work on the palm oil plantations seem to be living better than many of their city cousins. At least their houses appeared better-built and better kept. Some showed signs of modest gentrification with neat rows of flowers and potted plants. Again, what a conundrum!

Our all-wood, air-conditioned rustic rainforest lodge was a perfect jungle hideout even if only for one night. Everything we hoped for, it sat deep in the forest on the bank of the wide brown Kinabatangan River. Almost immediately upon arrival, our late afternoon cruise in a long boat was launched.  Stan and I commented that, regardless of whether we saw any animals, the scenery was worth seeing. But we did see wildlife. A lot of it. We found families of gibbons playing along the banks and bouncing around in the trees.  We found an almost invisible slithery snake sunning on a tree limb, a young crocodile on a muddy bank, and big-nosed proboscis monkeys, disinterested in us, munching away on mangrove leaves. There was also a rare sighting of one of a black and white rhino hornbill.  We saw no pygmy elephants, though. No orangutans.

The next morning, we boarded the long boat once again for a 6 am cruise.  Again, we saw lots of monkeys, a rather long, 3 meter, crocodile, a group of five, no less, of hornbills, but again, no pygmy elephants nor orangutans.

As all deer hunters, people on safaris, and those on a scavenger hunt know, sometimes you find the thing you are seeking; sometimes you don’t.

Seeing the Borneo Big Five would have been amazing, even glorious, but not life-changing. The animals we saw, and the miraculous sunset and foggy sunrise we witnessed on the river were satisfying enough; even rare, stupendous, and picture-perfect.  We are lucky. Amen.

My obsessive nature is kicking again; we won’t be done looking for animals yet.