There is no list of sights on the Kinabatangan. There is a river, a little boat and a guide who knows exactly where to look. What you see here depends on the hour of the day, not the spot. The same stretch of riverbank is a completely different forest at six in the morning than at five in the afternoon.
That is why the highlights below are mostly about moments. A few come as standard in every package, others you have to ask for or book on top. And one of them you cannot plan, however much you want to.
So which hours on the water should you not miss, and what is worth setting your alarm for?
How many nights to book, which village to sleep in and how to get there is all on our Kinabatangan page.
The sunset cruise
Around four in the afternoon you step into the boat, and for the first hour the forest still seems asleep. Then it kicks off. The proboscis monkeys look for a tree by the water to spend the night in, and they do not do it quietly: troops squabbling, young ones leaping from branch to branch, males with a nose hanging over their mouth and a belly like they just cleared a buffet.
You are out for about two to two and a half hours. Proboscis monkeys are as good as guaranteed, and on the muddy banks crocodiles lie waiting for dark. With luck a herd of pygmy elephants is standing at the water, and then the whole boat falls silent.
Bring mosquito repellent with DEET, because at dusk they come out. And look back now and then, at the sun sinking behind the forest. Your camera will be just as happy with that.
Our verdict: the moment you came to Borneo for
The sunrise cruise
At half five you are sitting in the boat, still half asleep, wondering for a moment why. Until the engine cuts out. Mist still hangs over the water, the forest wakes up around you and a hornbill flies so low overhead that you hear its wings.
This is the hour for orangutans in the treetops, macaques on the bank and kingfishers and darters along the water’s edge. This trip also takes about two to two and a half hours, and breakfast is waiting afterwards.
Tired from the night before? Go anyway. Of all the hours on the river this is the quietest, and that is exactly why you see the most.
Our verdict: set that alarm, you will regret it if you do not
Looking for the pygmy elephants
The pygmy elephants of the Kinabatangan are the animals everyone comes for and nobody can arrange. The herds roam the area all year, cross the river and are sometimes on a completely different stretch of forest for weeks.
There is a system behind it, though. The guides from all the lodges keep each other posted on where the herd has been seen in the last few days, and if you stay two nights and do several cruises, you give yourself the best odds. Any cruise could be the one.
If you see them, listen to your guide and keep your distance, even if you just want that one photo. These are wild animals with a herd to protect.
Our verdict: impossible to plan, and that is what makes them the river’s best gift
The night walk or night cruise
Once it is dark, the guide picks up a torch and takes you along the bank, on foot or by boat. Suddenly you see everything that stayed hidden by day: kingfishers asleep on a branch an arm’s length away, owls, frogs, and points of light on the water that turn out to be crocodile eyes.
Sometimes this trip is in your package, sometimes you book it separately. Ask when you book, so you do not get a surprise.
Wear long trousers and closed shoes and bring a head torch. If you go on foot, expect leeches in the mud: that comes with it, and with long socks it is perfectly fine.
Our verdict: a second forest you would otherwise never have seen
The oxbow lake and the jungle walk
An oxbow lake is a river bend that cut itself off and now lies like a still lake in the middle of the forest. There are a few along the Kinabatangan, and you head there with your guide after the morning cruise, by boat or on foot.
Around the water you see plenty of birds in the morning and, with a bit of luck, orangutans. On the way the guide talks you through the plants and animals of the rainforest, and for the first time since you arrived your feet are on real jungle trails.
Those trails are wet. Leech socks or long socks make the difference between a great walk and a morning spent picking at your ankles.
Our verdict: a lovely change after all that time on the boat
The Gomantong Caves on the way
On the road between Sandakan and the river lies Gomantong, the biggest cave in Sabah. You walk into a chamber where thousands of swiftlets and bats hang from the rock, and where ropes and ladders run all the way up to the ceiling. Twice a year collectors climb up those rattan ropes for the edible nests.
Entry is about €6, and if you want to take photos you pay a camera fee of about €6.50. The cave is open in the morning and the afternoon, with last entry around 4pm, and your lodge transfer often stops there on the way.
Bring closed shoes. The floor is covered in guano and there are cockroaches running about, which is a lot less fun in flip flops.
Our verdict: an impressive stop that you practically get thrown in for free
Got time to spare on the Kinabatangan?
One last morning on the water
If you stay two nights, you still have one morning cruise on your last day before you leave. That is one more chance at the elephants before you leave the river behind. An extra cruise costs about €12 if it is not in your package.
Sepilok first
Sepilok is on the way to the river, and most lodges pick you up there too. At ten in the morning and three in the afternoon the orangutans come to the feeding platform, for an entry fee of about €6. See them up close there first, and you will spot them in the treetops along the river much faster.
Snacks and beer from Sandakan
There are hardly any shops on the river, and beer at the lodges costs more and is not available everywhere. So bring something to snack on and drink from Sandakan for the hours between cruises.
Keeping your camera dry
It can start raining on the river out of nowhere. A rain jacket and a dry bag for your camera belong in the boat, especially in the afternoon, when the short showers come.
Our top five on the Kinabatangan
Got two or three days on the river? Then these are the five we would do no matter what:
- The sunset cruise, when the proboscis monkeys look for a place to sleep
- The sunrise cruise, with mist on the water and hornbills overhead
- As many cruises as you can, for your shot at the pygmy elephants
- The night walk or night cruise with a torch along the bank
- The oxbow lake after the first morning cruise
Coming via Sandakan? Stop at the Gomantong Caves too, and if you can, plan a morning with the orangutans of Sepilok first.
So what do you really have to do on the Kinabatangan?
Really just one thing: get out on the water as often as you can. Everything that makes the Kinabatangan special, you see from that little boat, and every cruise is different from the last.
If we have to pick one, it is the cruise at the end of the afternoon. The proboscis monkeys bickering over their sleeping tree, the crocodiles on the mud and the sun disappearing behind the forest: that is the Kinabatangan in two hours.
And book that second night. Not because there is more on the programme, but because it gives you one more morning and one more evening when the elephants just might be at the water.
