All Articles

If you want to try the most adventures rafting that Amazing Borneo can arrange for you Padas River is the place. The rafting is a grade 3-4 but can under some circumstances get up till 6, but then it’s too dangerous to do rafting. The only way to get to the starting point for rafting at Padas river is a 2 hour drive to Beaufort and from there to take a train for almost 90 minutes. We got picked up at 5:30 just near our apartment and the driver and also our guide Moos told us that we had to speed up to not miss the train. In our car there was a family of 4 from the Philippines, a couple from China and three guys from Hong Kong. A good mixture! It was nice to drive thru the landscape and see the sunrise over Mount Kinabalu. To see people wake up and start their days. And to know that we are going on an adventure. Luckily for us we made it in time for the train. It was a lot of people on the train and not seats for everyone. The standard on the train is a little bit different than what we are used to in Sweden. To start with, the trains in Sweden go on time, not 20 minutes late. And there will be air-condition or heat on the trains in Sweden. But this is the charm with traveling, that things are not what we are used to. It’s fascinated to go by train in the jungle and see small houses in the middle of nowhere. You started to image how their life looks like and what they do for a living, and how your own life would look like if you were born in that family.

One of Amazing Borneo Tours trips we wanted to do the most was the Rasa Ria Orang Utan Encounter. We have never seen Orang Utan in real life and really wanted to do that. We don’t have monkeys in Sweden (except for in the zoo) so for us this is very exotic. First they told us that we would not be able to see them because no one had booked the tour for the day that was fitting out schedule. But after a few days they told us that someone booked the trip and if we still wanted to go we could. Of course we still wanted to see the Orang Utan in real life so we did some changes in our schedule for the next day. Something that is good to know is that you have to book the trip at least 2 days before because there is only a limited number of guests that are allowed to visit the center in one day. Our guide and driver for today was Leo and Lerond, they picked us up outside our apartment and we drove to 1Borneo to pick up an American family. We continue to Rasa Ria Resort, only 50 min drive from Kota Kinabalu city. The resort have a nature club were they rehabilitate Orang Utan to get back to a life in the wilderness. To get to the nature club you walk thru the whole resort. This is not just a small hotel, the have like their own world. On the way in to the hotel you pass a golf court. We stopped outside the reception and walked thru go get outside to the “backyard”. The staff are very welcoming and greet you very politely. The resort have their own beach and a pool area and everything is so well organize, you will feel very tempted to stay at the resort and don’t go back after you have seen it.

The last kilometer from 3 until 4 km felt like the stairs would never end. Soaking wet and hungry we finally reach Layang Layang after 5 hour of trekking. We ate our lunch in one of the shelters to get away from the rain. The guide once again told us that some of us needed to turn back and walk the same way down instead of walking 6 km to Mesilau. Only the ones who are able to walk in a fast tempo were allowed to proceed to Mesilau. We didn’t want to leave the group we started the walk with so we decided to walk the same trail down against Timpohon Gate. Our last advise from the guide was “Go straight down, don’t take breaks and if you must then only for a minute. Other vise it will be dark before you will get to the finish line.” And after the vise words we started our trekking down, still in pouring rain.

Today we went to Mari Mari Culture Village, the bus picked us up around 9:00 o’clock and the journey took 30 min. The local guide welcomed us and walked with us the whole day. Mari Mari is a village with five different authentic houses which represents five tribes from Sabah. You visit the houses and learn about the history and about how they lived. To get in to the village you have to cross a suspension bridge over a small river, they must love suspension bridges here. They are everywhere. We think it’s fun because we don’t have those back home in Sweden. The sun was shining and the park was beautiful and blossoming. It was a very hot day and thankfully we got to try both drinks and food from the tribes. During our visit they had a role play and to get into one area the leader of the tribe wanted to meet our group leader. So first we had to decide who was going to be the leader so we could be allowed to enter the area. The leader of the tribe called our leader to a meeting and they went through a ceremony and when they accept each other the group was allowed to enter their home. They thought us to use a blowpipe which was both for hunting and killing, back in the days this tribe was very violent and if you would meet them in the forest they would certainly kill you. Luckily for us we were accepted.

The water in Kota Kinabalu have been very sunny and hot the last week so when we heard that we were going to Mantanani Island we were very happy. It is pretty far from the city, you will go by car for 2 hours and then you switched to boat for 1 hour. Today there were no tour guides to join us so our task was to interfere with the guests and talked to them and make sure they had a good time. Luckily for us the group was 5 friends from Singapore and very easy to talk to. We understand them and they understand us. When we talked to them it appeared that one girl had been to Sweden for 6 months and one guy had been to Finland to work for 6 months. Once again we notice how small the world are. The first journey with the car was a bit bumpy and along the road we passed both cows and goats that was walking or resting on the road. Fun to watch from the car window. When we arrived to the jetty of Mantanani Island we took the speedboat to the island. It went really fast and it felt good to have the wind in our hair and smell the sea. The weather condition was good so the sea was pretty calm. Which made the boat ride less bumpy.

Both of us use to fish when we were kids but now it was years ago. So we looked forward to get out of the city and fishing and visit Manukan Island. We met up with the group and the guide outside Klagan hotel at 9 o’clock. We went to Marina Jetty which is inside a big resort. It was really beautiful and brought our minds to Europe. Our guide Luq told us that inside the resort they have a golf court, a tennis court, a cinema and their own beach, basically everything you need.

This week we started our familiarization-trip. Tee Chung was planning our trip and asked us which tour that Amazing Borneo Tours offers we like to go on the most. We are both adventures and like challenges. Hanna have never done a rafting before but Josefine had once when she was traveling in Australia a few years ago. So we told Tee that we were interested in trying rafting. So our first day on the fam-trip was rafting! We started around 8:30 from Kota Kinabalu and the drive to Kiulu River took us 1 hour and 45 minutes. To join us there was a Singapore family that also liked adventures and wanted to try the easiest rafting. The parents told us that they had tried rafting before in Australia and really liked it. But that was before they had their kids. We small talked the whole journey and they were interested in us and to know more about the Malaysian lifestyle. Our guide Luq is very good with the guest and are more than happy to tell them how everything works in Sabah.

We started in the early morning from KK and went with bus towards Kinabalu Park. The winding roads took us to our first stop on the way, Nabalu, a small village with a local market. Nabalu is a great place to take photos with the magnificent Mount Kinabalu in the background, but unfortunately it was cloudy when we were there. But we still got an amazing view over the valleys and a bit of the mountain, its special feeling to stand on the edge of the platform and look out over the flourishing landscape. As we mention before Nabalu has a small local market with handicrafts, fruits and souvenirs. Hanna is a big fan of fruit and bought fresh pineapple from one of the stalls. The fruit and vegetables grow in the local area and therefor the taste is as fresh as it could be.

After two weeks in the city we were longing to get some sand between our toes and to cool off in the water. We went out to Borneo Reef World for snorkeling and sea-walking. You don’t have to go far to get here, only 20 minutes boat ride from Kota Kinabalu city. When we first heard about Borneo Reef World we didn’t know what it was but we understood quickly that it’s a pontoon just nearby a few islands. When we arrived we got welcomed but the crew and they told us about the pontoon and what they do. The main reason is to protect the reef and also educate the visitors. The pontoon has facilitates like toilets, showers and changing rooms. We were lucky that the group we went with was the only group that day, the crew told us that the pontoon is capable to take up to 500 people at the same time. Our group was only 6 people including us and that gave it a very luxury feeling to have the place and the staff just to our self. It felt like the pontoon was ours!

Borneo Reef World is the largest Reef Pontoon in South East Asia. For those who want adventure in a safe environment, I suggest you to go to Borneo Reef World and enjoy Para-sailing, Snorkeling, Underwater Observatory, and also Ocean Walker or as known as Sea Walking.