The tour is long but worth doing. I went to St. Francis Xavier grade school so had a special interest in visiting Malacca where he preached. Our guide was quite knowledgeable and answered all questions. I was especially impressed as I've had trouble in several Muslim countries. The women and children all had hijabs. At first, I felt unwanted, but having begun a conversation with a lady, I realized they are as unsure of us as we of them. It was a great learning experience for me. The people were kind. There was a small boy on a step with his mother eating jellybeans from a cone. I teased him in sign language about having no front teeth. We smiled and waved and continued on. I felt a tug on my shirt and there he was offering me a jellybean. The city reminded me of Manila in many ways. The old fort is interesting. Again, the guide was very good, and I did learn a great deal.

I had a great experience and a wonderful day. I hired a guide (Abdul Qayyum, + 6011-16695114) to take me to Labuk Bay and a night firefly tour on the river. He is an exceptional guide and provided excellent service. He pointed out birds and other sights along the way. We arrived just in time for the feeding. The monkeys put on quite a show. It’s sad that they have lost their habitat and are forced to rely on humans to feed them. The sanctuary is inside a palm oil plantation. Talk about irony.

We used Arshad Gabun as our guide for a full day's tour of Sandakan and the essential visitor sites. He collected us from the airport and returned us there at the end of a wonderful day. We started at the Memorial Park then went on to the Orang Utang centre, the Proboscis Monkey centre, the Sun bear Conservation Centre, the English Tea House and the Agnes Keith Museum. Arshad speaks excellent English, has a comfortable airconditioned car and is very friendly and personable.

John was an absolutely exceptionel guide! We had a private tour and got to all the great spots before the crowds! It was a 11 out of 10 tour, would definitely recommend.

AVOID!!!! We decided to visit Labuk Bay and it's not a Sanctuary they are monkeys with no habitat or food. It's a palm oil plantation with a few poor monkeys in the centre with such a limited habitat that they have no food and therefore having to rely on humans for their food. The site is huge and no shade. You also get stuck here if you don't ask your grab driver to wait.

Thanks to Eddie for planning our 3 days in Sandakan. Contact Eddie on 60 11 7117 1178 or borneowildnature@gmail.com Eddie is very knowledgeable, a great driver and we really enjoyed the 3 days we spent travelling around with Eddie throughout Sandakan on his recommendations. He planned the 3 days using local smaller operators where he could. We visited all of the major attractions. A night river cruise with dinner to see fireflys, local wildlife like crocodiles, monkeys in the wild and the sunset. The next day we visited the Sepilok Orangutans, Sun bears, Kinabatangan river for a day river cruise to see many monkeys, Macaques long and short tailed and Proboscis just to name a few. On our last day we went to the Proboscis monkey sanctuary. We had a great time seeing the these very strange but funny monkeys, Seeing their family dynamics of the proboscis monkey and we even lucky enough to see 3 Hornbill birds. We were then taken to the Rainforest discovery centre and later to the War memorial Park. All well worth visiting. Eddie is a safe driver and I would highly recommend him organising and showing you around Sandakan. He is very knowledgeable and an experienced person offering services at reasonable rates. Thank you Eddie, we wouldn't have enjoyed ourselves so much if it wasn't for your local expertise and friendship!

A big thank you to the ground staff for being so organized. The whole visit was great. It is suitable for all ages. You’ll be given a sticker for your group for your booked time slot. You’ll go through a security before the start of your visit. There is picture taking that you’ll be able to purchase or view at the end of your visit. Please remember to show the person your ticket no. to view your pictures. However - the place is bit difficult if you’re disabled (you’ll need to inform the staff in advance as each time slot visit has exact head-counts for the elevator - I wouldn’t know if someone is on the wheelchair to be able to fit through it). Perhaps they will have you ride up on an elevator separately to the bridge. Going up to level 86 was refreshing. You’re have 15 minutes on this level to enjoy the view from the top. It was mesmerizing to be able to see a closed up of the other tower. You’ll end your visit at level 83 whereby there’s a small coffee stall, with some souvenirs to shop and you’re able to send a postcard to your home country. You can take your time here before heading down. The place is well kept but I do wish to see some improvement in term of more information to distributed to visitors. For instance, instead of telling us ‘you have 10 minutes here and I’ll call for your group with your sticker color’ when we reached the bridge (at level 41), visitors should be given more information in term of what tower are we going up later and how long it takes to build the bridge etc. Those general information were not given at all when the staff in charge who welcomed us on the bridge. I have a good feeling if we were to ask the staff, they will have no clue to answer our questions. Prior to visiting/ Tips: Buy your tickets online to avoid disappointment. (Get to the venue 15 mins before your booked time slot). To get the venue, look for Gucci & Ferragamo store and keep walking towards the exit. You’ll need to take an escalator down (do ask for guide if you’re unsure). There’s two different price for locals and foreign visitors. Pls bring your ID/ Passport on the actual day. Some of the staffs in charge may seek to see your document(s). You’re very likely to not score tickets on the spot for the day. (Please buy them in advance). Infants up to 2 years old is free. However - you’ll need to have tickets for them. Check the website upon purchasing or at the counter. The venue is closed every Mondays. No stroller for babies or any backpacks allowed. Only small bags permitted. Don’t worry- there’s a luggage storage (you’ll be given a tag and can claim your backpack/stroller after). There’s gift shop at level 83 & upon exiting at the ground floor. If you’re looking to buy souvenirs without visiting the place, you can do so at the ground floor gift store. Hope this helps and enjoy your visit!

Eddy - your go to person for exploring Sandakan. Eddy is a great driver with in depth knowledge of Sandakan and Sabah. He was our guide and helped us explore Sandakan, also being our photographer, sharing local snacks, poncho for rainy days along the way. He has a great conversationalist and it was fun riding in the car and sharing ideas and experiences. He gave us good recommendations on optimizing our itinerary and also took care of our luggage when we had to leave Sandakan and come back after a day. He is a humble, knowledgeable, experienced and polite person offering services at reasonable rates and we were a bit emotional when he dropped us at the airport and bid goodbye to him, because of his great company, prompt and professional service with a human touch. Thank you Eddy!

It was amazing. The guide was very friendly and gave lots of information. We’ve seen lots of monkeys and apes up close.

Such a beautiful hotel, there is a feeling that you stay in botanical garden. 5 mins walk from Orangutan’s center, which is super handy. Fantastic lake view at restaurant area. Food with a twist, which is very rare. The only weird thing was a service at restaurant. All personal was very friendly but there was something missing, we had a feeling that it was something wrong in the team. Be aware, the restaurant is closed at 2100 and no more service of any kind.

Great place to see orangutans and sun beards up close. The orangutans run free within the jungle and come to the reserve for food. The beards live in the reserve but the centre do a lot of work to rescue them from humans and prepare them before release them into the wild.

The view is spectacular, can even see Genting Highlands on the mountain, worth visiting. Well organised going up the Twin Towers. Polite staff.

They should have reached us prior to the pick up time, so that we could avoid wasting two hrs waiting.

Spend 3D2N visiting Sandakan Sepilok - Lubuk Bay (Proboscis monkeys), orang utan rehabilitation centre, sun bear & Kinabatangan river boat wth small detour to small cave Agop Lintangan. We are 4 adults wth our friendly & patience private driver, Rahim @rahimpati2009. He brings us around including to local restaurants for lunch & stop over at small pasar malam (night market) for us to pack some local food for dinner. We love the private arrangement where we can b rest assured of transport & no rush. It can b challenging to get Grab here in Sepilok. Highly recommended if u r here for this nature tour, Rahim 017-8322285 provides airport transfer & we end up using him for our whole tour here.

I came here again recently after the slow reopening post-Covid and was pleased to see that both sanctuaries' sterling work rehabilitating the animals was continuing apace. The bears at the Conservation Centre appeared to be thriving while the orphaned orang utans at Sepilok were the epitome of 'well cared for'. It is depressing that the number of orphaned apes appeared to have increased since my previous visit but their robust physical health gave glimpses of a potentially brighter future. This Tour is highly worthwhile as it combines both adjacent centres and affords one an insight into each one's excellent work.