Kawag Nature Lodge (KNL) is the perfect jungle escapade for travellers seeking to unwind in nature’s warm and loving embrace in Sabah. Located in Kawag Forest, a Class 1 Protection Forest Reserve area, it is only 80 minutes drive away from Lahad Datu town. The lodge is surrounded by lush forest, Bornean wildlife, network of streams and rivers and literally sits on the oldest geological formation of crystalline basement, approximately 200 million years old. Our activities will get you closer to this amazing natural environment. We have river tubing, picnic by the the waterfall, fish spa, jungle trekking and night drive to spot nocturnal wildlife. KNL is equipped with basic hotel facilities and amenities to ensure your stay is comfortable in the wilderness. The lodge restaurant serves local delicacies, has a 24-hour electricity, clean and cosy rooms with air-conditioner and fan, and hot water for showers.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Family
Charming
Languages Spoken
English, Malay
Location
Block 4, Ground Floor, MDLD 3286/3287, Lahad Datu 91112 Malaysia
The staff here did absolutely everything they could to ensure we had a great time - including giving us an individually prepared breakfast at the top of the observation tower. The food was good - better than we had had at other lodges - but rather large portions. Our guide, Rom, was incredibly knowledgeable and went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable and informed. We could not fault the staff or the location in anything, the only negative was that the rooms are in need of renovation and perhaps this is something the new management, which has only been there a month, will be addressing in due course
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Date of stay: February 2020
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip: Deluxe means with air con and it’s good and worth it!
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Kawag Danum Rainforest Lodge is the cheaper option versus the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, however you wouldn’t know it. The service by Alex and his staff is 5 star. I would highly recommend staying here and wish I’d stayed longer than 2 nights.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had an all-too-brief two days here and should have spent several more. The lodge is lovely and the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. Our safaris were really successful in finding lots of wildlife, both expected and completely new.
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Date of stay: January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our very own mistake was to accept staying here as an alternative to the Borneo Rainforest Lodge (which is actually amazing!!) as there was no availability there.
The facilities are poor, worn out, quirky and cheap. The rooms are comprised of cheap furniture, with a single bulb pending from the ceiling as all the light, a mouldy bathroom with less than unappealing brown towels one would never get into voluntarily (pictures attached). The decor is composed of paper tissues cardboard boxes, spare toilet rolls and plastic hangers in the open wardrobe (more pictures enclosed).
The restaurant terrace has several wooden sofas (more than uncomfortable) and some tables with plastic bottles a metallic water fountain as all decoration.
Seriously, it takes nothing to cheer up those rooms and con una space, plant a little bit more of vegetation between restaurant and rooms (we could see our beds from the restaurant and so could any other guest), dig a pool so people have something else to do than staying at their bedrooms with the air con on - if you get lucky and you get a room with air con, which you’re not guaranteed and believe me, you’re gonna need it.
We lasted the several hours our tour operator needed to change us to an amazing resort we finally stayed at.
The staff though were more than friendly, wanting to please us all the time and going above and beyond assisting us in getting in touch with our tour operator for the change.
Would never recommend unless you’re a Boy Scout.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I have never felt so cheated before... Let's start with the environment:
The forest is beautiful, peaceful area in the rainforest. The staff is friendly (although some of them don't speak English) and the guides do what they can to show you the fauna. However, the animals are very difficult to see (we didn't see anything apart from insects and thousands of leeches). We paid extra (70 euro/person) for a trip to the primary forest, definitely not worth it as we did not see any animal there either.
Now let's talk about the hotel: The price paid (230 euro/night/2 people), is way too expensive for the facilities of the hotel. The rooms are as basic as any hostel found anywhere else around Asia: dirty purple walls, super basic bathroom, very old furniture, found several big spiders and their nets inside the room, and could go on and on.. The food is acceptable though you don't have any options to choose. They told us that they are trying to raise money to improve the facilities, I guess the guests are paying for that..
I had big expectations for Danum Valley and now I would recommend you to skip it, unless you can afford 700 euro/night in Borneo Rainforest Lodge (and still doubt if that would offer good value for money). The other two accommodations in the area are very bad for the price paid.
For Management: painting the walls is not expensive, cleaning the room from the insects the same day your guests are coming either, changing the curtains either.. small improvements make big changes and in anyways, if you can't improve it, you should lower the price, or else this "new" hotel is going to last very little time.
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Date of stay: September 2017
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â You are paying a lot of money, so do pay a little more for the A/C (ask for it, or they won't...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We wanted to spend a few days at the Danum Valley Field Centre but they were closed for winter holidays (around New Year) and so were redirected to this lodge with an intermediate offering between the top notch Rainforest Lodge and the basic DVFC. It was built by the forestry management and it opened in August 2016. It is located in the buffer zone of the Danum Valley (it is not a primary forest), where selective tree cutting was applied in the '70s, next to the Kawag river. It has 20 rooms. The rooms with AC face the forest, while the rooms with fan only face the camp. The rooms are nice, but the bathrooms look old already and their design allows for poor water elimination. All rooms have a private balcony, but there is only one plain wooden chair per room. We asked for a second chair, but they could do much better by offering a comfy chair or, even better, a hammoc. There is also an observation tower, but it did not offer any specific sighting. We spent 4 days / 3 nights here and had a good, relaxing time. I would however recommend for 3 days / 2 nights as the activities are the same and the extra day is only useful if some activities are cancelled due to heavy rain (which was the case for us). The stay includes all meals and a guide. The activities are mostly walking in the forest, meaning that animal spotting is only occasional. There are also a lot of leeches, so it is recommended to buy leech socks ahead and wear long pants and long sleeves. Having to look for leeches on yourself regularly also makes the hikes less pleasant and your chances of spotting wildlife smaller. The highlight for spotting wildlife is the night ride, and the tubing on the Kawag river is fun. There is also a walk to the Ali Baba waterfall, where you can enjoy a swim in (not so cold) waters and have a fish spa (understand: fish will be happy to bite on your skin if you stay still there). There is a lot of free time, to rest or walk around to observe nature and insects. The staff was very nice, doing all they can to help, and our guide very knowledgeable and with good communication skills in English. Food was good too. Even though the standard program mentions fixed departures / return hours from / to Lahad Datu, they seemed to accommodate all guests requests for early departure / late arrival. This means that you do not necessarily have to spend a night in Lahad Datu before / after the lodge in case your travel times are not compliant with the normal plans. There is no internet at the lodge, but there is a wifi at the forestry centre located 1km away.
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Date of stay: January 2017
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â The rooms with AC offer more privacy as they face the forest
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We went here as an alternative to going to Danum Valley Field Centre or the extremely expensive Borneo Rainforest Lodge. The Kawag Rainforest is just outside of the Danum Valley Conservation Area. Beautiful dense (secondary) jungle. The lodge is great and there were very few people there. We stayed for 4 nights. The first two nights there were 2 other people there and the second two nights there were 3 others. So it was very quiet and very peaceful. The rooms are fairly basic but definitely good enough. We had one of the 'deluxe' rooms which have a balcony overlooking the forest. 3 meals a day are included in the price. The food was excellent. The best we ate in Sabah. The service was always excellent and the staff very friendly and helpful. We went on a guided jungle walk each morning and a night drive after dinner each night. The jungle is full of leeches, so remember to get some leech socks and use insect repellent. We didn't see a lot of animals during the day walks, a few macaques and a few birds, but its dense jungle. We did have to run a couple times though as the guide heard some elephants nearby. On the night drives we say a flying squirrel, a slow lorris, a tarsius monkey and a leopard cat, so they were definitely worth doing. A good, reasonably priced alternative to Danum Valley.
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Date of stay: July 2017
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Deluxe rooms look out to the jungle. Standard rooms look at other parts of the lodge
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We intended to be in the Danum Valley, however Kawag is actually on Kawag River, not exactly on the primary forests of Danum Valley as in Danum Valley Research Centre or Borneo Rainforest Lodge. However it is still nice and has many of the attractions. The hotel must put mosquito nets on the windows and balcony door.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: November 2019Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Besides of a lot of failures that the lodge has (the once you can read in the bad reviews: like no food, poor forest, not so clean rooms, poor wildlife) the thing is that we been robbed. We leaved our thing in our room under key, and once we leave we realized that 400 usd and a pair of Rayban sunglasses were taken of our stuff.
We contact the management and the answer was really poor, they didn’t accept their responsibility. They blame us saying that we had a belongings breaffing (something that never occur) and pretending that even our locked room (which they got a copy of our key) was not a safe place. Also they said that as we realize and notice late the lost items we could lost our things in other place, actually we realize one day after leaving the place when we wanted to pay our next accommodation and we take 3 more days in notice them because of the lack of wifi.
So, this place is not value for the money that you pay and for sure not a safe place for going on holidays. Its a shame that aside of the materials lost we will always remember borneo with a bitter feeling.
We are backpackers on a budget traveling until we run out of money. So thank you Kawag Danum Rainforest Lodge / Borneo Refugia for stealing days of our trip.
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Date of stay: December 2018Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Borneo_Refugia, Management at Kawag Nature Lodge
Responded 22 Apr 2019
Thank you for sharing officially in our Trip Advisor repeatedly and Facebook reviews. While we understand your predicament, we feel that your comments have not been fair. If your intention is to damage our reputation, perhaps you have succeeded. For our part, we are sincerely sorry and wish that the theft you claimed to have happened in our Lodge, did not. We regret if it might have indeed occurred at our Lodge. We will do our best to prevent this from happening in the future. Meanwhile we regret to inform that we unable to find evident to support your claim, which we received 3 days after you left our property. Should you have checked your personal belongings before your check-out, and informed us of your loss, we would have immediately conducted an investigation before you leave our property and would have tried our humble best to rectify the situation. Again we regret very much your unpleasant experience and wish you all the best in your future visit to this part of the world
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
The built infrastructure of Kawag is impressive, sadly it ends there. Although clean enough, the rooms are stark with a single bare light bulb and bulk buy discount furniture without a hint of local flavour. Food is very ordinary, breakfast one morning consisted of barely warm packet noodles and long life sausages, all served with sickly sweet cordial. Luckily, there was always fresh fruit offered. The staff are lovely and doing their best but don't really know what is expected of them. Our guide was excellent. However, none of this would have mattered if there had been wildlife! The forest was logged heavily up until only 10 years ago and secondary growth is returning, as our guide told us, the animals are beginning to return but this takes time. We heard many birds and Gibbons, the chef feeds a beautiful Civet nightly which whilst lovely to see one so close up, our group wondered whether this is beneficial for the animal? The surrounding enviroment is serene, peaceful and beautiful but walks are soggy, leach ridden and devoid of wildlife. My experience over many years and in many different countries following wildlife is that the best chance of viewing is early morning and dusk, definitely not the middle of the day. No wifi at the lodge and no communal seating to relax and chat with fellow travellers, only the hardbacked dining chairs. Overall a very disappointing experience
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Date of stay: June 2017
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Izal. Thank you for your interest to visit Kawag Danum Rainforest Lodge. The ideal stay would be 3D/2N. Please e-mail or contact us to make arrangement.
Hye Pat T, is it not advisable to walks to the trails without a guide, however there a some area near to the lodge that you can walk alone if u want to but you need to tell your guide. at KDRL there plenty of birds there but depends to your luck also as you in the jungle and cannot expect anything but u can hope for it, if you get lucky then you might see it..cheers :)
There are more places to choose from in the Lahad Datu area.
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Kawag Danum Rainforest Lodge
LOCATION
MalaysiaSabahLahad Datu
NUMBER OF ROOMS
20
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