Personalized trips to Malaysia
for independent travelers

Overall the trip was good in that it combined hiking and biking, as well as some beach time at the end. The Bike Borneo guys (Christian & Hakeem) were great and they had sorted out some nice bike routes and a nice homestay.
The 3 day hike with Rosli (and Andy and Jackie who were friendly but I'm not sure why they were there) was not what we expected. It would have been best characterized as a 3 day hike where we camp in villages on wood floors and have outdoor squat toilets rather than being described as homestays. The "homestays" were much more primitive than any of our other homestays in Borneo (which had mattresses and indoor flush toilets). If we knew we'd be sleeping on wood floors we would have brought or requested padded sleeping mats. The trails were narrow and slippery with many creek crossings and the leeches were incredibly numerous. We ended up walking out on a dirt road on the third day which made for better travelling but it cost us an extra 250 ringitt for the transport out.

I was very satisfied with my kimkim experience. It's the initial ease off set up through an application but then with the human touch of an old school travel agent. Nick was well and formed and I felt safe trusting his judgment. My time was allocated very sensibly and the two places I stayed at were very well chosen.

Green Sawak was incredibly professionally run - their systems were so efficient. The room I stayed in was great value, clean, cute, well air-conditioned and with a nice hot shower. Also such a comfortable arm chair that I feel asleep on the second afternoon and missed the cultural talk!

I will say that there is a certain amount of luck with the guides. I was fortunate to be in a group led by Ikki - high energy, very funny, very informed, good English. On my last morning I took an optional cruise (NOTE: make sure to book early, they will not try to upsell, you must speak to reception), and the guide was much less involved and informed.

We saw elephants, crocodiles, monkeys, eagles, hornbills.... It was very successful.

The second stay at Borneo Sepilok Rainforest Resort, I chose to just do things by myself. The first day I saw the sun bears and orangutans (arrive at 2pm!). The second day I spent the entire day in the Rainforest Discovery Centre. The BSRR is just 2-3 minutes drive from all these attractions, and they had a little car they took me back and forth in - 1 EUR per journey. BSRR is beautiful with lovely flowers and good food.

I could have fine -tuned any of the parameters of this trip, but letting the experts do all the research worked really well. All I had to do was arrive at Sandakan airport with my cameras and the rest just happened.

Thanks kimkim and Nick for a brilliant trip.

My experience with Kim Kim and their representatives in Borneo was outstanding. I randomly chose this agency after reading a few reviews and feel very fortunate for this decision. Working with Nick was easy. He is based in Sarawak, although Kim Kim head office is in Colorado, USA. Nick was quick to respond and made changes based on our needs. We booked a private tour with Kim Kim and we got great service, accommodations, food etc. Our itinerary took us to Brunei and then Miri, Mulu and Kuching in Sarawak. Our guides, Willy, Brenda and especially Isa in Kuching, were engaging and informative. We did a lot of hikes in extremely hot and humid conditions in the national parks, so be prepared for this. My husband and I are in our mid 60s and not in top physical form but we managed most of it, but slowly. The caves in Miri and Mulu were exceptional and well worth this effort. We based in Kuching for three nights but in hindsight, I wish I had one more day there, as I didn’t see as much of the city as I would have liked. From Kuching, we drove to Bako National Park and Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, where we saw orangutans, proboscis monkeys, macaques, silver-leaf monkeys, bearded pigs, pit vipers and more. It was incredible. On a river cruise at sunset, we saw a massive saltwater crocodile, monkeys, many birds like the sea eagle and then fireflies. The latter was absolutely magical. For those deciding Sarawak over Sabah, we chose Sarawak due to warnings issued by the Canadian government for Sabah. We met other travellers who had been to Sabah and said it was fine but I was concerned and therefore extra cautious. We missed out on the sun bears but otherwise felt that we got the better experience. It wasn’t crowded in September and for the most part, we didn’t get much rain. Overall, we had an incredible visit in Borneo and would highly recommend taking a tour with Kim Kim and seeing this stunning region.