8-Day Sandakan Wildlife Tour with Lankayan Diving and Kinabatangan

• Get picked up by your Sandakan tour guide in a car or coach and transfer to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, where orphaned and injured orangutans are rehabilitated and taught to fend for themselves again in the wild.

• Next, visit Sabah's first Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), located next to the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre. You will have the opportunity to get a closer view of the world's smallest bear from the observation platform.

• Return to the hotel for an overnight stay.

• Pick up from the airport or your hotel and transfer to a private jetty in Sandakan Town for a 90-minute speedboat trip to Lankayan Island.

• Learners can enjoy introductory scuba diving classes from experienced divers and explore Lankayan Island's 32 dive sites, including two wrecks.

• Try Jawfish Lair in Lankayan, one of the most popular dive sites, just a 4 to 5-minute boat ride from the Lankayan jetty. Common sightings include giant jawfish, stingrays, snappers, groupers, anemone fish, fusiliers, trumpet fish, and nudibranchs. Rare sightings include blue ribbon eel, ghost pipefish (seasonal), juvenile catfish, peacock mantis shrimp, and turtles.

• Upon arrival, check in to your room for the night.

• Start your day at the Lankayan Dive Centre, where divers will have three boat dives and unlimited house reef dives in front of the Lankayan Dive Centre. These house reef dives are not guided, so please find your buddy to dive with.

• Non-divers can enjoy other available activities such as swimming, snorkelling, and ocean kayaking.

Strict no-fly policy within 24 hours after the last dive.

• After breakfast, check out from the Lankayan hotel and transfer to the jetty by boat, followed by an overland transfer for a Sandakan sightseeing tour.

• Explore Sandakan's landmarks, including St. Michael's Church and the Central Market, where there is an amazing variety of fresh seafood and agricultural products, as well as Sim-Sim Water Village, where houses are built close to the water surface and offer a fascinating view of the sea.

• Visit Puh Jih Shih Buddhist Temple, situated on the hilltop of Tanah Merah, which offers a panoramic view of Sandakan Bay.

• Head to Agnes Keith House, where the books Land Below the Wind and White Man Returns were written. Today, the house is a heritage museum providing an interesting insight into life during the British colonial period in North Borneo.

• Drive for about 2.5 hours through the rustic countryside dotted with villages to visit Gomantong Cave, home to millions of bats and swiftlets that produce the famous edible bird's nest in Asia.

• Drive for about 40 minutes and arrive at the lodge, where you will be greeted by a guide and proceed to check in to your rooms.

• Have lunch served at the restaurant.

• Then relax by the river before embarking on a boat ride upstream along Sabah's longest river, the Kinabatangan.

• Search for wildlife, including the famous endemic proboscis monkeys, as they settle down on the treetops.

• After dinner, take a walk with your headlamps or a torch and look for nocturnal wildlife, depending on weather conditions. The walk will take about one hour.

• Return to the lodge, relax, and stay overnight.

• Start your day with a morning cruise to Oxbow Lake to observe more wildlife and birds.

• Return to the lodge for breakfast and a walk through the village before returning for lunch and a brief period of free time. Tea and other refreshments will be served.

• Commence a river cruise that will last about 2 hours. Spot a wide variety of wildlife, including animals and birds.

• After dinner, relax and enjoy some leisure time.

Overnight in the hotel.

• Get ready for another morning cruise to observe more wildlife and birds.

• Return to the lodge for breakfast and proceed to check out. Transfer to your hotel.

• After lunch, proceed to the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) to discover the uniqueness and importance of Borneo's rainforests. The RDC's main highlights are its exhibition halls, the Plant Discovery Garden, the Rainforest Walk, and a short suspension bridge where you may enjoy practising your balancing skills.

• After visiting the exhibition hall, walk around the Plant Discovery Garden and along the Rainforest and Canopy Walkway in search of birds and wildlife.

• After the tour, transfer to your hotel for an overnight stay.

• Enjoy a free leisure day at your hotel.

• After breakfast, check out from your hotel and transfer to Sandakan Airport.