Borneo Nature Tours

Borneo Nature Tours has run nature and adventure programmes across Sabah since 1996 as part of the Yayasan Sabah group, the foundation that manages the Danum Valley Conservation Area. That link is the whole point. The company is best known for Borneo Rainforest Lodge, the only lodge inside Danum Valley, a 438 square kilometre block of lowland rainforest that has never been logged, where orangutan, pygmy elephant, clouded leopard and eight hornbill species all live.

Itineraries run from short lodge stays to longer journeys across the state, pairing Danum with the Kinabatangan river, Kinabalu Park, island reefs and cultural visits among more than 30 Sabahan ethnic groups. Guides are Sabahan naturalists, and days are built around dawn walks, the canopy walkway, night drives and swims in the Danum river rather than a fixed timetable. Income feeds back into the foundation that protects the forest, which makes this a rare and straightforward conservation case in Southeast Asian travel.