Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre

The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is the only facility in the world dedicated solely to sun bears, the smallest bear species on earth and one found nowhere outside South-East Asia. It opened in 2008 with eight rescued bears, animals confiscated from private homes, plantations, restaurants and even resorts where they'd been kept illegally as pets, on a 2.5-hectare patch of forest in Sabah's Sepilok-Kabili reserve that had previously housed a rhino breeding programme. Around 42 rescued bears now live here. Most cannot ever return to the wild as they have become too used to humans so they now live in large forest enclosures built to let them climb, dig and forage as they would naturally.

Visitors watch from elevated boardwalks and an observation platform, with staff on hand to explain each bear's story. The centre also runs a satellite rehabilitation camp in Tabin Wildlife Reserve for younger bears with a chance of release, and every ringgit of admission goes back into that work. It sits right next to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, sharing the same entrance gate, so the two make a natural pairing for a single morning.