Day 1 Sun Kota Kinabalu: Fly to KK from Penang. We have the rest of the day free to visit the Filipino Market and KK town. Seafood dinner at night? Overnight Kota Kinabalu hotel.
Day 2 Mon Kinabalu National Park: We hire vans to transport the group to Kinabalu National Park 88km 1.5hr. We visit Timpohon Gate where the trail up Mount Kinabalu starts and also the Mountain Garden with some very rare and valuable orchids. We lunch in Kundasang near the fresh vegetables market. We finish the day in Poring with treks to the Canopy walk followed by a soak in the hot springs . Overnight in Poring Lodges. Note that Yongo have booked and paid for these accomodations which include two chalets (5 rooms), three doubles (3 rooms) and 2 dorm beds. The remaining two chalets are not available. This means that one of the group members will have to put up with the Yongo guide in the dorm. Prefer volunteers but if all fails, will draw lots.
Day 3 Tue Sandakan: We breakfast in Ranau town before our vans move to Sandakan 227km 5hr. After checking in we visit the Australian War Memorial Park , which was the WW2 site of a Japanese POW camp housing some 1600 Aussies and 800 Brits, out of which only 6 survived. We visit the Agnes Keith House (entrance fees not included) located on a hill that overlooks the Sandakan Bay. Nearby we can enjoy English teas and scones at the very English, English Tea House (not typo error). We'll dine at one of the many local seafood restaurants. Overnight Sandakan.
Orang Utan Sepilok / Proboscis Monkeys Kinabatangan
Day 4 Wed Sepilok Orang Utan & Kinabatangan Proboscis: We visit the vibrant fish market with it's wide variety of marine creatures. After an early lunch, we proceed to Sepilok Orang Utan Santuary 25km 40min for a short walk and to catch the 3pm orang utan feeding time. Within the same premise, there is also a Sumatran Rhino breeding program, open for public viewing. There are only 3 such breeding program for Sumatran/Javan rhinos in the world. We move on to Batu Putih 100km 1.5 hr for a evening boat cruise/safari along the famed Sg Kinabatangan and its proboscis monkeys and other wildlife. We sleep and eat with the local villagers in this WWF sponsored project called Mescot (Model Ecologically Sustainable Community Tourism Project), a home-stay. Note that accommodation and meals here are quite basic and members will be placed in different homes. Dinner and breakfast are included. Suggest to bring BINOCULARS for sighting proboscis.
Day 5 Thu Semporna: If the group wants, a second boat trip in the morning is possible (at own cost). This time the boat will head the opposite direction to look for more wildlife. Sg Kinabatangan is well known because the animals are not fearful of humans. We expect to arrive in Semporna about lunchtime. In the afternoon we hire a local boat to take us to the nearby seaweed farms. These are used to make agar-agar (gelatin). At night, it's more seafood for dinner. Overnight Semporna.
Day 6 Fri Mabul Sipadan: We have an early visit of the interesting Semporna fish market. Then at 8am , we leave for Mabul Island and after putting away our things at the fisherman's village homestay, we head for Sipadan Island , 20 minutes by speedboat ( Sipadan Marine Park fees Rm40 covered). It's snorkeling, snorkeling and more snorkeling with a break for a simple packed lunch on Sipadan Island . This island is famous for its "Wall", which drops off 600 meters. Mabul Island on the other hand has a myriad of small marine creatures. Overnight Village Homestay. Note that this is a basic wooden house on stilts over clear seas in a working fishing village. One pack lunch, one dinner, one breakfast and one lunch are included. Suggest to bring own SNORKEL MASK otherwise rent at Rm20 per day per set of mask and fins.
Day 7 Sat Kapalai Island: After breakfast we proceed to Kapalai Island , or more appropriately Kapalai Atoll, some 12 minutes away. There's only one small resort, which is built wholly on stilts as the atoll is completely covered by water. It has the best snorkeling site of all the three islands visited with abundance of marine life. We return to Mabul Island for lunch. The rest of the day is spent walking about this small island, which can be circumvented in 30 minutes. We schedule to leave Mabul at 3pm for the short 1 hour boat-ride to Semporna. On arrival we have dinner before going to Tawau Airport 1hr for our flight to Kota Kinabalu. Overnight Kota Kinabalu.
Day 8 Sun Go Home: We leave the hotel for the early morning flight home.
