DAY 1
KUCHING
Arrival and welcome at KUCHING airport
Passage through immigration
A visa is not required for French, Swiss and Belgian nationals. (However, please check the conditions before travelling, as formalities can change rapidly). All you need is a return ticket for a 3-month stay in Malaysia.
Luggage collection.
Check into a hotel on the riverfront. The name will be given on the day of booking.
Lunch in this superb district, which is also an ideal place for a stroll along the waterfront, with its many small souvenir shops.
Seafood dinner in a typical restaurant close to the hotel: an excellent way to discover the local way of life. This is an excellent way to discover the local way of life, as well as what’s on the menu (for lovers of fish and seafood).
Night at the hotel.
Day 2
BAKO NATIONAL PARK
After a hearty breakfast, departure for BAKO Park, 37 km from Kuching.
A beautiful 1-hour drive by private taxi.
Arrival at the BAKO BAZAAR pier, where we will take a small motorboat (lifejacket included) for 20 minutes between the river, mangroves and the China Sea.
Arrival on the beach of BAKO National Park. Payment of the entrance fee and check-in at the park offices.
Check-in at the National Park accommodation, which is rudimentary and a little old-fashioned, but the only accommodation available if we wish to spend a night in the park.
BAKO is remarkable for its biodiversity, both in terms of its flora (its primary forest of dipterocarpaceae, its kerangas – the heather forests characteristic of BORNEO, its orchids, its dense mangroves, etc.) and its fauna, with more than thirty species of mammal, including the nose ape, the silver langur, the palm squirrel, etc. Lovers of nocturnal fauna will be delighted with spiders, frogs, reptiles, etc.
Spending the night means you can enjoy a 1.5-hour night hike with the experienced rangers – just bring your torch!
You can also take advantage of sunrise and sunset, a time when the animals are more easily observed.
17 footpaths offer magnificent walks to suit all tastes, from easy strolls to more challenging hikes that will take you to the eastern end of the peninsula.
To be decided on the spot, depending on your mood and fitness, accompanied by an experienced guide.
Dinner in the cafeteria and overnight in a Forest lodge.
Day 3
BAKO – KUCHING
After an early breakfast at 7 a.m., you can do another hike.
Lunch and return to Kuching depending on the tide.
Afternoon: visit to Semenggoh WIldlife Center by 2.30pm.
This rehabilitation centre, which has been open for some thirty years, has endeavoured to save and reintroduce 28 orangutans into their natural environment. The orangutans feed themselves in the forest, but in view of the constant deforestation, feeding platforms are still available.
The rangers provide bananas and coconuts twice a day.
These concentrated efforts have led to the first births of reintroduced animals. Seeing a mother take care of her cub for 7 years is a marvel.
The cub will stay by her side for those long years, acquiring all the knowledge it needs to become independent in the canoe.
* Learning to look for food.
* training his muscles to be able to hang dozens of metres from the ground.
*Evolving within the tall trees, building a nest so that they can sleep peacefully at the top of their treetops.
Return to the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.
Day 4
KUCHING – BATANG AI NATIONAL PARK
After breakfast, departure at 8 a.m. for the magnificent region of BATANG AI, a 5-hour drive on the beautiful national highway, with a stop for lunch.
This remote region, 250 km from the capital, is the native land of the IBANS, a people very close to the forest who live in communities and are a perfect example of man’s interaction with the preservation of nature.
This will enable us to meet a welcoming people living in superb traditional longhouses that can accommodate more than twenty families.
An example of sharing and respect for others.
When we arrive at the Batang Ai reservoir, it will take us another good 2 hours by motorboat (life jacket included) to reach the village of Nanga Sumpa.
Crossing this superb network of rivers is a magnificent experience.
You enter the heart of the jungle and its tropical rainforests of dipterocarpaceae (the trees that are home to the orangutan’s nests).
This 240 km2 part of the park is only a tiny part of a vast contiguous area of protected tropical rainforest, which includes the Sarawak Batang Ai reservoir (24 km2) and the Laniak Estimau Wildlife Sanctuary (1688 km2), which extends to the border of West Kalimantan (part of Indonesia).
Arrival at the lodge next to the IBAN village.
This wooden eco-lodge has very clean, single rooms with private bathrooms and WCs.
Verandas and wooden terraces offer a breathtaking view of the river, where you can take a dip to relax.
A suspension bridge links Nanga Sympa to an IBAN longhouse where visitors are warmly welcomed.
A 4-hour supply of electricity (6pm to 10pm) is available to recharge camera batteries.
It is possible to walk around the village.
Day 5
BATANG AI NATIONAL PARK – Trekking and Wildlife Exploration
After breakfast, we head off into the jungle on a lunch trail with a guide along the river, in search of orangutan nests and the animals themselves, as well as other jungle inhabitants.
The IBANs are VERY Proud to have this super mother orangutan with twins aged 1 year close to the village (an EXTREMELY rare occurrence).
After a 2-hour walk by pirogue, we reach a magnificent waterfall where we can relax and swim.
Barbecue lunch by the water. IBAN specialities and cooking methods
Return to the lodge by pirogue.
After dinner, we will be welcomed with a glass of friendship by the chief of the community and a moment of sharing with its inhabitants.
Night at the lodge.
Days 6
BATANG AI – KUCHING
Departure after breakfast at 9am. Approximately 1h30/2 hours by pirogue to reach the bus, which will be waiting for us at the jetty around 10h30/11am.
Lunch on the way.
5-hour drive to reach the capital by 4pm.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner and overnight stay.
Day 7
KUCHING – TANJUNG DATU NATIONAL PARK
After a hearty breakfast, departure at around 9am for this remote and rugged peninsula on the north-western tip of Sarawak.
TANJUNG DATU NATIONAL PARK covers 14 km2 of tropical rainforest home to dipterocarpaceae.
Its tropical forest trails are home to gibbons, long-tailed macaques, silver-grey langurs, whose BBs are born orange, and numerous birds…
Very rarely visited and with a daily quota, this magnificent park follows white sandy beaches with crystal-clear waters where green and olive ridley turtles come to lay their eggs from April to September: 2 protected species.
It will take us 2h30/3 h to reach Serabang, a small fishing village where we will have lunch.
At around 1pm, we’ll have a 20-minute boat ride (the sea can be a bit fickle, so the time is given as an indication).
After disembarking, we’ll have to walk (15 minutes) to the ranger office to pay the entrance fee and check in.
We will settle into our accommodation in the national park. Rudimentary accommodation in double rooms with 2 single beds.
2 trails criss-cross the pac: Telok Upas, Belgian Trail 2 kms = 1 hour which leads to the summit of Gunung Melano offering a spectacular view of the coasts of East Malaysia and Indonesia.
Or simply relax on the beach, swim, or visit the sanctuary dedicated to the protection of sea turtles.
Female turtles travel great distances to return to the beach where they emerged to lay their eggs. A turtle lays around a hundred eggs each time … a very big effort because during this time they are very vulnerable, and this 4 times a year.
Over the course of their lives, sometimes 100 years, 1% of their eggs will reach the adult aga and return to lay their eggs on the beach where they were born.
Possibility of a night hike with a ranger, for nocturnal animals (lemurs, tarsiers, flying squirrels, frogs, reptiles, etc.).
Day 8
TANJUNG DATU NATIONAL PARK
Departure at 8 am, after breakfast, for a jungle trek: we will follow the Passer Anti Laut Trail (2.7 km) in search of wildlife (gibbons, 2 different species of langur, civet cat, birds….). At the end of the trail is Antu Laut Beach.
You can cool off before heading back into the forest. Return at around 1 or 2 pm for a late lunch.
The rest of the afternoon is free (rest/snorkelling or trekking back into the forest with a guide).
Dinner in the park.
After dinner, we’ll head back to the beach in search of the green turtles that have come to lay their eggs.
Night in the park.
Day 9
TANJUNG DATU NATIONAL PARK KUCHING
Breakfast.
Walk in the jungle, relaxation on the beach.
12pm boarding for the village of SERABANG (20 minutes by boat).
Lunch in the village.
13h30 return to KUCHING after 2h30/3h drive.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner and overnight stay.
Day 10
KUCHING JAKARTA PANGKALAN BUN
Entry to Indonesia for French, Swiss and Belgian nationals just requires a visa obtained on arrival (32 euros), an online health declaration and an online customs declaration before you can enter the country for one month.
International flight with Batik Air or Malaysia Airlines (depending on availability and times)
Kuching Jakarta
Domestic flight JAKARTA PANGKALAN BUN
Arrival in KUMAI .
Transfer to hotel.
Dinner/night.
Day 11
TANJUNG DATU – SEMENGGOH – FLIGHT TO KALIMANTAN (INDONESIA)
8am departure for the park entrance after a 1-hour drive.
Formalities: registration, payment of entry fee, meeting with the boat crew and our local guides, who were born in TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK and are very committed to its preservation and protection.
Embarkation on a full-board klotok or houseboat. Traditional Indonesian boats adapted to navigation on river channels through mangroves and jungles.
They have a wide stern and bow sundeck for watching and taking photos, as well as for eating and sleeping.
The cruise begins: a unique 5-night/6-day experience as you cruise through the jungle, listening to the calls of the monkeys.
Dinner by candlelight.
Day 12
PONDOK TANGGUI CAMP LEAKEY NIPA AREA
This area is home to a large number of snakes and crocodiles.
Sail to Pondok Tanggui, a platform where fruit is dropped off every day at 9am by park rangers.
Also on this side of Indonesia, the orangutans’ territory is shrinking as a result of the intensive cultivation of palm trees for palm oil, illegal logging and the trade in precious woods.
There are fewer and fewer fruit trees in the forest, forcing the park rangers to complement the orangutans.
The journey continues slowly until the river joins, taking on a different colour with its muddier, darker waters: direction the Leakey rehabilitation camp, home to the very famous primatologist.
Feeding takes place at 2pm. We will visit this original centre, which has been conducting research for 50 years and protecting outangutans.
The river will take us to the Nipa Palm Area where we will spend the night.
Night hike to observe fluorescent mushrooms and nocturnal fauna.
TANJUNG PUTING is the only park to have taken photos of a clouded leopard with its 2 cubs: A FIRST
Although the chances of seeing them are slim to none. The night hikes are really the only ones that can offer us this opportunity.
Other animals are also present in this magnificent park, in large numbers.
Day 13 & 14
CAMP LEAKEY PONDOK TANGGUI
We’ll set foot on land around Camp Leakey in search of orangutans, as well as all the other mammals and birds that inhabit this protected jungle.
Hikes of 3 or 4 hours per day.
It will also be possible to go out again at night to look for the nocturnal inhabitants with the presence of experienced guides, so as to stay safe in the jungle.
Day 15
TANJUNG PUTING – Cultural Visit
After breakfast, another 3 or 4 hour trek into the heart of the jungle. We’ll explore a new area in search of its daytime and nocturnal occupants.
Lunch/dinner and overnight on board.
Day 16
FLIGHT TO JAKARTA – Farewell Dinner
Return to Kumai
Transfer to PANGKALAN BUN airport
Departure for JAKARTA by domestic flight
Return on international flight
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