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| Borneo Dive Lodges & Wildlife Safari | |||
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This experience combines superb diving at two locations of off the north eastern coast of Borneo's northern tip renowned for their prolific marine life, and also integrates close encounters with the island's most famous wildlife. Combining Pulau Lankayan with Pulau Sipadan gives you the best possible chances of sighting everything that Borneo has to offer from pelagics such as sea turtles, sharks, barracuda and even whale sharks, to tiny marine life such as frogfish, crocodile fish and nudibranch. Now that you can no longer stay on Sipadan itself, our alternative route to the island is by speedboat from the islands of Mabul or Kapalai. Here we can place you in one of our selected waterside lodges, ideal for divers and non-divers alike. You have the option of diving at Sipadan and the other Semporna Islands of Kapalai and Mabul. As well as diving at Sipadan from Mabul or Kapalai, you will stay at our recommended dive lodges on Lankayan Island which is off the north eastern tip of Borneo in the Sulu Sea. Borneo's emerald waters may reveal treasures to satisfy the most avid of divers, but the best of wild Borneo is both above and below the waves. Whilst this experience has its emphasis on the sub aqua, it also combines close encounters with two of the island's most famous wildlife highlights - sea turtles and orang utans. On your journey with us you will witness one of the world's most famous wildlife rehabilitation and conservation programmes at an orang utan rehabilitation centre. Here, young captive or abandoned orang utans, orphans of deforestation, are being helped by highly trained and motivated staff to readjust to a life in the wild. Sea turtles are abundant in this part of the world and as well as encountering these below the water from your waterside lodges, we will take you to see them laying eggs at an island sea turtle sanctuary. Here you have the opportunity to see conservation in action and witness the transplanting of eggs to the hatchery and releasing of baby turtles back to the sea. You have the option of extending your safari with an exploration of the rainforest along one of Borneo's most majestic rivers, the Kinabatangan. The river and its surrounding rainforest wetlands make up one of the richest ecosystems on the planet and is one of only two known places on earth where 10 primate species can be found. These include the largest Malaysian population of Orang Utan, and several species that are endemic to Borneo, such as the Proboscis Monkey, the Maroon Langur and Bornean Gibbon. Pulau Lankayan Located 90 minutes speedboat ride from the northeast Borneo town of Sandakan, the verdant oasis of Lankayan offers a myriad of diving opportunities around just one island. As well as a rich diversity of marine life residing on its reefs, it provides an excellent combination of macro life and pelagic species which includes the occasional dugong and even whale sharks especially during April and May. Amongst its gently sloping sandy areas you can find sponges, gorgonians and corals. These play host to bamboo sharks, mandarin fish, porcelain crabs, seahorses, mimic octopuses and flying gurnards. An additional highlight of Lankayan are the illegal fishing vessels deliberately scuttled and scattered around the coastline. These themselves have become established reefs with their own array of sealife. Pulau Sipadan Pulau Sipadan is Malaysia's only volcanic island and was made famous by French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau in his documentary, 'Ghosts of the Sea Turtle'. Sea turtles are undoubtedly prolific here and so accustomed to divers that they largely ignore them. The island also boasts almost every type of marine flora and fauna in the Indo-Pacific. The coral and marine life here is prolific with great opportunities to encounter huge bumphead parrotfish and living walls of hundreds of schooling barracuda. Sipadan is the most famous of a scattered group of islands that make up the 73,000 acre Semporna Marine Park. Click HERE for a more detailed description of the marine life of Pulau Sipadan. Pulau Mabul Mabul is located some 25 minutes north of Sipadan. In contrast to the steep drop offs, coral reefs and pelagic species of Sipadan, Mabul is renowned internationally for a very different reason. A muck diver's paradise, Mabul is great for macro life with every hole in the sand and coral rubble inhabited by ghost pipefish, frogfish, devil scorpionfish, stonefish, crocodile fish, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, cowfish and nudibranchs. Macro photographers will find great opportunities to capture some rare species that inhabit the sandy bottom of Mabul's marine environment. Pulau Kapalai Like Sipadan and Mabul, Kapalai is part of the Semporna Marine Park island group. Located around 20 minutes from Sipadan, Kapalai is another macro diving destination with all the species found at Mabul including blue-ringed octopuses, dragonets, mating mandarin fish, jawfish and cuttlefish. Other sites around Kapalai are likely to reveal humphead (Napoleon) wrasse, blue spotted ribbontail rays and bumphead parrotfish.
Sites visited will be dependant upon weather conditions and all diving activity is at the discretion of the boat skipper and Sabah Marine Park rules prevailing at the time. For a detailed draft itinerary, please click HERE
Malaysian Borneo's islands are jewels in South-East Asia's rich tapestry of marine habitat - and long may they remain that way. The diversity of life within them is of global importance, but like many reefs around the world, they are beautiful but fragile environments that are under pressure. We therefore urge all divers to dive responsibly and safely, avoiding any contact with the reef. For full details of our Responsible Diving Code of Conduct, please click HERE Photographs kindly provided by Ralph Pannell, Charlotte Caffrey, Alan Oh, SMART, Albert Teo, Nick Bramley, Lawrence Lee & PSR |
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