Camps International: Discover Borneo

This region is an incredible haven for a large majority of Borneo’s wildlife, including orangutans, elephants, and proboscis monkeys. Under threat due to deforestation, students help safeguard the vulnerable habitat in a number of ways, including work on all areas of the ecosystem.
Learn more
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Day 1 Overnight flight to Kota Kinabalu
Please note you may have to depart a day earlier to arrive on Day 2
Day 2 Hello Kota Kinabalu
Details: Meet Camps International staff and transfer to Camp Bongkud
Arrive in the state capital of Kota Kinabalu and transfer (3 hours) to our community camp.
Details: Health & safety program orientation
We will participate in an orientation session, covering health, safety, and program expectations.
Details: Traditional welcome dance
After dinner, local school children will perform a traditional welcome dance.
Details: Daily reflection and group discussion
"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey On every evening of the program, we will set time aside to update our Reflection Journal and share thoughts and impressions that have come to the fore in the course of the day.
Day 3 Camp Bongkud
Details: Bongkud community project
To date our project work in Borneo has included building a children's development center, building a new community center, refurbishing kindergartens, constructing foot and hanging bridges, marine conservation and reforestation projects. Our projects are selected in partnership with the local community, according to their needs. New and ongoing projects include installing new community toilets, building a village community hall and a volleyball court.
Details: Group discussion
The group then has some time to think deeply about their goals for the week; in a framed, student led discussion forum. In Camp Bongkud we are working in collaboration with the surrounding community and an important part of the process of identifying the group's goals is a broader understanding of the problems faced by the area and our combined aims in tackling them. Through that understanding, leading to goal identification and student led planning, the group start to create and then work towards their own objectives.
Day 4 Camp Bongkud
Details: Complete Bongkud community project
On your final day there will be a gathering whereby your group can handover the work you have done to students and teachers. There will be a proud moment of reflection as you look at what you have achieved and the positive impact you have made.
Details: Leadership discussion
A student focused discussion of Leadership, its challenges, models and aims. The students will be asked to think about these issues particularly in the context of their current environment and activities. What has worked, what hasn't? Are we on schedule for our own aims? How could we do things differently?
Day 5 Camp Bongkud--Camp Batu Puteh
Travel to Camp Batu Puteh
Transfer to hammock camp and make camp
Night walk
Details: Wildlife observation river cruise
Enjoy a wildlife observation cruise where you can see animals such as the long-nosed Proboscis monkeys, alongside the different species of Leaf monkeys and Macaques. You can even see wild Orangutans preparing their nests for the night in the treetops next to the river.
Day 6 Camp Bongkud--Camp Batu Puteh
Transfer to tree planting site
Details: Reforestation project
Get involved in vital forest regeneration work such as seed collection, forest restoration and learning about ethnobotany.
Day 7 Camp Batu Puteh--Sepilok
Travel to Sepilok
Details: Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary visit
Enjoy a visit to the world-renowned Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary. Here they take in and care for orphaned orangutans and rehabilitate them back into the wild. No visit to Borneo would be complete without seeing these incredible primates, and arriving at feeding time provides an unforgettable opportunity to see these guys up close and interacting with each other.
Day 8 Sepilok--Kota Kinabalu
Travel to Kota Kinabalu
Details: Travel to Sandakan
Sandakan was once host to an exotic cast of foreign interests; German, Arab, and Indian traders, Dutch and Chinese planters, and pearl divers, but it was sadly razed to the ground during the Second World War. After the war, a roaring timber trade blossomed here with wood from Borneo imported all over the world, so much so that for a time, there were more millionaires per head here than anywhere in the world. Sabah's second city is dotted with religious relics, haunting cemeteries and stunning colonial mansions.
Details: Sun Bear Conservation Centre visit
Visit the Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sepilok, a rescue and rehabilitation centre for the endangered Bornean Sun Bear.
Day 9 Flight home from Kota Kinabalu
Details: Recognize perspectives and communicate ideas
Throughout the program, we will set time aside time for discussion, guided reflection, and time to write reflections on self-discovery and what we have learned. "We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey
Tour Includes:
  • Round-trip airfare
  • Accommodation at Camp Bongkud in tents with bedding provided, and communal bathroom facilities
  • Accommodation at Camp Batu Puteh is rustic with a hammock
  • Full time Camps International Staff and/or Project Coordinator with the group 24/7
  • At camp, three healthy, well balanced and tasty meals a day, and access to clean drinking water
  • Transportation by private coach for airport and activity transfers
  • In-country support from dedicated local team and 24-hour emergency support
  • All activities listed in the itinerary and all project costs & materials
  • Camp orientation & language lessons
  • Up to three college credits upon course completion (grades 9-12) or high school credit (grades 6-12) for U.S. travelers only.
  • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
  • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.

We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.378.8845 to price this tour with your requested options.

Tours departing in October 2027 or later cannot be priced here. Click here to get a price quote or call us at 800-771-5353 to price your trip.

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