I thought I would start a blog on what we did, what it costs and any tips and tricks we learnt along the way. I found it a little harder to figure out a good itinerary for a trip to Sabah, Malaysia. It doesn't seem to be mentioned on blogs as much as some other destinations but with the allure of amazing wildlife, cheaper travel and family friendly I had to add it to our family bucketlist.
Sabah has the right amount of wildlife an chaos to keep your kid entertained and on their toes.
How to get there
Airlines, there are many to choose from, from more expensive which include everything to the cheaper budget airlines which have add ons.
Some tips with this, check out the final price of the budget airline once you have added everything you need to. Sometimes once you add the "Pick a seat" cost, 20kgs baggage underneath and food it could be the dame cost as the airline which includes all this.
We fly with Jetstar or Airasia usually but I found that around Sabah and even from Kota Kinabalu (The main hub into Sabah) that Malaysian Airline was cheaper and had better flight times and also included everything.
Most of your flights will be going through Kuala Lumpar which is on Malaysian mainland. Kota Kinabalu (the main town in Sabah) is where the international airport is. It is a decent sized airport but most flights will be coming from Kuala Lumpar.
What to bring - suitcase or backpack?
For this particular trip we were traveling with 8 - 11yr age range. We opted for backpacks for them. We were going to spend a significant amount of time jumping from transport to airplanes and thought this would be the best option. We found 45lt backpacks are small enough to go on the plane with them so long as they kept them under 7kgs.
7kg was light enough they didn't complain too much about carrying them but also big enough to have everything they needed. It also allowed the adults to focus more on the transport and destinations without worrying about too many bags. They also took either a small handbag or bumbag where they kept their electronics and money.
We took one wheelie suitcase that had 4 decent wheels on it and could be wheeled over dirt alright. This had its benefits being a hardshell as if anything was brought that needed to be protected it ended up in there.
Packing
Kids
3 shorts - lightweight material, quick dry like board shorts - knee length
1 long pants that zipped off at the knee
1 sarong
3 shirts
1 bathers - girls had long pants with a long sleeve rash shirt, boy had board shorts and long sleeve rash shirt. I got the long legged bathes for the girls online. It stopped burning and didn't show much skin to stay respectful but this isn't necessary, there was people in bikinis but it did help with the snorkeling days
10-14 underwear
1 pajamas
1 long sleeve shirt - loose fitting - safari style or fishing shirts great for keeping mosquitos away
crocs
1x enclosed shoe - they sell a rubber style shoe great for trekking at the Mr DIY shops. Its a bit like a red dot.
1x travel sized toothpaste
1x toothbrush
1x small hairbrush
1x travel size sunscreen
1 x small hand sanitizer
1x pack of tissues (might need them as toilet paper)
Health packing
You can pick up most things overseas to but some things i always pack that can be used for different things
Bandaids - Good ones, not the cheap ones that fall off
Insect Spray - good one as the mosquitos are insane
Lavender essential oil - good for putting on mosquito bites, healing up wounds, headaches if rubbed on temple
Golden Seal Heel Balm from Thursday Plantation - This is a sticky yellow paste but it is amazing if anything on the kids ever gets infected. You just have to make sure you cover the golden seal as it will stain clothes, so it needs a bandaid over the top. This stuff will help with infections that are antibiotic resistant, its liquid gold.
Charcoal - for that first feeling of a upset stomach
Imodium - Just in case
Panadol / Nurofen - Ibruphophen - You can buy this overseas but sometimes its good just to have a little stash so you don't have to hunt fr it when yo are feeling awful
Berrocca - extra boost especially if your needing that charcoal adding something with vitamin c and b vitamins might be what you need.
Hydralyte tablets - again just a small amount this can be replaced overseas. There is a drink called 100plus which is great for replacing salts
Itinerary
Time of year should be mentioned. We went in August and even though this is a quite time for Westerners traveling its a very busy time for the Chinese. It was definitely peak season, apparently their major school holidays are August, so i would avoid then for less people. I would book for the end of July or end of August, but miss the 2 weeks in the middle of August.
Kota Kinabalu
FLY into Kota Kinabalu. At the airport get a sim card. Cost about AUD$30. Download the GRAB app, this is a taxi app for Malaysia a bit like uber.
STAY 3 days @ Sky Hotel in a Premier Suite. This hotel is ok, but it has breakfast and a short walk to a mall plus the premier suite has a kitchenette. 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms.
DO lots of island tours from KK or you can head to the Mari Mari village to check out local culture this is about 2hrs trip there though.
Tawau
FLY from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau. You are wanting to head to Semporna but you need to fly into Tawau. You can fly either Airasia or Malaysian Airlines. Once you land in Tawau you can get a Taxi from the Taxi office just outside the airport doors or use the grab app. You want to get to Semporna and this is about a 40min drive from Tawau airport.
STAY don't stay at the Whitehouse, you want to stay on this little island thats connected by road to Semporna. There isn't a name for it but I found that everything I wanted to see and do was in walking distance if I had stayed on it. We haven't stayed at the Seafest Hotel but this hotel is in a great location, also Dragon inn floating hotel. In terms of quality of hotel, I cant vouch for either but if i was going back i would pick Seafest Hotel. We stayed at the Whitehouse and it was too far out and we had to keep catching taxis as you wont be able to walk as there isn't really footpaths and there was lots of traffic.
DO there is a few places that do tours to the islands. These are amazing tours but they are exhausting. Your waiting at 9am for the boat and your not back till 4pm. The kids are exhausted and the sun is tiring. Don't book day after day with island tours, make sure you have a day in-between of nothing. Theres a couple of tours they do. Either tour 1 Mabul island and Kapalai Island, Tour 2 Timba Timba island, Mataking and pom pom island or Tour 3 Bohey dulang, Matabuan island and Simbuan island. The Bohey Dulang is a hike up a hill and then two islands where you can snorkel. The hike would be a personal preference for your family and what you want to do, we decided to stick with the islands and snorkeling as this is some of the best in the world. We used a couple of different tour providers, didn't like one but loved the second one. The second one we contacted via whatsapp - this is used ALOT throughout Asia so definitely download that and set it up before you head over. The tour group is called "Borneo 2 Tour" their number is +60 18 382 4140. We paid RM 150 for adults RM 130 for kids. You need to just make sure that snorkels are included as some companies it wont be, also some include lunch and some don't so check that out to, ours included lunch and snorkels for that price. If you have a big enough group you maybe able to hire the boat which could end cheaper.
Sandakan / Sepolik
FLY you fly from Tawau. If you fly Airasia you will go through Kota Kinabau and then board another plane down to Sandakan. OR if you fly Malaysia Airlines you fly direct, honestly its the best option, its only a 50min flight.
STAY Stayed at the Sepolik B& B. Found this on bookings.com and it was awesome, Has a resturant with great food and also nice grounds, it makes you feel like your in the jungle, even had rambutan trees on the area, which was cool for the kids to pick the fruit and eat it there. It was about 20min walk to the two orangutan and sunbear conservation places. These are cool to see but i do prefer to see them in the wild. The walk had no footpath, you are walking along the grassed side of the road, Im not sure you could push a pram along it but there wasn't a whole heap of traffic so you could walk on the road and then jump off when a car comes. This would definitely be season specific for that as it could get busy during school holidays. Only 5 mins away is the Rainforrest Discovery centre to. Another place that would be cool to stay at is the
DO now Sandakan and Sepolik area have some wildlife adventures. From here you can go to Turtle Island, Fireflies tour, honestly that was the coolest thing we had done, we found the details at the Sepolik B&B as it was advertised on the wall. It included food and was only about $10 a person. It was a tour on a boat at dusk down the river, seen wildlife but then the fireflies came out, then back for a buffet dinner. The Rainforrest discovery centre is great to, lots of birds and cool roof top walks, they also have a cafe onsite.
Kinabangtan Cruise
DRIVE we where picked up from our hotel by bus and taken to Kinabangtan River.
STAY we opted to organise a tour prior. It was good we did as we found out that the time of year was crazy and booked out. This Kinabangtan river is where you might see some Pygmy elephants, monkeys, birds and crocodiles. We had 6 of us and stayed in a 6 bed dorm. The bathrooms and showers are at the end of the hall and there was heaps of families staying in the rooms. We booked through Asia Green Travel and stayed at the Borneo Natural sakau Bilit Resort. Now that was our only choice as we left it quite late to book. if you have some approx dates get this booked in earlier, months earlier and you might have some other choices. That resort was decent, clean and rustic but i guarantee there was probably other options that we didn't have the option of booking.
DO the place we stayed at had a river cruise in the morning and afternoon. Morning is the best time to see active wildlife. They then do hike options and evening cruises to see the crocodiles. Don't always count on seeing the elephants as these guys have a large area to roam and might not be in the area you travel on the river. We stayed 2nights so we had 3 days to try find the elephants.
Kota Kinabalu
FLY Flying from Sanadakan to Kota Kinabalu. We got dropped off straight to the airport and where able to just book a late afternoon flight. Its only around 3hrs by bus to get from Kinabangtan River to the airport.
STAY Kinabalu Data Hotel i booked this on Agoda. It was an ok hotel. If you see the prices you'll understand Im a budget traveller and all the accommodation is ok, but none of it is fantastic. This particular hotel was in good walking distance to markets that happen on a Friday night, plus places for food and even the seafront isn't far and a great place to go for the sunset.
COST
Total cost - not including the international airfares for our family of 5 was AUD$2800. That wasn't including meals but most hotels included breakfast so we only had lunch and dinner to worry about.
I hope this helps you plan a trip to Sabah, it was a awesome place and worth the trip. Easier and cheaper then I expected and the kids loved it.
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