Your guide to the Borneo rainforest, focusing on Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia. Everything you need to know and some more besides.

Borneo Rainforest Facts
Continent: Asia
Age: 130 million years
Area: 183.68 million acres
Species: 15,000 plant, 1400+ insects, fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians

Where is the Borneo Rainforest?

Borneo, the third largest island in the world, was originally covered in thick forests, bogs, swamps and rivers. However, during advancements on the island during the 80s and 90s, the landscapes of Borneo underwent a dramatic change. Larger and more industrialised countries benefited from the flattening of rainforests, at a rate which the human race has never witnessed before.

As a result of oil palm, peat fires, and timber harvest, the northern parts and much of southern Borneo’s rainforests have disappeared. The remaining rainforest-covered areas lie to the north and north-eastern-most parts of the island.

It would be tricky to categorically determine the best Borneo rainforest experience, as its ancient jungles span millions of hectares. As it is the most well-known, people often assume Danum Valley is the best rainforest experience in Borneo. However, there are many more places in which you can experience the island’s dizzying array of flora and fauna with ease. So here we compare the best Borneo rainforests and the wildlife that call them home, so you can work out which are right for you.

First, it is always important to remember that Borneo’s remarkable rainforests are under threat from deforestation and developing palm oil plantations. For this reason, every rainforest experience we develop focuses on conservation and awareness. We believe that this sustainable approach not only benefits Borneo’s natural habitats but makes for a far more enriching travel experience, too.

Animals in the Borneo Rainforest

This rainforest in Borneo is famous for its biodiversity – in simple terms, just how many and how varied the species of animals and plants are in this mind-blowing place. Some of the world’s most incredible ecosystems find their homes here, including peat swamps and heath forests, which provide a home for rare and beautiful creatures. Thousands of species of plants and trees have been discovered within the rainforest (so far), as well as hundreds of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Here are just some of the incredible creatures that thrive in Borneo’s thick forests.

Bornean Orangutan

With the separation of the habitats of Borneo from the rest of the world for millions of years, the species here are often totally unique to the island. The Bornean orangutan is just one example, having diverged from the Sumatran species around 400,000 years ago. These incredibly intelligent beings are critically endangered due to the ongoing threat to their habitats. With ETG, you can visit some of the best places to see Orangutans in Borneo while keeping conservation in mind.

Bornean Elephant

Having separated from the Asian Elephant species on the continent’s mainland, Bornean elephants are again a subspecies unique to the island of Borneo. Differences can be seen not only in the appearance of these incredible creatures but also in their behavioural qualities. Noted to be rounder and smaller than mainland Indian Elephants, Bornean pygmy elephants have shorter trunks and long tails.

Bornean Rhinoceros

Also called the Sumatran rhinoceros, the Bornean rhinoceros is another creature that has lived in Borneo’s rainforests for thousands of years. Critically endangered, this smaller species of Rhinoceros need space, water, mud, and 50kgs of leaves, bark, and berries each day. With habitats disappearing, their species has declined drastically, with fewer than 250 estimated to still remain in the forests of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula.

Mother orangutan with her babies in Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary

How to Experience the Borneo Rainforest?

It would be tricky to categorically determine the best Borneo rainforest experience, as its ancient jungles span millions of hectares. As it is the most well-known, people often assume Danum Valley is the best rainforest experience in Borneo. However, there are many more places in which you can experience the island’s dizzying array of flora and fauna with ease.

First, it is always important to remember that Borneo’s remarkable rainforests are under threat from deforestation and developing palm oil plantations. For this reason, every rainforest experience we develop focuses on conservation and awareness. We believe that this sustainable approach not only benefits Borneo’s natural habitats but makes for a far more enriching Borneo travel experience, too. Find some of the most fascinating areas of the Bornean rainforest below.

Sepilok

Sepilok is the gateway to the rainforests and incredible wildlife experiences of Malaysian Borneo’s northern state, Sabah. Sepilok is known for its Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, and you should get to spot the majestic apes in semi-wild conditions – seeing them swing down from the canopy at feeding time is something I will never forget.

The Kinabatangan River

With pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys and orangutans, the Kinabatangan River is home to phenomenal wildlife as well as a wide array of birdlife and marine animals. Wildlife sightings are very common, and we’d go as far as to say the Kinabatangan river is the best wildlife experience in Borneo due to the sheer variety of animals there.

Danum Valley

In our opinion, Danum Valley is the most classic rainforest experience in Borneo. Here, there is a good chance of seeing wildlife in the primary rainforest (what people might imagine being the ‘ultimate’, archetypal rainforest experience), which the Kinabatangan is not. It really is enchanting, and you can bathe and tube on the Danum River and walk on the incredible Danum valley canopy walk, returning to mind-blowing accommodation like Borneo Rainforest Lodge.

Tabin Wildlife Reserve

The lesser visited Tabin Wildlife Reserve feels a little different to Danum. Due to the spacing between vegetation in Tabin, it’s much easier to spot wildlife and it’s actually home to more species of birds than Danum. Animal characteristics are often clearer to see as there is more sunlight penetrating the forest.

Deramakot Forest Reserve Park

Dermakot Forest Reserve is a lesser-known Borneo rainforest experience but arguably the best place in the world to see the clouded leopard. Orangutan sightings are less common than in other places but along with the clouded leopard the area is home to the slow loris, flat headed cat, pygmy elephant, colugo, Bornean gibbon and otter civet. So, if big cats are your priority, then it is the best rainforest option for you. Deramakot Forest Reserve park chalets are simple, much like the accommodation in Tabin. The main activities are safari drives, which makes it different from elsewhere in Borneo, but short walks are available too. Deramakot is the longest Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified tropical forest in the world too and a fantastic example of positive rainforest conservation collaboration. Do note that it is more out of the way compared to the Kinabatangan, Tabin and Danum. It is 5 hours from Sepilok, south west of both the Kinabatangan and Danum Valley, and could involve an overnight stay break up the journey.

View from a terrace in Borneo Rainforest Resort in Danum Valley