I want to start by saying that our guide, Adrian Migiu was brilliant. He was informative without being boring, friendly while still giving us our space and a fun travel companion. Adrian offered information about the country, its people and wildlife and was able to answer our many questions. There was only myself and my mum in our "group" and Adrian made a welcome third member.
We did have a few problems at the start of our journey. When I booked, I presumed that we would be travelling solely with Rustic Borneo, one week before our trip, I received our updated itinerary and I noticed that there were other tour companies involved. This itself was not a problem but the co-ordination between the companies was.
Our first pick up was to go to Selingan Island with Seplilok Tropical Wildlife Adventure (STWA)- Our pick up did not arrive, the hotel staff enquired on our behalf and we discovered that they had gone to the wrong hotel, and yes, I had provided the correct information. That got sorted, but when our driver arrived we were told that we could not take our suitcases, only overnight bags. We frantically unpacked in the hotel lobby, so that we only had overnight bags, in the rush forgot a few things, but in the end, off we went.
On returning from Selingan Island we were to be transferred to Sepilok Nature Reserve by Rustic Borneo. They did not show and STWA kept trying to takes on a tour of Sandakan. Again we got it sorted and were transferred to Sepilok. We arrived there at 8:30am, our rooms were not to be ready until 2pm (the staff at SNR were great and got us into our rooms by 10:00) We had the day to ourselves so organised a tour to Labuk Bay for that afternoon.
The next day Adrian arrived and we had no more problems. On Day 6 of our 8day tour, Adrian left us in the care of Borneo Nature Tours who took us to Danum Valley. That transfer, at least, went smoothly, though we were sad to say goodbye to Adrian.
The last two days went smoothly and we had no trouble with our transfer out to Lahad Datu airport.
We did have a few hiccups at the beginning or our trip causing us a bit of concern, but they were corrected and did not spoil our holiday. These problems could easily be fixed through better communication between the companies.
Overall we had a great time, nothing was missed off the itinerary, the staff at all locations were friendly and helpful, the accommodation clean and comfortable and the wildlife amazing!
I would recommend Rustic Borneo, and I would highly recommend Adrian as a guide. Thank you for making our adventure so much fun.
Joanne & Jean
We were able to visit the areas we decided to see in a very relaxing and fun way. Rustic Borneo altered one of their suggested tours to accommodate our wishes. We visited 4 different areas and the guides in all areas were extremely helpful, informative and always on time. We enjoyed seeing a variety of wildlife, especially monkeys, birds and urang-utans as well as the massive cave systems and jungle. We were very impressed with how friendly and welcoming the people were. We would recommend Rustic Borneo to anyone who is thinking of visiting Borneo.
We booked our 8 day wilderness tour with Rustic Borneo, who in conjunction with Borneo Eco Tours, provided us will an extremely well organised and timely experience. We had some amazing tour guides who invoked confidence and complete trust in their duty of care and knowledge of subject. We received every experience asked for and more....thanks go to Jammunji and Joy from Borneo Eco, and a very special thanks to our wonderful guide Adrian from Rustic Borneo...We had an amazing time in Adrian's care.........
Rustic Borneo is a perfect partner when you plan your trip to Borneo. We were eight people on a fantastic trip comprising most of the highlights of Sabah. Everything when smooth and well organised reflecting our wishes of a mixture of rough accomodation, guided tours, sporty challenges and "luxury". Thank you Peter & Co.
Thanks for an outstanding trip. Even though we encountered small problems due to weather conditions, Rustic Borneo managed to clear it out smoothly.
We found the Price to be a bit expensive, but it was all worth it.
Our Family can HIGHLY recomend Rustic Borneo Travel
Super satisfied for the overall timing and good logistics!
We are really so happy and satisfied for all the arrangements of our experiences! Very well planned, welcomed with great courtesy and interest. The guides were all very nice and with knowledge about nature and animals. We had the great opportunist to see a Turtle female laying eggs, a diving croc, five out of Borneo's seven Hornbills and mest an orang utanför mummy with her baby. Fantastic!
Recommend Borneo Rustic Travels by all My heart!
They tailored my trip to my request and took care of everything and the result was very good!
I was quite late with my planning and didn't really know what to do, so I asked Rustic Borneo to give me a recomendation with adventure, scenic enviroment and wildlife and I got just that. Their recomendation was very good, the once they hired for the events was very good at what they did and all I had to do was show up and have a great time! :-)
Professional and at the same time very personal service
I can only recommen Rustic Borneo for any trip to Borneo. The planning phase and also the service during our trip was spotless. The quality of the guides this Agency uses is high
We came to Borneo for 4 days as part of an extended trip in maaysia. we travelled with my son and his wofe who live in KL. We wanted a trip to capture the essence of the wildlife of the country in the time we had. We startedt in seiplok to see the feeding stations of the organutans and visted the rainforest centre which is a must- do not miss it out. stayed in a great lodge there too. Then we transferred by boat to another lodge about 2.5 hours down a river where we saw a wide variety of animals and birds. The trip went smoothly and we even changed the itinerary at the last minute due to the weather. the last lodge did not have air conditioning so it wa challanging for us but it did have fans. We felt that Rustic Borneo managed our trip well and were accessible when we needed to make a last mintue change, i would recommend them as an agent to guide you through Borneo
Did not have much contact with Rustic Borneo when in Borneo. We were staying in a hotel most of the time. Hotel package was as promised and as expected.
It gave us a good understanding of Borneo today. The program had it´s up sides and some down sides but we felt very comforatble and was always in good hands. Great and supportive guides.
Let us do Borneo once more.
Excellent service, good program with non stop back up
We had a great trip to Borneo and rustic Borneo provided excellent advice, fair prices and honest advice. All participants in the group enjoyed the trip very much,
Rustic Borneo organised a wonderful tour of Sabah for us. The tour guide was a local man whom was extremely good-humoured and extremely knowledgeable about the local area and the wildlife. He was passionate about Sabah and obviously enjoyed his job. Rustic Borneo ensured that we had comfortable places to stay, some of them very luxurious and the meals were excellent. We were particularly pleased when one of the Lodges intimated that most of their food came from Sabah. The jungle was amazing, lots of wildlife, plenty of boat trips to look for more orangutans and so on. It was the wet season but despite the rain and high humidity it was a wonderful experience.
Thank you to Rustic Borneo for making the whole trip and planning such a memorable experience.
Memorable trip in beautiful nature, service-minded organizers, and a few hickups
Arrival and reception was good, the owners of Rustic Borneo met us the first evening for dinner.
Sandakan and Sepilok
We had a good guide (Adrian) that also doubled as driver for the first two days around Sandakan and Sepilok. The rainforest discovery centre was a rather good introduction and surprisingly uncrowded. The cruise on the Kinabatangan river was rainy but rather good although we failed to understand the enormous fascination with the proboscis monkeys. Sure, they're interesting but we though less time could have been spent on them. The accommodation by the river Borneo Nature Lodge was good, both with regard to facilities and service. The visit to the Gomantong cave was kind of interesting but what we will remember is that we were lucky to see no less than four wild utangutans! Two mothers with their youngs. Our stay at the Sepilok Forest Edge resort was unfortunately really bad. There was nothing wrong with the facilities but the staff lacked all sense of service and did not want to take responsibility for anything. Our rooms were poorly cleaned and after trying to make them clean my room three times they still failed to change the sheets. Rustic Borneo later apologized, took responsibility and rebooked our second night to a good resort (further down).
Turtle Island
The operations at Turtle Island are a monopoly which does not do justice to the great resource that the island is. The service and food was rather bad (especially considering the price), you are required go to the island in the early morning and spend all day there for no good reason (you're all just waiting for the turtles that come at night), the guide (Idil) had bad English and treated us like a bus load of schoolchildren even tough we were just five people. We would have been just as well off without our guide since he did nothing most of the time. As anybody visiting can see , the operations could be greatly rationalized and improved if the people in charge would decide to try. Apart from the monopoly problems, the adult turtle we saw was majestic and the new-born turtles were really cute and energetic. The conservation work seems a lot more serious than the tourist operations. In short, great potential with the amazing sea turtles but you have to weigh it against the price and poor service.
Sepilok Orangutan Conservation Centre
We unfortunately had the same guide as on Turtle Island so he wasn't of much use. The orangutan feeding was ok but we were a lot less interested since we had already seen them in the wild. It was also rather crowded. However, in the evening we took the nightwalk and was treated to flying squirrels, snakes, frogs and poisonous insects, guided by a knowledgeable park ranger. Due to the problems with accommodation earlier, Rustic Borneo had quickly rebooked us to a resort right next to the Centre which was very good, great service and facilities.
Kinabalu
The Cottage Hotel was ok. Service and food not great, room spacious. Biggest issue was that they insisted on using some strong smelling stuff for cleaning the floors, including in the restaurant. However, accommodation just around new year so close to the park seemed rather limited. The plan was to climb the mountain as two os uf did. Great although rather exhausting experience. On the way down from the top we did the Via Ferrata adventure course. I can recommend the longer version is you have the strength. The Mountain Torq staff that arranges the via ferrata was professional and safety was good. Unfortunately, one of us did not feel well and could not climb. Rustic Borneo then (in the morning of the 31st of December) swiftly arranged transportation to Kota Kinabalu and a hotel there. No extra charge as compensation for earlier hotel trouble!
Kota Kinabalu
We had a few relaxing days in a villa at the Nexus resort before going home. I went for a one day dive trip which I enjoyed. We also visited the KK markets and city centre.
In conclusion, it was a good trip. Lots of things to see, lots of nature, a great mountain, lots of activities and quite a bit of relaxation at the end. There were a few problem during the trip but many of these cannot be blamed on Rustic Borneo and when they could influence the situation they took responsibility and worked swiftly to deal with the issue. We normally do not travel using a tour organizer but Borneo is hard to get around without your own transport and Rustic Borneo gave us a good price and helped us design our own tour just for the three of us.
We had a wonderful holiday. We fell in love with Borneo. We are so happy that we chose you as our travel companion. We will definitely recommend you to other people who may travel to Borneo. We were fascinated by the country, by the people, by the wildlife and by the food.
The entire organization of Rustic Borneo Travel was perfect. We were always picked up and brought to our various destinations on time and were taken care of really well. The accommodation at all places was good. Our favorite place was Borneo Nature Lodge. We felt very “at-home” and well taken care of there. The service was excellent. The food was really good at all places, but also the best at Borneo Nature Lodge. The tour as such was diversified and gave us a nice picture of Borneo.
Our biggest challenge was climbing Mount Kinabalu. It was tough, but an amazing experience. Our mountain guide was very friendly and good for us. He took very good care of us.
The river cruise was fascinating and we saw many animals. Also our tour through the jungle was very interesting.
All in all we were very impressed by everything and your organization of everything was great.
We will definitely come back to Borneo. It is a beautiful country. Thank you for everything.
Best wishes for 2014
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