Danum Valley
One Of The Largest Surviving Areas Of Undisturbed Lowland Dipterocarp Rainforest In Southeast Asia Never Logged, Never Settled, And Entered Only By Permit · Lahad Datu, Sabah
ALMOST ALL OF BORNEO'S LOWLAND FOREST HAS BEEN LOGGED OR CONVERTED. DANUM IS ONE OF THE LARGEST PIECES THAT WAS NOT - roughly four hundred and thirty square kilometres of PRIMARY LOWLAND DIPTEROCARP RAINFOREST, never commercially logged, with no settlement inside it and no history of one. THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM EVERYWHERE ELSE ON THE ISLAND: the canopy is intact, the big trees are still standing, and the animals are not concentrated into a corridor because there is nowhere else to go. ORANGUTAN, CLOUDED LEOPARD, PYGMY ELEPHANT, EIGHT HORNBILL SPECIES, and gibbons that you will hear long before dawn. There is a CANOPY WALKWAY and a research field centre that has produced decades of science. ACCESS IS BY PERMIT AND ARRANGED TRANSFER ONLY - you cannot turn up - and it is expensive, which is part of how it stays like this. There are exactly two places to stay, both book out months ahead, and every walk is guided - night walks more than anything else are what people remember.
Danum Valley Conservation Area, Lahad Datu, Sabah, Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia
DANUM IS ENTERED ONLY BY PERMIT AND PRE-ARRANGED TRANSFER FROM LAHAD DATU, roughly two to three hours by road along a logging track - THERE IS NO PUBLIC ACCESS AND NO WAY TO TURN UP. Two options exist: the BORNEO RAINFOREST LODGE, which is expensive and comfortable, and the DANUM VALLEY FIELD CENTRE, which is a working research station with basic accommodation and limited visitor places. BOTH MUST BE BOOKED WELL AHEAD. WALKS ARE GUIDED, night drives and night walks are the highlight, and the CANOPY WALKWAY is included. IT RAINS IN EVERY MONTH and leeches are guaranteed. MALARIA ADVICE APPLIES. Lahad Datu is reached by air from Kota Kinabalu. DO NOT EXPECT A CHECKLIST - this is intact forest and the animals are dispersed rather than concentrated.