Thank you for the review. Booked 6 nights there for early next year.
Can you recommend anything to do / see / eat in SDK ? Turtle Island is off the list because of season I guess....
6 nights is a lot, even as a base to hop to wildlife sanctuaries close by.
Eat:
- Sandakan Fishing Association (about 6-8 minutes walk from the hotel) - typical Sandakan/Malaysian Chinese Food. Google Map it. It's a hole in the wall and they only have 4-5 tables. Pretty much you have to make reservations a day in advance since they only buy/cook as much as they expect the next day without any leftovers. They cook their own way - so pretty much it's home cooked.
- Sim-Sim 88 Restaurant (about 10 minutes taxi ride away, expect cab fare to be around RM 15-20 each way). Authentic, local restaurant. It's by the bay/water. Restaurant is built on stilts in a fishing village. Fish/seafood is very fresh (still swimming before it was cooked).
Do/See:
- Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary
- Kinabatangan Jungle/Safari River Cruise (I'd recommend spending 1-2 nights there - it's 3-4 hours drive from Sandakan). They have really nice lodges there from backpackers to luxury. The drive from Sandakan to Sukau (where the lodges are) is an eye-sore with oil palm plantations as far as the eyes can see!
- Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary (didn't visit and heard it's a "zoo", not a sanctuary). You get to see Proboscis Monkeys at the Kinabatangan River cruise anyway.
Further out:
- Tabin Wildlife Reserve
- Danum Valley Wildlife Reserve
Wildlife watching has its seasons too. I was lucky enough to spot a wild orang utan during my river cruise (apparently pretty rare) and tons of hornbills. Missed the pygmy elephants by a day. Don't expect to see the rhinoceros (less than 20 left in the wild), elephants are hard to come by too.