Sabah Borneo

Kapalai Resort & Sipadan Island with 3 days Jungle Adventure at Bilit Lodge Sandakan

August 8-18 2026

I joined a group of experienced divers from the Dive Centre Bondi to a 10-day trip to SE Borneo with highlights promised the Sipadan Island diving and a 3-day lodge stay in a jungle setting promising a most diverse travel and packing experience.

After 2 days travel with stop overnight at Tawau and 5 hour bus trip and one-hour rough boat trip we arrived at the expansive island facility over the water- Kapalai resort.

Rooms were spacious with private decks bath and uninterrupted ocean views.

The diving was 3-4 dives daily accompanied by a fair bit of current and sometimes greenish and silted water which limited photography of larger pelagic fish especially sharks and barracuda schools.

However the diving on the house reef offered a vast variety of critters, small fish and nudibranchs.

We then travelled by boat and another 5 hour bus to the BILIT Jungle resort a 2 star rustic and crowded lodge on the Kinabatangan jungle river embankment.

Immediately we were on a local open boat to observe the wildlife consisting of the top 5 must see animals pygmy elephant, orangutang proboscis monkey, crocodile and horn beak toucan.

All were observed close up on our 3 river cruises and the encounters were really very intimate and well described by our local guide Rusli.

3 one-hour jungle walks in knee high boots exposed the wet and sticky environs with plenty of creepy crawly insects.