Sandakan on route to Turtle Island

We left our little jungle haven to travel to Sandakan which is a city on the eastern side of Sabah, only 25km from Sepilok.

Our main reason for overnighting here was to try and arrange for an overnight trip out to Turtle Island (or locally known as Selingan Island) but more on that later in the blog.

First we had to endure a night in Sandakan……….well what can I say.  We always try to find the positives in everywhere we go but this time we struggled to get excited about anything in this city.

We did venture out to try to uncover some charm, character, culture…….anything that we could to generate some interest in our surroundings.

All we found was street after street of high rise, low cost slum-like housing, dilapidated shops and filth.  We have certainly been in some unsavoury places in Asia and accept that smells and rubbish are an everyday way of life but this city took it to another level. 

We found the waterfront and it wasn’t any better – the Central Markets were the most foulest smelling markets we have had to endure.  It caught you in the back of the throat and stayed in your nostrils for hours.

Security Warnings

We had our guard up before we arrived in Sandakan as we had heard that we needed to be vigilant and aware of our surroundings when we arrived in Sandakan.

There was also government warnings about travel in general to the eastern side of Borneo and the outer islands.  This side of the island is the closest to the Philippines. 

The main risks to tourist being kidnapping.  We were hoping that they would know that the NZ Government would not pay any ransom to get us back and they would tend to aim for other nationalities!

No kidnapping attempts have been made since 3 suspected kidnappers were killed in December 2016 by the police.  It is now believed that the situation has improved enough to allow tourists to enter the areas on the eastern coastline.

All boat transfers offshore happen only during the day and to areas deemed safe and all other areas are avoided. 

That being said, we took every precaution necessary and avoided where possible crowded areas and outlying areas vulnerable to danger.  For the first time since travelling, we stayed within a couple of blocks of our hotel and made sure that we were back soon after dark.  We stayed in Hotel Sandakan which was in an okay area and we were on the 4th floor so reasonably secure.

You realize that you are no longer in NZ when the police officers are walking the streets in groups of 4 with sub-machine guns strapped across their chests.

Turtle (Selingan) Island

Turtle Island was the reason why we weighed up our options and bit the bullet to travel to the eastern coastline of Sabah. 

Turtle Islands National Park actually consists of 3 islands 40km north of Sandakan and consists of Selangan, Bakungan and Gulisan islands.  Selingan, the largest of the islands, houses the park’s headquarters, a turtle hatchery, accommodation and basic facilities.  The other two islands are more for conservation activities.

Selingan Island only takes 50 visitors per night and an overnight stay is mandatory as that is the only time that the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.

You can only book directly through Crystal Quest which is linked on their website.  We tried e-mailing them whilst still in Sepilok but had no reply (we did read that this is a problem) so we went through another tour company (who do the bookings with Crystal Quest).  They came back to us and said that it was going to cost us 2,400MYR ($795nz) for both of us.

We were disappointed with this and we both agreed that as much as we wanted to experience this, it was cost prohibitive for us at this level.

We had read that some people had turned up at the pier and went directly to the Crystal Quest office.  You take the risk that the trip is full but we might have the chance to get it a bit cheaper.

Upon arrival in Sandakan, we made the trek to the pier – quite a hike through smelly, dirty and hot streets.

Long story short – we managed to get on the trip leaving early the next morning and it cost us 745MYR ($246nz) for both of us!  That includes boat transfers, lunch, dinner, accommodation and breakfast.  A great score and so pleased we made the effort to get to the pier in person.

There is a permanent military presence on the island so safety has been enhanced for both us and the turtles as their eggs fetch good money on the black market.

An Island Paradise

I don’t think that we were quite prepared for the stunning beauty of this island and we were left in awe of the white sandy beaches and the remoteness that this small island offers.

We had time to wander around the island, swim and also learn all about how the park became a safe haven for the endangered green and hawksbill turtles.

The turtles come ashore anytime after dark and we had heard that sometimes the wait can be well into the early hours of the morning.  You can’t rush nature after all.

We were lucky to get the ‘It’s Turtle Time’ call at around 8.30pm so quite a sociable time.  We rushed to the shoreline in time to see mum laying her eggs.  They go into a trance-like state while laying and up to an hour afterwards so she was quite oblivious to 20 people gathered around her and the torchlight shining down into her nest.

There needed to be quietness and no camera flashes during the process. 

The eggs were quickly gathered up by the park ranger and it was off to the hatchery for the burial and tagging.  The hatchery is in a protected area as they have eagles and monitor lizards roaming the island, ready to prey on fresh eggs. 

The 3rd step in the process was to witness the release of the baby turtles which had  hatched that day. 

There was a total of 62 baby turtles to be set free and to go out into the big wild world. 

Unfortunately, their fate is in the hands of nature after the release and only less than 2% will survive to adulthood.

It was a fantastic opportunity and we really enjoyed the experience and learning about the life cycle of these magnificent turtles.

 

Sandakan Memorial Park

We left the island at around 7am and arrived back at the mainland at 8am.  We caught a taxi to the airport, checked our packs in early (only possible because of a very helpful staff member who offered to hold our packs – thanks AirAsia)  as our flight to Penang wasn’t until 2.30pm and proceeded to make our way to the Sandakan Memorial Park. 

This is a memorial site built in the former grounds of the Sandakan POW Camp.  The site is dedicated as a memory for all prisoners in the camp who died during the Sandakan Death Marches to Ranau in the north (some 150km in the north).  It also recognises the deaths and sacrifices of the local people as well.

Out of the 2,500 prisoners kept at this camp, only 6 survived and only because they managed to escape during these horrific marches.

It was a serene park with walkways and relics which is all that remains of the POW camp.  We spend a considerable amount of time in the pavilion reading and looking through all the information on what went on and the fate of the Australian and British soldiers. 

Borneo Wrap Up

We spent a total of 10 days in Sabah.  We found it to be a country that was quite difficult to navigate around especially if you are on a budget.  For this reason we really had to weigh up what was important for us to visit based on time a costs.

If you were coming to Borneo as a holiday destination, I would recommend that you consider a package tour option.  We met up with an Intrepid Tour on Turtle Island and their itineraries are all inclusive and the groups are small and seemed to be very well organised.

There is certainly more to do than what we managed to do and you may well wish to consider these if you had the time and money to spend.

These can include visiting the outer islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, climbing Mt Kinabalu and visiting Kinabalu National Park.  There is also a 2 night, 3 day river trip staying at a nature resort where you may have the opportunity to see more of the wildlife Borneo has to offer.

We stayed largely in the northern part of Sabah, mainly because of the heightened security risk the further south you go.  We noticed that the Intrepid trip didn’t go much further south than us however if you are into diving, there are supposed to be some amazing spots of the eastern coast in the south of Sabah.

Enjoy our video of our highlights of the above attractions.