Full-Day Orangutan and Proboscis Monkey Tour from Sandakan or Kota Kinabalu

Your air-conditioned vehicle will collect you around 8:30am either from the airport or from your Sandakan hotel: if flying from Kota Kinabalu, it's best to book a 7am flight. It takes about 90 minutes to reach the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, a privately-owned sanctuary inside a palm oil estate devoted to these remarkable creatures. Watch them feeding at 11:30am, and see if you can tell the males from the females (hint: the males have larger noses).

Your next stop is the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center located in the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve, which rehabilitates orphaned, injured, and rescued orangutans then reintroduces them to life in the jungle. After lunch, watch a documentary on the Rehabilitation Center's work before taking a boardwalk through the lowland rainforest to the feeding platform. Here you can watch these spectacular creatures swing through the forest and feed on their favorite fruits.

From here, you'll drive back either to your Sandakan hotel (expect to arrive around 6:30pm) or to the airport for your Kota Kinabalu flight: if flying to Kota Kinabalu, the 6:10pm departure is recommended.