Tabin Wildlife Reserve - Exploring the jungles of Borneo
(Written by: Itisha Ismail)
Facts:
Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia is a nature preserve known for remarkable arrays of Borneo’s wild, rare and endangered species of animals. Tabin Wildlife Reserve is the largest protected wildlife area in Sabah which was gazetted back in 1984. It encompasses a rectangular area of approximately 122,539 hectares out of which 9000 hectares are of virgin forest (Hutton, 2014)
The wildlife in Tabin includes but not limited to the family oriented Gibbons, the Bornean Orangutan, the pygmy elephants, the wild buffalos (or tembadau), sunbears, the Sumatran Rhino (sadly Malaysia’s last Sumatran Rhino died of cancer in Nov 2019, marking extinction of this species in Malaysia) and countless species of exotic birds. The presence of Mud Volcano in Tabin serves as mineral salt lick for the wildlife – an opportunity, if timing and luck is on your side, the chance for wildlife spotting. The wealth of flora and fauna under Tabin Wildlife Reserve’s umbrella is the gateway to wildlife observation for naturalists and socially conscious travellers who are keen on adventures that are linked to nature.
So where do one stay when they wish to explore Tabin Wildlife?
Tabin Wildlife Resort answers the call of travellers from all over the world who wishes to experience the jungles of Borneo! Tabin Wildlife Resort is a privately-owned resort established in 1999 with 20 tastefully built timber chalets – 10 units facing the Lipad River and 10 units at the hillside with stunning view of the forest and some units the partial view the Lipad River. It is indeed a retreat in the rainforest as the resort was built by blending in the surroundings. The boardwalks, chalets, restaurant, hanging out spaces and metallic hanging bridge were all built with much respect to the already existing trees instead of knocking it down.
The following was Bike and Tours’ family adventure at Tabin Wildlife Resort for 3D2N tour
A beautiful once in a lifetime experience, we will cherish with us for a very long time.
Tabin Wildlife Resort - Haven in the Borneo tropical rainforest!
Tabin Wildlife – exploring the Borneo Forest
Day 1: Friday, 18 Sept 2020
The day has finally arrived for us to visit the wildlife adventure haven. After weeks of hearing positive feedback from our guests who visited Tabin Wildlife Resort recently, we can’t wait to experience it for ourselves. It was the first time for Emelyn and I. Olivia and Simon had the privilege to experience Tabin a few years back.
Peaceful and serene - a moment to exhale!
Traveling during Covid19 outbreak
This time, our long weekend escape came with slight uncertainty. Just a week before the scheduled tour, Lahad Datu made headlines for the high spike of Covid-19 cases from the Banteng Lahad Datu cluster A cluster originated from the Lahad Datu district police lock up that has spread to Tawau prison. When the news broke, many speculated that there will be a lockdown in Lahad Datu. But the latest official news a few days before our tour date, the Health director general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham assured that despite the rise in Banteng cases, it was still under firm control. The morning before the tour, I quickly googled if there were any development on the lockdown in Lahad Datu. Such were the concerns of late on the traveling front. Ahh great, the District Police Chief ACP Nasri has denied the lockdown in Lahad Datu. Perfect!
Quite honestly, we believe in practicing personal hygiene and keeping the social distance. By God’s grace all of us have been healthy. We felt fit with no cough, fever, cold or flu, we decided to proceed to Tabin. We were better off to be in a secluded jungle than being in town where the crowd goes to stock up on their groceries for fear of lockdown.
The Ride to Tabin Wildlife
The ride to Tabin Wildlife was slightly over 1 hour from Lahad Datu. On this date, some roads in Lahad Datu town were closed and there was a roadblock for those coming from Tungku side towards Lahad Datu. But for us, heading to Tabin was smooth sailing. The sealed streets welcomed us with colourful and different political party flags as Sabah’s 2020 State Election was due on 26 Sept 2020. However, as soon as we turned into the Tabin junction, the path turned to well-maintained gravel road with landscapes of palm oil plantation and secondary forest. That was where even at the beginning our journey, we saw the tree branches shaking and out appeared a colony of long tailed macaques!!! I must admit due to the scary experience at Tawau Hills Park, the macaques are not my favourite! They looked at us curiously from the trees as they munched on their food source. Some enjoyed their “you scratch my back moments” whilst the King of the group was seen yawning with its mouth wide open, displaying full set of teeth and sharp fangs!!! You definitely would not want to dangle your fingers in front of this fella!
Arrival at Tabin Wildlife Resort
As we approached the Tabin’s main entrance, Rafel and Sakinah, mouth and nose covered with face masks greeted us with smiles (though not visible through their masks) were clearly obvious from their small eyes. The standard operating procedures were adhered to with checking our temperatures and supplying us with the hand sanitizers – by now a common practice in the new norm.
Rafel was appointed as our private guide for the 3D2N Tabin Wildlife Safari tour. He informed us on the program of the day whilst we sipped on the refreshing pandan and lemongrass welcoming drinks. Rafel made it clear that we had the option to take longer route or shorter route for the trekking activities. Though Simon and I would have preferred the longer trekking route, we needed to accommodate our adventure so that it is also enjoyable for the young ones. So, we opted for easy trekking to the mud volcano and waterfall. Having said that the team at Tabin are very flexible. If you love long walks OR family with young children OR senior citizens, we would recommend that you hire a private guide from Tabin. A private guide would be able guide you based on your travel style to explore Tabin without keeping up or having to slow down to the pace of others.
Comfort and luxury in the tropical rainforest!
Our crib for the next two nights was a beautiful timber chalet with ensuite bathroom and a balcony overlooking the Lipad River making it a perfect spot for independent wildlife spotting and nature photography. We were given the privacy to explore the surroundings before lunch. It was indeed peaceful. We were the only guests for the day. In the past I would be very happy or feel privileged to be the only guests at a hotel/ resort. However, being in the tourism industry and experiencing firsthand how Covid-19 impacted our own business, such “privilege” is something I do not wish to witness on any companies and business owners. But that’s another story….
Tabin Wildlife Resort surroundings
The timber boardwalks took us to the metallic hanging bridge that strung across the Lipad River. This offers an adventure on its own for our two girls. Emelyn was initially scared to cross the bridge without holding one of our hands but after some pep talk and guidance from elder sister Olivia, she gained confidence and was proud that she conquered her fear of the “wobbly bridge”. We were told that this was a good spot where you could sight the otters. So, we sat at the hanging bridge and soaked in the surrounding beauty. The jungle was so alive and cheerful. The rippling sound of the river almost in competition with the chirping of the birds and superior calls of the hornbills – almost like the sound of someone with deep voice laughing.
The girls entertained themselves by collecting huge dried leaves and turning it into a hand fan before proceeding to the wooden chair swings just at the corner of the Sunbird Café. When you are not trekking at Tabin, just hanging out at the resort area offers endless sights of nature, an opportunity to dip in the Lipad River and for some #travellers #influencers - every corner of the resort offers that perfect Instagram-worthy photos waiting to be uploaded!
Tabin Wildlife - Serenity that flows.
Lunch Feast at Sunbird Cafe
No otters were spotted as we proceeded to the Sunbird Café for lunch and boy were we in for a feast! We simply love local food and we were served with generous amount of aromatic beef rendang, stir fried cabbage, sweet and sour prawns and chicken curry. But before that, we had delicious beef soup for the soul as starter. Then came dessert – tropical fruit of pineapples, watermelon and papayas.
We were so full. It was simply impossible not to fall asleep after that hearty meal. As we thanked the F&B team for preparing the delicious meal, they told us to come for tea at 3pm before our late afternoon activities. With that lunch feast, we definitely would still be full at 3pm and knowing that we were the only guests, we told the kitchen team that we will skip tea.
The luxury of having an airconditioned room, comfortable bed, soothing sounds of the tropical forest gets you in relax mode immediately. A short snooze could easily be prolonged to a deep long afternoon sleep. So make sure you set your alarm as to not miss the late afternoon activity.
Food cooked with love by Tabin Wildlife Resort's F&B team
A tour to Lipad Mud Volcano!
Rafel and Hendry were already waiting for us at the pickup truck. Armed with leech socks, insect repellent and camera we were ready for the adventure. We sat at the back of the pickup truck on comfortable cushioned chairs. As Hendry drove, our skin was touched by the gentle breeze, almost hypnotic as we crossed the river. The path led us to the lush secondary forest, the beginning note of a great adventure ahead. True enough with the sharp eyes of Rafel, he tap the roof of the 4wd an indication for Hendry to stop the engine. As our heads and eyes paid attention to the surroundings, Rafel pointed to a tree next to us. Perched on the tree branch was a dark brown coloured bird with yellow hue on its bare face, just below its eyes to the tip before its beak. Rafel mentioned that it was the crested serpent eagle (spilornis cheela). The eagle had a prey - a long skinny dangling snake! The snake was still alive as we could see its movements to break free from the eagle’s beak. Ahhh “selamat menjamu selera” enjoy your meal!
A Crested serpent eagle (spilornis cheela) after a "snakey" snack!
As we drove further, we spotted the endangered storm’s stork (Ciconia stormi) striding its way along the soil in search of food. The storm’s stork is considered the rarest among all the storks species and found mainly in lowland tropical forests of Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia. Sadly due to deforestation, it is estimated that the number of wild storm’s storks are less than 500 individuals across its geographic scope.
The endangered storm’s stork
Hendry pulled over at the side of the road and we jumped out of the pickup. The 700m Lipad Mud Volcano Trail trekking begun as we stepped under the canopies of trees. Guide Rafel led the way with a parang in his hand to cut some thorns and branches that were in the way. Olivia like a true adventurer automatically found a thin branch and used it as a walking stick. The forest floor was dry, covered by dry leaves and meandering roots that was hugging the earth. Some parts were carpeted with velvety green moss which can be slippery if you are not careful. It was rather hot on this day as the sun breaks through the foliage. However, halfway through the trail the jungle became rather dense. Rafel mentioned that this was the beginning of the primary forest. It felt much cooler as the ray of sun through the canopies were less visible.
Meet Rafel - Tabin's enthusiastic and knowledgeable nature guide. Note: He had his face mask on all the time during trekking, the mask was only taken off for this photo purpose only.
Rafel, was obviously passionate about his career as a nature guide. Having spent over 20 years working in the jungles of Borneo, his long tenure with Tabin Wildlife has enriched his knowledge and experience not just on the wildlife and flora, but also the forest ecosystem. He entertained us with stories of his encounter with the pygmy elephants, Bornean orangutans, gibbons and many more. As he spoke something that looks like a transparent butterfly lookalike slowly glided to where we were. Somehow, with a slight ray of sun through the forest and these gliders was like a kaleidoscope upon the ground. Rafel told us that the gliders were actually a type of seed known as alsomitra macrocarpa or Javan cucumber. It is a gourd bearing liana that belongs to the pumpkin family found mostly in Asian forests of Malay Archiepelago and Indonesian islands. Some believed that the seeds stability at gliding was a source of inspiration to those in early aviation industry. We were fascinated by the seed. Rafel was rather surprised that it was our first time to encounter the Alsomitra Macrocarpa as we have been in the jungles many times. Well, this goes to prove that we will encounter something new each time we visit the jungle!
The gliding seed alsomitra macrocarpa
The edge of the trail eventually opened up to a field of natural light. We finally arrived the Lipad Mud Volcano!!! My good friend Hooi Phing asked “What? There is a volcano in Malaysia?” Well surprisingly there is one in Tabin. Borneo is not within the Southeast Asia “ring of fire” and the only volcanic activity is mud volcanoes which are found in east of Sabah as well as on Pulau Tiga islands (Hutton, 2014). The mud volcano is a unique feature of Tabin for it is rich minerals salt lick making it a playground for the mammals and birds. We climbed the observation tower to get a good view of the mud volcano. If you have the privilege to stay in Tabin for 3 nights, you may opt to sleep 1 night on hammock beds at the observation tower – increasing your chances to see the wildlife at the salt lick at night and early morning.
Walking towards the center of the mud volcano
We proceeded to the muddy area. Rafel told us to walk on the harder formation of the mud so that our feet won’t sink in. Oooops too late, Olivia stamped her feet in the wet mud. Once submerged in the thick liquid, it was a challenge to pull her feet out. As we stood closer to the centre we saw the mud bubbling away. Thick, silky and smoky coloured mud! Ladies and gentlemen that is the most natural, freshest and organic mask you could apply on your face!!!! I got the idea from my client Suzy who took some of the mud with her to the resort and put it on the next day by the waterfall! At least there’s water to wash off the mud. Having that information in mind, I took out my container and gathered the warm mineral rich mud to be used later.
And with that we walked back through the forest. We took the same route as this would suit our children’s pace better. There was a longer trail available should you wish to have longer walks in the jungle. Olivia did very well both ways. Emelyn was already tired and had to be carried on top of Simon’s shoulders. It must have been the soothing orchestra of the jungle that brought Emelyn to sleep all the way back to the chalet.
The night safari for the nocturnal
We had another round of delicious local spread for dinner and this time it came with delicious chocolate cake for dessert. Imagine getting chocolate cake in the middle of the jungle! What a privilege! It’s a wonder how we actually managed hop on the pickup for a night drive with such full tummies! I have always been a fan of night drive as I found it a good way to end the day on a relaxing note.
Just as Hendry drove out of the chalet area, something crossed our path and headed towards the bush. Rafel moved his spotlight swiftly towards the object and just like that we saw a cute little mousedeer (lesser mousedeer) peering in front of a hollow tree. The scene was almost animated – like a dwarf sized Bambi innocently exploring the jungles of Borneo.
We moved along the main road that divides Tabin Wildlife Reserve from the palm oil plantation. The silence of the night was broken by the sounds of insects and the car engine as we looked hard for the nocturnal. The first half of the ride was nothing but stillness of the night and the milky way above us. The cool breeze brought the two young ones to sleep. We teased Rafel and told him “we are not going back till we see the western tarsier!”. He swallowed hard and said “ohhh where are all the animals tonight? “to which we all burst laughing. We understand that we may not be so lucky to see the full program on first visit. Some guides feel rather stressed when he/she is unable to share the sightings of the wildlife with you. But we were just kidding. We understand that wildlife sighting in the jungles of Borneo is not the same as the plains of Africa.
But just before heading back, at the forest side of the road, we saw a flying squirrel that glided from one tree to the other and two island palm civets. On the palm oil plantation, we saw three Malayan Civets as they looked for food source. Guests who visits Tabin with an open mind would agree that not all is horrible with this “controversial crop”. The existence of palm plantation in Tabin on degraded land due to logging activities provides food source for many birds, civets, leopard cats and the pygmy elephants to name a few.
Contented with our night safari, we said goodnight to both Hendry and Rafel and slept in our comfortable chalet in preparation for the next day adventure.
Tabin Wildlife’s Whoop whoop- the call of the Gibbons
Day 2: Saturday, 19 Sept 2020
At 5:30am, pastel orange ray filtered through the trees and touched the window glass giving some light to our room. A promising new day awaits as we woke up and geared up for our morning walk. Since the girls slept early, it was not an issue to jump out of bed, excited for the first activity of the day.
Outside, Rafel was already waiting – you wonder if he got any sleep since he was the last to bid us goodnight and the first person we saw in the morning. “Are you guys ready? Go get yourself a coffee first” he suggested judging from our still drowsy look. They offer great coffee here in Tabin – must be the local Tenom coffee as we could drink it the whole day! The coffee shot energized the soul and we walked the dew laden gravel street with much hope. The birds were singing, the macaques crossed our path but one sound that was prominent was the continuous hauntingly beautiful “whoop” sound coming from the gibbons. Rafel told us that it is worth waking up early as we might just get catch a glimpse of the gibbons if we were lucky.
A baby gibbon spotted hanging on its mother's belly at Tabin Wildlife.
There they were the ash coloured gibbons, like gymnasts they swung from one branch to the other with such agility, gracefully estimated the distances and pulled its own body weight. I told the kids “look girls a colony of gibbons” and that was where Rafel corrected me. The Bornean Gibbons are classified under the lesser apes or smaller apes. They move around in a nuclear family and not in a colony like the naughty macaques. Like all apes the gibbons are tailless. They are also faithful partners as they often retain the same mate for life but may not always remain sexually monogamous. This particular family that was in front of us consisted of a father, mother with a young baby clung to her belly and three adult children. We stood there for close to 45 minutes. Just watching them munch on their food and interacted with each other and hearing their hypnotic whooping sound was priceless. They moved rather fast and Simon was challenged to get a decent picture of them.
Rafel told us there was a family of gibbons whose male adult child decided to leave them to find a mate. Years later the young male and his female partner had a child and they occupied the trees just behind the hill lodge. It was amazing how closely knitted their family bond was as the team at Tabin witnessed the grandparent gibbons visiting their grandchildren at the back of the hill lodge before proceeding back to their original territory. He had many more interesting stories of the wildlife, but you would need to experience Tabin yourself to hear the stories firsthand from Rafel and his guide colleagues ……..
Lipad Waterfall and trekking in the rain!
The thing about living in Borneo, we never really depended on the weather forecast. It is best to embrace each happening as an opportunity and adventure. The wide blue sky above was pretty and clear with just a few white fluffy clouds. We hopped on the pick up for a short trail about 700m to the Lipad Waterfall. There is another trail called the Gibbon Trail which takes about 2 hours trekking through the rainforest that begins from the resort to the Lipad Waterfall. As the name indicates gibbons are often spotted on this trail.
Refreshing dip at the Lipad Waterfall - a must when you are at Tabin Wildlife
Tabin Giant Tree
On the way to the trail we stopped a majestically tall standing koompassia excelsa tree known in Sabah as Menggaris. This species of trees are usually found in lowland rainforests. This one was about 60 to 70m in height. We traded with much care when we walked closer to it. Its roots were huge and spread out to support its weight. The trunks felt rough despite it being rather slippery to protect itself from sun bears. Hence provides a plus point for honey bees which sometimes can be seen at work to form huge combs from the branches.
How amazingly huge is this Tabin Giant Tree?
We chose the shorter trail so that it is not too tiring for our girls. We dressed them up in their swimwear for this trekking as the slightest sight of water would make them squeal to jump in the water. The trekking to the waterfall was slightly more challenging than the previous day as the trek was muddy and slippery. Rafel’s parang came to good use on this day as we needed to cross some paths with thorny rattan trees. The fun part was crossing the river by holding on to a rope. A father of one daughter, Rafel was a natural with our children. He helped us carried Olivia and Emelyn across the river. The clear blue sky by this time was covered with a large black cloud. He sensed that it will rain soon but knew that we were excited to go for a dip. The Lipad Waterfall was scenic and inviting, without wasting time we stepped our feet in the freshwater. The river pebbles served as foot reflexology and submerging into the water was refreshing despite it being cold in the beginning.
Nature Guide Rafel helping Olivia cross the river to the Lipad Waterfall
Being there just watching two prominent sets of white water cascaded down a series of rocks outcrops provided a great sense of tranquillity, peace and somewhat stillness despite the strong gush of water. I was about to dive in once again when just the same moment I heard Rafel “Tisha! Balik (come back!) it’s going to rain soon! Time out everyone, its time to trek back”. In a jiffy we walked away from the waterfall, crossed the river and as soon as we reached the other side of the river it started to pour. The thing about rain in this part of the world is that when it pours it has no mercy! The water in the river can be filled fairly quickly by the rainwater. Rafel was ahead and he carried Olivia all the way through. Emelyn was on Simon’s shoulders. We were drenched but we managed the slippery and muddy treks, at some point the rain was too heavy that even the thick canopy above us did not help at filtering the downpour.
“Mummy!!!! Elephants!!!!” Olivia shouted and both Simon and myself rushed in front not to miss the chance to see the elephants. But Rafel’s gaze and smile towards us indicated differently. “It’s a family of wild boars, they just crossed our path” said Rafel. That got us all laughing on the trek. The rain somehow increased our strides to exit out of the trek and before long, we reached the pick-up. Hendry was very sweet as he passed the umbrella for our girls despite the fact that we were all already drenched. But the girls appreciated this very much as they treated it as a mini tent on the pick-up!
Despite being soaked, the girls really appreciated the umbrella!
Foot Soak Happiness!
After another round of delicious lunch spread that included grilled lamb, tuna curry and water spinach, we were invited to a relaxing foot soak.
We were warmly welcome by a petite sized Tabin team member named Mary. Our girls had no idea what was going on as this was their first time to experience foot bath. Mary than appeared and presented us with 4 basins each filled with pebbles from the river, warm water and tropical herbs such as – wild ginger, lemongrass, pandan or screwpine leaves and lime. She then played soothing music and dim the lights for us to relax. Of course, our two rascals could not sit still. They were too excited with this new experience, giggled as they analysed every element in the warm water! A pure joy this tribal like foot soak has brought to our day.
It was pouring outside as we experienced the foot soak joy. As we sat on retro 70s type of wooden built sofa, I couldn’t help but to admire the interior design of this Eagle Nest Building. It was homely and somewhat takes us to the colonial era with its teal coloured walls, pink rose printed curtain, wooden flooring and some Peranakan furniture. It felt as if we were in British expat house during the colonial time in Malaya! What’s missing were some Earl Grey tea with some warm scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream :P Simon asked how I could still think about food after heavy lunch. Well, I’m a true Malaysian. I could speak/think/dream on what to have for dinner while I am still having breakfast! We did eventually get warm chrysanthemum tea that Mary prepared for us after the relaxing foot soak.
Late Afternoon Safari – Hornbills in Tabin Wildlife
The rain eventually retired just in time for our late afternoon safari. The dark bubbly clouds we saw earlier cleared up. The tree roots received a good quench of H2o and some raindrops filled puddles that decorated the gravel road. The air was fresh and cool. The sunlight was very gentle to the skin. A group of bushy crested hornbills were silhouettes against the pale bluish white sky, embarking a good start to our wildlife sighting.
We passed a colony of macaques and about three individual Crested Serpian Eagles on separate occasions and a family of wild boars. In terms of other mammals it was as if they were observing a lockdown! No residents on the gay canopy of foliage! Even Rafel said out loud “Where are all the animals?” as to which Simon answered, “at home, keeping up with social distancing!” as he looked out for the Rhinoceros hornbills. This was his current dream as the last time we got close to a rhino hornbill was at Bole River, it would have been a perfect picture but just as he pressed snap, the battery went flat! So a rhino hornbill, perched on a branch with some sunlight beamed on it was what he was after.
A rhinoceros hornbill finally made its appearance towards the end of the late afternoon safari
This scenario was a perfect example of spotting wildlife in the jungles of Borneo. Our clients and friends in the past were able to see so many orangutans, otters, binturong and even the pygmy elephants during their visit. Fruiting/Flowering season, time and weather of the day all would influence the sighting of the wildlife. If you don’t see that many wildlife, it does not mean they are not there. This is in fact a good sign as the animals are sheltered to live in the jungle with food source and away from possible threats.
The jungle was simply peaceful with only the sounds of different birds. We sat at the back of the pick-up and enjoyed the cool breeze that touched our skin. We were ready to head back to the chalet when we heard a series of loud honks! Ahead of us, there it was the Rhino Hornbill, perched on a tree. Hendry drove slowly towards it and stopped the engine. Simon’s dream came through as he snapped countless pictures of the beautiful hornbill.
Night Walk in Tabin for the Nocturnal
The chefs in Tabin really went all out for dinner. We had a few local dishes with rice and the girls had spaghetti bolognaise which were simply delicious. This was followed with delicious tiramisu cake. We were also happy to see that there were two local guests in Tabin today. Emelyn knocked out right after dinner and so I skipped the night walk to tuck her in to bed. Olivia joined Simon and Rafel’s night walk. Upon their returned I was already half asleep but managed to catch Olivia telling me that she saw the horned frog, stick insect, millipede and spiders.
A giant milipede in the middle of the jungle at night time!
Day 3: Sunday, 20 Sept 2020 – Gibbons, mud and Lipad River
Ohhh no!!!! Do we have to go back already? We departed Tabin Wildlife after lunch but we managed to savour the last bit of beauty of the jungle before we head back to Lahad Datu town.
Wildlife spotting from the swing in front of Tabin Wildlife's Eagle Nest Building
In the early morning, Rafel took us for a morning walk and we were just happy to stay under canopies of trees to watch the acrobatic of the jungle – non other than the gibbons. We were very lucky to sight them for two days in a row.
Remember the mud I took from the mud volcano on the first day? Today, was the only time we got a chance to apply it on. After breakfast we headed to the river for a dip and to try this natural, mineral rich mud mask. On this, I felt that Simon and I were more excited to apply the mask on. The two girls were not too keen and Emelyn woke the residents of the jungle with her loud cry! She was not happy that the mud stained her pink swimwear. So taking a family photo with everyone smiling was a delusion!
Mud mask at the Lipad River - clearly the adults were more excited than the children!
Before we left, we were presented with Tabin’s Signature Certificate -an artwork with our very own handprints. A very meaningful and personal piece of souvenir to take home as our hands were painted with the mud from the volcano. In the certificate it indicated that the handprint belonged to Common Name: Itisha; Scientific Name: Homo Sapiens. Each family member got their own certificate.
A special shout out to Tabin’s team - you have been great and hospitable. We are glad to have proceeded with this tour despite the (then) rumours of a lockdown in Lahad Datu due to the corona virus spread. The 3D2N we spent at Tabin Wildlife Resort has been filled with valuable experience, adventure and quality time with the family. Priceless memories that will stay with us forever. Terima Kasih!