Things to Do in Sandakan

Sandakan’s attractions fall into two clear categories: the wildlife cluster at Sepilok (25km west of town) and the Kinabatangan River (2.5 hours east). Both deserve dedicated time. The city itself has a handful of significant historical sites worth visiting on arrival or departure days. Below is a working guide to each.

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

Sepilok opened in 1964 and was among the first orangutan rehabilitation centres in the world. Orphaned, injured, and rescued Bornean orangutans are brought here, quarantined, assessed for health, and then introduced to the forest at their own pace. The goal is eventual independent survival in the wild; younger animals progress through an outdoor nursery while older ones are given progressively greater forest access. The facility now manages animals across several stages of rehabilitation.

For visitors, the main experience is the twice-daily feeding at platforms in the forest: 10am (Platform B, the primary viewing platform for visitors) and 3pm. Rangers place supplementary fruit — bananas, papaya, coconut — at the platform, and the semi-wild animals may come from the forest to feed. Animals that are more advanced in rehabilitation and foraging independently may not appear. This is explicitly positive from a conservation standpoint.

What you typically see: orangutans swinging through the rope system between the trees and the platform, sitting at the feeding area, occasionally interacting with other orangutans or with the ropes and enrichment objects provided. Infants clinging to their mothers are common. The setting is forest rather than enclosure — the animals are above you in the canopy or approaching across ropes, not behind glass. Entry: RM30 for foreigners (approximately USD 6.40). Arrive 20 minutes before the feeding session; the briefing room adjacent to the viewing area fills up quickly. Photography of the orangutans is permitted; flash is not.

The Orangutan nursery (a short walk from the main platform) has younger animals in an outdoor play structure — a smaller, more intimate encounter with less mature animals that is often the most memorable part of the visit.

Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre

Directly adjacent to Sepilok, the BSBCC is the world’s only sun bear sanctuary and significantly undervisited relative to Sepilok. Malayan sun bears are the smallest bear species — honey-coloured chest patches, compact build, exceptionally long tongues for extracting honey from hives. They are also the least known of the bear family and face significant threats from habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade.

The centre has a raised boardwalk through large forest enclosures. The bears live in forested areas where they can climb, dig, and forage; the boardwalk allows observation from above at a distance. You are likely to see multiple bears in the trees or on the ground, often going about foraging behaviour independently rather than performing for an audience. The centre’s research team publishes on sun bear behaviour and ecology; information boards along the boardwalk are informative rather than simplified.

Entry: RM30 for foreigners. The BSBCC and Sepilok are adjacent and share a general entry area — allow three to four hours to do both properly, including time at the nursery.

Rainforest Discovery Centre

A short walk from Sepilok, the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) is a research and education facility run by the Sabah Forestry Department. Its primary visitor attraction is a canopy walkway — a series of hanging bridges through the lowland dipterocarp forest canopy at 25–30 metres above ground. The birdwatching along the walkway and the adjacent botanical trail is excellent: 300+ bird species are recorded at the site, with hornbills, kingfishers, pittas, and various raptors among the highlights. Entry: RM15 for foreigners.

The RDC is better for birdwatchers and those interested in forest ecology than it is for wildlife-seekers expecting mammals. Allow 90 minutes to two hours.

Kinabatangan River

The Kinabatangan is the centrepiece of any east Sabah wildlife itinerary. The lower river — around the villages of Sukau and Bilit, about 2.5 hours by road from Sandakan — flows through what remains of a contiguous forest corridor that once covered much of Sabah. This corridor is now compressed between palm oil plantations, which concentrates wildlife at the forest-river edge in densities that make encounters almost routine.

Pygmy elephants — the world’s smallest elephant subspecies, endemic to Borneo — are spotted most days along the riverbank, particularly in late afternoon. Proboscis monkeys gather in riverside trees at dusk to roost. Saltwater crocodiles rest on mudbanks. Hornbills — all eight Sabah species are found here — fly overhead throughout the day. Orangutans appear in the riverside canopy, though sightings are probabilistic rather than certain: these are wild animals, and the forest is large.

River cruises operate twice daily from river lodges: 6–8am (morning) and 4:30–6:30pm (afternoon/dusk). Dusk is typically the most productive session for mammal sightings, as elephants often come to the river to drink and proboscis monkeys move to roost. Morning sessions are better for birds. Most packages include both sessions per day.

Lodge packages at Sukau or Bilit include accommodation, meals, and guided boat rides. Prices run from RM200/night at budget camps (Uncle Tan Wildlife Camp — basic facilities, strong wildlife focus) to RM600–900/night at Sukau Rainforest Lodge (the most established premium option, with smaller groups and experienced guides). A minimum two-night stay is strongly recommended — a single night gives you only one full set of boat rides and insufficient time for the rhythm of the river.

Sandakan Memorial Park

North of the city centre, the Sandakan Memorial Park marks the site of a World War II prisoner of war camp and commemorates the Sandakan Death March of 1945. Australian and British POWs were held here under severe conditions; when the camp’s situation became untenable, the Japanese command ordered forced marches into the interior, covering 250km to Ranau. Of approximately 2,500 POWs who began the march, none survived. The memorial is the only location outside Australia with a permanent memorial to this event.

The site is well maintained and the interpretation is serious and considered. Entry is free. Allow one to two hours.

Agnes Keith House

The restored colonial home of American author Agnes Keith, who lived in Sandakan from 1934 to 1952 and wrote three books about her life in British North Borneo — including “Land Below the Wind” (1939), a bestseller that shaped international perceptions of Sabah for decades. The house is a museum of the period and of Keith’s life, with period furniture, photographs, and context for the colonial administration. Entry: RM15. Worth an hour if colonial history and the writing life interest you.