Sabah Parks conservation and diving permits

In Borneo most of the scuba diving locations are to be found in Sabah, northern Borneo. Sabah is home to a range of popular diving locations including the following:-

• For World famous dive locations choose Sipadan or Layang Layang. Both offer diving along drop offs, sightings of pelagics and regularly feature in the top diving locations in the World.
• Muck diving at Mabul – Mabul may not have the stunning reef diving offered by neighbouring Sipadan, but it is compensated by offering some really cool muck diving being home a wide variety of unusual critters including nudibranchs, mandarinfish, frogfish and lots more.
• The most accessible diving is offered at Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park – the Marine Park is easy to visit from Kota Kinabalu and offers calm, sheltered coral reef dive sites suitable for beginners as well as offering chilled out diving for more experienced divers.
• For idyllic island resort diving check out Lankayan Island or Pulau Mataking. Both have just one Resort located offering a secluded stay, white sand beaches and diving along the reefs fringing the island. 

If you are into wreck diving then check out the wrecks located in the waters near Labuan – the American Wreck, Australian Wreck, Cement Wreck and the Blue Water Wreck. Dive Centre(s) in Brunei typically offer diving trips to the wrecks.

The whale shark is considered the largest fish in the world and is often on the bucket list of divers for their dream sightings on a dive. The whale shark inhabits tropical and warm-temperate seas and we are lucky to have a Whale Shark migration season on the west and east coast of Sabah, Borneo although possible sightings are quite small in number. If you don’t get to see a Whale Shark during your holiday to Borneo, don’t worry. The tropical waters off Sabah are located in the Coral Triangle making them home to an amazing variety of marine life waiting to be seen. The following are locations in Sabah offer the chance to see Whale Sharks during the Whale Shark migration season (if luck is on your side):-

Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Kota Kinabalu

Whale sharks come to feed on the plankton during the cooler months typically between November and February. Most years we have had a handful of Whale Shark sightings during a Borneo Dream snorkeling and scuba diving trip within the Marine Park.

Lankayan Island, accessible by boat via Sandakan

Whale shark sightings on Lankayan Island off the east coast of Sabah, Borneo are far from guaranteed. The whale shark season runs from March-May, when the sharks are migrating through the Sulu Sea, often passing close to the island to feed near the drop-offs.

Layang Layang, accessible by flight via Kota Kinabalu

Layang Layang is an atoll located 300 kilometres north-west of Kota Kinabalu. The island offers world-class diving along its drop-offs with regular sightings of pelagics in its waters. The diving season at Layang Layan is from

March to August and divers, of they are lucky, may also encounter whale sharks during their migration season.

For guaranteed sightings of Whale Sharks, we recommend you visit more famous locations in the world-renowned for Whale Shark sightings such as Ningaloo Reef in Australia. Find out more about the distribution of Whale Sharks.

The quick answer is “yes”. Sabah has a tropical climate and as part of this, we will typically have some tropical rain later in the day on most days. This rain is warm, often a welcome relief and for most activities does not stop play. Specifically for our scuba diving and snorkeling activities from Kota Kinabalu:-

• It is still safe to snorkel and dive when it’s raining.
• You won’t get cold if it rains as the sea temperature, for most of the year, is a toasty 28C – 30C. We also provide all our divers and snorkeling customers with 3mm tropical wet suits for thermal protection.
• The tropical marine life will still be there to see as you enjoy your scuba diving or snorkeling activity.

Whilst Sabah’s tropical climate means there’s a good chance it will rain at some point during your holiday, it’s this climate that also supports the rainforest, and it’s inhabitants, found here. Most days in Sabah, especially during the Dry Season, start off with blue sky, sunshine and a calm breeze with a chance of rain typically later in the day, evening or night time. As long as you come on holiday prepared for a hot, humid and sometimes wet tropical climate you will have a great time! Find to more about Sabah, and Sabah’s climate, on Sabah Tourism’s web site.

Borneo is the third-largest island in the World and is known for a range of things that help make it a special place to visit, and on the bucket list for many travellers. From it’s an amazing range of wildlife including the Bornean Orangutan, it’s ancient rainforests (some of the oldest in the World), world-class diving at Sipadan through to the highest peak in South East Asia – Mount Kinabalu. Borneo is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, being home to an estimated 15,000 different plant species including the World’s largest flower – the Rafflesia. Borneo is also famous for its rich culture and is home to > 200 tribes each with their own traditions, dialect, dishes, type of home they live in etc. The most famous tribe from Borneo are the headhunters (Murut tribe). 

Sabah is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo. Borneo is home to four political regions: Kalimantan belongs to Indonesia, Sabah and Sarawak are part of Malaysia (often referred to as Malaysian Borneo), and the sultanate of Brunei.

To fly to Sabah, Borneo you need to fly to one of three airports – Kota Kinabalu airport (BKI) the main gateway to Sabah, Sandakan airport (SDK) on the east coast and Tawau airport (TWU) on the south coast. Which airport you fly in to/out of depends upon your itinerary and your flight route to Sabah. There are currently direct flights to an airport in Sabah from a range of airports in South East Asia with most direct routes being via Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Hong Kong. More recently you can fly direct to Kota Kinabalu (BKI) from South Korea, certain cities in China, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines. For other parts of Borneo, you can fly to Sarawak’s Kuching airport and Brunei’s Bandar Seri Begawan airport.

Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) is the official language spoken in Sabah. Other widely spoken languages include a range of Chinese dialects (such as Mandarin), Tamil and English. All the indigenous tribes also speak their own language – in Sabah the indigenous people speak Dusun and Kadazan, Bajau, Murut, Lun, Bruneian, Rungus, Bisaya, Iranun, Bawang, Sungai, Suluk, and Sama. For travellers visiting Sabah, you will find English is fairly widely spoken and understood in most areas you would visit, although if you tried to speak a few words in Malay it would go down a treat.

The Malaysian Ringgit is the currency of Malaysia. The currency code for Ringgit is MYR and the currency symbol is RM. We will quote all our prices using RM.

Borneo may not be as cheap as some other countries in South East Asia, however, you can still have an affordable holiday here and experience some of the best Sabah has to offer. There are activities and accommodation for those on a budget, as well as more luxurious options for those wanting the 5* experience. The same goes for eating out you can eat very cheaply at a local cafe or food court, or you can choose to eat in a more expensive restaurant catering for the tourists coming here. Sabah, Borneo can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it means it is still a travel destination most can consider visiting.

Sabah in general is a safe place to visit. There were over 4 million visitors to Sabah in 2019 and the vast majority of these visitors enjoyed trips to Sabah without incident.

In recent years Sabah has put in place enforced security practices, via ESSCOM, to ensure Sabah remains a safe location to visit – these are focused on the south of Sabah (Semporna area) and the islands off the south and east coast of Sabah including those located near Sipadan. You can read the latest Travel Advice from Sabah Tourism.

At Borneo Dream, we put our customer’s safety first. We ensure a safe environment is offered to our customers during their holiday in Sabah – whether it be suggesting restaurants to our customers, visiting the Kinabatangan River, white water rafting along Padas Gorge through to trekking in the jungle. We still suggest our customers take extra care if they go off exploring independently – this is the same for most other safe countries you could visit in the world.

We do recommend you also read your country’s FCO Travel Advice for Sabah (Malaysia). You can also email the Borneo Dream Team with any questions or concerns you may have about visiting a specific location in Sabah and we’ll provide honestly informed feedback.

The quick answer is “yes”. The longer answer for why rain does not ‘stop play’ when scuba diving or snorkeling in the tropical waters of Sabah:-

• It is still safe to snorkel and dive when it’s raining.
• You get wet in the sea when snorkelling or diving, you are not going to get any wetter if it rains.
• You won’t get cold if it rains as the sea temperature, for most of the year, is a toasty 28C – 30C and even the rain is warm. Nice! We also provide all our divers and snorkelling customers with 3mm tropical wet suits for thermal protection.
• The marine life doesn’t care if it rains and will still be there to see as you enjoy your scuba diving or snorkelling activity.

Sabah has two seasons – The ‘Dry Season’ and the ‘Wet Season’. However, during the whole year we have a fairly constant temperature and humidity level – Sabah has a tropical hot and very humid climate. Most days normally start off with blue sky, sunshine and a calm breeze. Most days throughout the year we have a chance of rain typically later in the day, evening or night time – this is due to clouds building up during the day on the Crocker mountain range which rolls down into Kota Kinabalu normally during afternoon or evening.

Online weather reports for Sabah will always say there is a chance of rain or thunderstorms every day in Sabah. This is true I that later each day we could get some tropical rain. But no-one can predict accurately what exactly the weather will the next day, the next week or the next month. All we’d say is don’t let weather reports rule what activities you choose to join. As long as you come on holiday prepared for a hot, humid and sometimes wet tropical climate you will have a great time!

Find to more about Sabah, and Sabah’s climate, on Sabah Bah web site

At Borneo Dream, we put our customer’s safety first. We have been operating in Sabah, Borneo since 2007 and all of our customers have experienced safe, enjoyable holidays. We ensure a safe environment is offered to our customers – whether it be suggesting restaurants to our customers to eat at in Kota Kinabalu, staying at a lodge along the Kinabatangan River, white water rafting along Padas Gorge or staying at an Island Resort. There are a small number of areas we suggest our customers take extra care if they go off exploring independently – this is the same as most other safe countries to visit in the world.

Sabah itself has put in place enforced security practices over recent years to ensure Sabah remains a safe location to visit – these are focused on the south of Sabah (Semporna area) and the islands off the south and east coast of Sabah including those located near Sipadan. You can read the latest Travel Advice from Sabah Tourism

We do recommend you also read your country’s FCO Travel Advice for Sabah (Malaysia). You can also email the Borneo Dream Team with any questions or concerns you may have about visiting a specific location in Sabah and we’ll provide honestly informed feedback.

Borneo typically as a whole is classified as a ‘high risk’ area for malaria. In reality, there will be areas in Borneo that are higher risk – like inner rainforests and rural areas – and areas in Borneo that are a lower risk which typically includes most of the places tourists visit in Sabah e.g. Kota Kinabalu, Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary etc. We would always recommend you seek your Doctors advice on what medical precautions you should take when coming on holiday to Sabah, Borneo. It then comes down to the level of risk you want to take when coming on holiday regarding your health.

You can choose to wait until you arrive in Kota Kinabalu to book your trips. However, we’d always recommend you book your tours in advance if you are travelling to Sabah during a peak period, joining a specific tour really matters to you or you have limited time in Sabah (so little flexibility to join a tour on other dates).

All the trips/packages we arrange for our customers in Sabah will be subject to availability. Some tours do tend to get fully booked in advance throughout the year as there is limited capacity and they are very popular e.g. Turtle Island, Resorts near Sipadan and climbing Mount Kinabalu. During peak periods in Sabah other tours/activities can also get fully booked e.g. Kinabatangan River packages and our own diving and snorkeling trips.

The Malaysian Ringgit is the currency of Malaysia. The currency code for Ringgit is MYR and the currency symbol is RM. We will quote all our prices using RM.

We help many families come on holiday to Borneo and organise tours that the full family can enjoy together. During activities, our guides and PADI Professionals are there to provide advice, tuition and supervise the activities they are running. We do not employ qualified childminders. As a parent, you are responsible for the child or children in your care and are required to supervise and be with them during all activities. This is for your child’s safety and protection, as well as helping you enjoy your time together as a family.

During the period of March to October is the best time to visit Borneo and see the Orangutans. This is when the weather is at its hottest but more importantly driest. The daily air temperatures range from 27°C to 32°C with humidity hitting 80% often. Orangutans can be sited at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre or on one of our many Kinabatangan River cruises.

Borneo is a tropical destination located approximately 6 degrees north of the equator. Let’s look at three destinations located in Sabah. Sabah is the northern Malaysian State of Borneo. On the west coast of Sabah is it’s capital Kota Kinabalu and on the east coast, we have Sandakan they are approximately 180Km apart. 125Km South of Sandakan is Danum Valley.

Kota Kinabalu – The rainfall of 85 to 317mm per month with the wetest months being September till January. Temperatures are prerty steady at 31°C to 32°C.

Sandakan – The rainfall of 120 to 450mm per month with the wetest months being August till February. Temperatures are prerty steady at 29°C to 33°C.

Danum Valley – The rainfall of 165 to 220mm per month with the wetest months being October till January. Temperatures are prerty steady at 27°C to 29°C.

Please provide all information requested to help us manage your reservation and booking as quickly as possible. Please book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Late bookings, less than thirty (30) days from your arrival date, will be accepted subject to availability. All late booking requests must be accompanied by full payment.

All of our prices are quoted in RM (Ringgit Malaysia). Our quotes are valid for 30 days from the date of issue subject to our suppliers maintaining theirs pricing. Our prices include current taxes where applicable. It is worth noting that we work on extremely tight margins to deliver you the best enjoyment for your buck. Thus on very rare occasions, our suppliers will alter pricing at the last minute. If our supplier decides to alter their pricing and we are unable to absorb the extra cost/s you will be asked to cover the diference.

• A 30% non-refundable deposit of the total booking cost (Trips, tours and packages more than RM 1000.00) is required to confirm your reservation.
• On trips, tours and packages with a total cost less than RM 1000.00 then full payment is required at booking stage.
• Full payment must arrive 45 days before trip/tour start date – Failing to do this could result in the cancellation of your reservation.
• There are a few ways to send us a payment – send a SWIFT Payment (Electronic International Bank Transfer), pay via Stripe.com (via credit card on our online shop) or we can process your credit card locally (VISA or Mastercard):
  • SWIFT Payments can only be sent in MYR, GBP or USD.
  • All bank charges and credit card charges for payments to Borneo Dream are to be borne by the customer.
• Please note that some of the trips we arrange with Suppliers work to different payment terms (for example, for Mount Kinabalu trips full payment is required within 5 working days of making a reservation). Were this is the case we will advise you at the reservation and booking stage.

For courses, trips and packages provided by Borneo Dream (Borneo Dream scuba diving and snorkelling trips and courses only) the following cancellation policy will apply:

• If you cancel >45 days from date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge the 30% non-refundable deposit (for the total package cost).
• If you cancel between 20 – 35 days from date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 50% the total package cost.
• If you cancel within 19 – 10 days or less from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 75% of the total package cost.
• If you cancel within >10 days or less from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 100% of the total package cost
• If you fail to turn up for a trip (“no show”) you will still be charged the full package cost.
• We will not refund in respect of any unused services (or part) included in a package.

Our chosen Suppliers for land trips, Sabah diving packages, transport and room bookings will charge late cancellation fees in line with their own cancellation policy, and depending on the circumstances. The cancellation fees charged by them will be charged to you by Borneo Dream.

For Mount Kinabalu trip bookings (climbing Mount Kinabalu) 30% of the upfront full payment is a ‘non-refundable deposit’. The remaining 70% is fully refundable should you cancel the booking more than 60 days before the trip date.

Please note for Turtle Island bookings that Turtle Island Resort charges an extra fixed cancellation fee for cancellations. This fee is over and above what has been paid for the trip. This means if you cancel a booking at Turtle Island they will charge an extra amount which you will need to pay. We recommend you only book Turtle Island Resort if you are 100% certain you will go on the trip (including after checking your country’s FCO Travel Advice for Islands off the east coast of Sabah).

For the 4D3N Mount Trusmadi trip and the Danum Valley Field Center Tour the cancellation policy is as follows:-

• 90 – 46 days prior to arrival a 25% cancellation fee will apply
• 45 – 22 days prior to arrival a 50% cancellation fee will apply
• 21 – 0 days prior to arrival a 100% cancellation fee will apply

No partial or full refunds will be given for an uncompleted PADI course, diving or snorkelling trip with Borneo Dream. If you decide during your course/trip you do not want to continue we will offer you our ‘Unguided Snorkeling Trip’ as an alternative for the remaining part of your course/trip.

What happens if we need to change your booking:

• Although every effort will be made to operate the trips as advertised, Borneo Dream reserves the right (at our sole discretion and without penalty) to make alternative arrangements as it sees fit if caused by poor weather conditions, technical problems to vehicles, flight delay or other circumstances beyond their control necessitate.
• Where it is in the interest of tour/trip/course members that an itinerary be altered, such alterations may be made without penalty to the company.
• If a Borneo Dream Tour (snorkelling and/or scuba diving tour run by Borneo Dream) is cancelled prior to the date of departure, due to circumstances beyond our control we will refund all money paid by our booked customers.
• In the event of one of our suppliers cancelling a tour, we will make every endeavour to ensure full reimbursement but where a supplier has a policy of retaining any fees or charges we will have to defer to their policy.

If  you wish to re-schedule/move your adventure we will need your new dates ASAP. The dates must be in the same calendar year as the original trip. Subject to availability you will be charged RM 250.00 as a ‘Change of Booking Fee’ plus any other costs due to price increases, supplier cancellation charges or seasonal variations. This can only be done once.

We act as an agent for airline, hotel, ‘Explore Tours’ and in some cases, transport companies assume no liability in connection with their services. Borneo Dream will not be responsible for any act, omission, error or any injury, delay, irregularity, government regulations, theft or strikes over which it has no control.

Like with all great Natural Marine Parks around the globe such as the Ras Mohammed Marine Park in Egypt, The Cayman Islands, the Maldives etc., the Local Governments and Authorities impose local Permit charges to all guests and visitors alike. Here in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo we have several marine parks of this type, such as Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP) just outside Kota Kinabalu (KK), one near Pulau Tiga, Turtle Islands Park and Pulau Sipadan to name but a few.

The following charges will apply to all our guests and will either be collected in advance or on the day of the activity (Correct September 2021):-

• Go Ashore (Known as the Marine Park Conservation Fee) – On any of the islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park it is RM 5.00 for Malaysians. For Non-Malaysians RM 20.00 – This is per person per day.
• Scuba Diving (Known as the Diving Permit) – Within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park is RM 20.00 for Malaysians and RM 50.00 for Non-Malaysians. This is per diver per day.
• Scuba Diving Courses – Within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park is MYR 20.00 for Malaysians and MYR 50.00 for Non-Malaysians. This is per diver for the duration of the course.

If another operator says that he has included the Marine Park fees, I would ask you to request a valid “Sabah Parks” receipt on the official Sabah Parks paper.

Further information and up to date pricing on Sabah Parks conservation fees can be found here.

We offer a range of payment methods for sending payment to Borneo Dream – various credit card payment options plus bank transfers. We hope that our customers will find at least one of these payment methods to be a convenient and fair value option for them.

We offer a range of payment options from buying your tour/package online via our website, paying by credit card or by sending a bank transfer. If you are already in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah then you can visit our Shop at Plaza Tanjung Aru to pay by cash or credit card or pay by cash deposit machine into our bank account at any Maybank Branch. Find out more about each payment option below.

If you get into any difficulty sending us a payment – please send us an email and we will look into it from our end.

Buying tours, trips, dive equipment or clothing via our online store has never been easier. Once you have decided on your purchase and added it to your cart you can proceed to view your cart or head straight to checkout. Our checkout allows you to register to receive future special offers or you can use the guest checkout function. Once you have filled out all the necessary information and checked any dates or availability with our sales office it is time to pay. We offer two methods of payment on the website.

You can pay by credit or debit cards plus ApplePay and GooglePay using our Stripe.com Payment Gateway. Unfortunately, there is a charge for this that is levied by Stripe.com on to us. The charge is 3% on the transaction + RM 1.00. As we are in Malaysia 6% SST is also applied to this charge as well.

What does this mean for you? We will not be passing on the charge to you but should we have to refund you or you request a refund and you paid by Stripe.com Then we will refund the amount paid less the Stripe.com charges as we do not get them back even if we refund a payment. Example – If you had paid RM 100.00 by Stripe.com we would refund you only RM 95.76 (Original amount less 3% + RM 1.00 x 6% SST).

The second payment method we offer is direct bank transfer to our Malaysian account or if you are in Malaysia you can use the Maybank Cash Deposit Machines (CDM). Our bank details are as follows:

• Account name: Borneo Dream Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd (please use our company name in full for the “Beneficiary account name” when sending payment)
• Company registration number (if requested by your Bank): 788821K
• Bank Name: Malayan Banking Berhad (or commonly known as ‘Maybank’)
• Branch Address: Menara Maybank, Floor 8, 100 Jalan Tun Perak, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 50050
• Account number: 510 143 111 363
• SWIFT BIC: MBBEMYKL
• Email for a payment notification: joanne@borneodream.com

You can send a SWIFT payment/transfer to our business account based in Sabah, Malaysia.

Please note all bank charges for payments to Borneo Dream must be borne by the customer. You will need to send an equivalent amount that, when it is credited to our account, is the same as the invoiced amount or the amount we requested. Our account can only accept Malaysian Ringgit. If you send another currency such as US Dollar then this can delay the process and cause more bank and currency charges which will need to be borne by you.

Our bank account details are as follows:-

• Account name: Borneo Dream Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd (please use our company name in full for the “Beneficiary account name” when sending payment)
• Company registration number (if requested by your Bank): 788821K
• Bank Name: Malayan Banking Berhad (or commonly known as ‘Maybank‘)
• Branch Address: Menara Maybank, Floor 8, 100 Jalan Tun Perak, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 50050
• Account number: 510 143 111 363
• SWIFT BIC: MBBEMYKL
• Email for a payment notification: joanne@borneodream.com

When you send a bank transfer to us we need you to do the following:-

• Put your surname and/or invoice number in the reference field in order for us to process the payment.
• Please confirm by email when you have sent a payment (deposit or full payment) to us. Email the Dream Team with your surname, invoice number and total amount paid. If you get a payment completion reference number then please include it.

For those with a Malaysian Bank Account, you can choose to send an online bank transfer to our Maybank Account (Account name is Borneo Dream Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd and our account number is 510 143 111 363). Please email a copy of the transfer confirmation slip to joanne@borneodream.com once payment has been sent.

If you are already in Kota Kinabalu, alongside buying online via our website, you can choose between the following payment options too:

Come and visit our Sales Office located in Kota Kinabalu at F-G-1 Plaza Tanjung Aru, Jalan Mat Salleh (09:00 – 18:00, Mon-Sat). You can pay by cash or by VISA/Mastercard credit card.

Visit a Maybank outlet to pay cash in via the cash deposit machine. We then need you to take a photo of the deposit receipt with your phone and email it to us at info@borneodream.com. Our account number is as follows:

• Account name: Borneo Dream Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd
• Maybank Account number: 510 143 111 363