Walking with Orangutans in Borneo with Susanne Hamer

This travel journal is part of our TravelStore Passport Diaries Podcast. Watch the full episode below, and for more episodes, visit our Passport Diaries Podcast page or follow us on your favorite podcast platform.

In our Passport Diaries episode with Susanne Hamer, we take our Podcast Passports to get stamped along the equatorial line in Borneo. Split between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Its dense rainforests are home to a diverse variety of animals such as orangutans, proboscis monkeys, pygmy elephants, Bornean gibbons, saltwater crocodiles, leopard cats, and so much more. Susanne Hamer – Expert Travel Advisor with nearly 30 years at TravelStore specializing in hard-to-reach, tropical, and adventure travel destinations – spots many of these creatures in their native environment during her trip to the Malaysian part of the island. In her podcast interview, she shares details about traveling to Borneo (and taking a two-hour boat ride into the “middle of nowhere” to reach the first eco-lodge), joining an excursion to help replanting efforts replacing invasive palm tree species with native ones, walking mere feet from an orangutan without anyone else around, and participating in one of the most unique fundraising events to support the conservation efforts of Sukau Rainforest Lodge. She also makes a stop in Singapore where she marvels at the multiculturality of the tiny country, as well as Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Kicking off her trip in Singapore, Susanne checks in at her hotel and begins her tried-and-true method of fending off jet-lag: staying up and active through the day until her internal clocks set to local time: “You just keep on going the best you can and then you kind of crash in the evening and then you start all over; that’s really the only way to get over jet lag.” She finds the diverse country of Singapore “really interesting – when you’re walking around in Singapore, especially in kind of the old town area, you’ll have every single thing…we were at a Hindu festival, and then we went to a Buddhist temple that’s one of the oldest in Singapore, and so on and so forth. And then you go to the food court and you can have every single dish from any nation – it’s huge, it’s like three stories. It’s amazing.”

Next on the itinerary is Sandakan in Borneo, home to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. It is one of the largest Orangutan rehab organizations in the world and is “basically a huge national park, in a sense” says Susanne. “You wouldn’t even know that it’s fenced in because it’s so big. The Orangutans just roam around freely.” She even had a magical moment with an individual orangutan: While walking through the center paths, she took a wrong turn and lost the rest of her group. Trying to find her bearings (and not panic about being left behind), suddenly along comes an orangutan through the trees. “Out of the blue comes this big guy walking along on the railing right in front of me.” While she continued catching up with her group, the friendly creature walked alongside her, keeping her company. “It was amazing.”

“For people to understand how you actually can see the orangutans…it’s a little bit like going on an African safari” says Susanne. “We take the boats, and they’re just regular boats, nothing fancy, from Sandakan to one of the many river lodges – and this is deep, deep in the rainforest. I mean, our boat took us over two hours to get there.

“Your orangutans live there, so they are out and about all day long. So, you’d be walking along one of the paths in the lodge and all of a sudden you look up and there’s an orangutan just hanging out, you know, going from tree to tree… it’s always a good idea to do two or three different lodges because you’re going to see different things everywhere…you probably see maybe 5% of what is really there. All the monkeys and all the birds, I mean it’s unbelievable. It really is cool.”

Susanne’s adventures in Borneo reinforce what she loves most: traveling to and discovering places most people don’t normally go. “I like the challenge” says Susanne, “Anything exotic and different is always on my list. [Borneo] is a destination that requires you to be pretty fit actively. You’re getting in and out of boats, you’re walking a lot, it’s hot, it’s humid…” But according to Susanne, it’s all very worth the effort. “I think it’s fascinating. And it’s away from the crowds, which I think is what a lot of people in today’s day and age are looking for: to get away from the crowds.”

Watch our full interview with Susanne to hear more about her amazing experiences in Borneo, Malaysia, and Singapore, including a Rubber Duck Race fundraiser for one of the eco-lodges, planting a native palm tree in the rainforest, taking a cooking class in Kuala Lumpur, and more.

Passport Diaries is a travel podcast by TravelStore, here to bring you amazing stories from around the globe from our travel experts and partners. Subscribe to our channels on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a stamp in your podcast passport.