Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing orangutans in the wild
Thoughts on Group Leader
Two group leaders (Nik and Rony) - took a couple of days to get used to change. Both very good.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Take plenty mosquito spray for Kinabatangan River and good waterproofs for Mulu.
Thank you for taking the time to submit a review, Linda, and we were pleased to read that you generally enjoyed your time in Borneo with us, particularly witnessing a variety of wildlife in their natural habitats. On the other hand, we are genuinely sorry thar you were disappointed with several other elements of the tour, which took some of the shine off your holiday. Our product team endeavours to produce the most up-to-date and accurate trip notes possible; all our trip notes are thoroughly checked and signed off by our local manager at the beginning of each season and these are updated throughout the year if any inaccuracies are brought to our attention. It is certainly never our intention to provide misleading information, so we regret that you felt this was true of some of your tour. Regarding day 2’s itinerary, this generally involves a very early start to Bako National Park, lunch, and a mid-afternoon return to the hotel to relax. Though, due to the nature of adventure travel, timings are always flexible, it sounds as though your group completed this activity quicker than usual and we regret if this left you feeling as though you missed out on the opportunity to do an afternoon activity. Next, recent changes to guiding legislation on Borneo has forced our hand into have two leaders on this trip. Whilst this may not be everyone’s preference, it is standard on our other trips in this region and we have found that it generally works very well. We appreciate that clients enjoy comfortable accommodation throughout their trips and we are sorry that the Kota Kinabalu Hotel fell short of your expectations, particularly as you had a free day here. This trip is classified as “classic” according to our comfort ratings and we feel the hotel meets this description, as well as being perfectly located in the centre of town. On the topic of accommodation, we note that some members of your group didn’t particularly enjoy the longhouse; we do specify in our literature that it’s fairly basic, which usually sets our clients’ expectations accordingly, but we feel it is worth doing as it provides an authentically Bornean experience. The Nature Lodge on Kinabatangan River is also rather basic, but we should mention that options in this part of Borneo are extremely limited and it is visited for its prime wildlife viewing opportunities, which we hope you enjoyed. We acknowledge, however, that the food service here could be improved and I can assure you that we are currently discussing this with the management to ensure better culinary experiences for future groups. The Gomantong Caves and day 8 included lunch were removed from our WOH itinerary for 2024 as we were advised they would be closed to the public all year. We understand that the caves were, in fact, open during your trip and you were given the opportunity to visit on day 10 but were disappointed to be asked to cover your entry costs. This is not an official optional activity we advertise and it appears your leader simply offered this at the time; however, as this was entirely optional, we do not feel that you were left short-changed on this occasion. We recognise that value for money is important to our customers and we were, therefore, concerned to receive your feedback about the cost of your single supplement. We negotiate rates with hotels a long time in advance of departure dates and we are held to those rates for a season, even when hotels may lower their own prices for last minute walk-ins, online bookings or other avenues through which guests can make reservations. The hotels we use often charge us the same rates regardless of room type, with no reduction for singles, which further impacts our ability to reduce the single supplement charge. Nevertheless, we endeavour to negotiate rates which are fair and favourable for our clients and we can assure you that the amount you paid for your trip was reflective of its inclusive elements. We would like to thank you, again, for your detailed feedback, as this will allow us to make improvements to this tour for future Exodus customers. We sincerely hope that, despite certain disappointments, you will continue choosing us for your adventure travel plans.
Kelly Reid, Product Manager