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Day 16:

Turtle Island National Park - Bird-watching: Sungai Kinabatangan River

Witness the regeneration of the one of nature's great marvels : the endangered green turtles, at Turtle Islands National Park. This park consists of a number of uninhabited islands lying within the Sulu Seas, off the east coast of Sabah. Turtle Island, or Selingan Island, is the largest of these islands and has been developed to house the park's headquarters, a visitors centre, basic tourist facilities and a turtle hatchery.

Turtle landings usually occur after dusk. The park has a sensible policy of allowing visitors to see only one landing a night. This allows undisturbed nestings to go on throughout the night.

Once the eggs have been laid, the eggs are removed and planted at the same depth within the protected turtle hatchery. This is to ensure that wild predators, such as the monitor lizards, do not get to the eggs. After a period of incubation the eggs would hatch and the young turtles are released into the sea. These hatchlings will then have to fend for themselves until they are mature enough to mate and return back to the Turtle Islands.


Drift on the tributaries of Sungai Kinabatangan for some of the best wildlife-viewing in Southeast Asia, including many birds species and elephants.

Third night in Sandakan.