Sandakan Warnings and Dangers

Three reasons not to look directly up when you are walking aroung Gomantong Cave -
1. You may lose your balance and slip on the slippery walkway. If you fall over you will be sitting in slimy poo and probably sit on a poisonous millipede or one of the millions of cockroaches.
2. You may notice one of the deadly Cobras hanging above your head, panic and slip on the walkway.
3. The contaminated water drips from the roof and may get in your eye. This happened to our guide and he was in pain!

You will feel it as soon as you take your first step inside the jungle of Sepilok: the park is extremely humid. The whole of Malaysia is humid normally but the area of Sepilok beats it all. Even standing still while waiting will get you sweaty.

It's wise to wear thin clothes, made of cotton or linnen. But don't think like a lot of tourists think that shorts and a shirt will do. You will see why that is not wise if you see some of them at the platform in front of the Orang Utans. Their arms and legs will probably be covered with mosquito bites.

You will be reminded a few times before you enter the Park of Sepilok not to feed the animals. And that is not only for the safety of the animals, but even morefor your own safety. You will not be the first tourist that gets attacked by the Orang Utans because they smell food. So don't feed the animals and don't even bring in fruits like bananas. They have enough of that inside the park.

Orangutans are not usually aggressive but there are also a lot of Macaques around on the trail and at the feeding area so watch out for all of you belongings. If they smell food they will scent it, if they want your sunglasses they will grab those also. Keep everything out of reach of these guys.

The infamous Abu Sayaff who had created a chaos in Sipadan Island few years ago is related to immigrants from Southern Philipines, which shown that Sabah is no longer save to travel. All this happens since a decade ago, huge migration from the people of philipines (asylum seeker) came to Sandakan and settled down and some of them given a privilige to become citizen. However, years later, immigrants arrive without control and create a lot of mess including the pirates.
Anyway, travelers are advice to travel in group and better to disguise themself as a backpackers as to avoid tricks by con-man .

Flash photography is strictly forbidden in Turtle Islands Park. Nobody can ever take a single decent picture of the turtles. Instead of paying $10RM camera fee per camera, buy the pictures from the park!