Exploring Sabah: Bilit Adventure Lodge, Kinabatangan River

When we arrived in the small town of Bilit in North Eastern Sabah, it was after dark and we were ready for dinner.  Imagine our surprise when we were taken down to a small jetty and shown on to a longboat already prepared with lifejackets and we headed off into the dark. A ten minute ride saw our arrival at Bilit Adventure Lodge, our home for the next two nights. It was actually much less than 10 minutes, but it felt like it, in the dark! We were in Sabah with the MPOGCF Malaysian Palm Oil Green Conservation Foundation to see how they were supporting the resolution of human/wildlife conflict, to ensure that businesses were sustainable and humans and the local wildlife could comfortably co-exist. You can open the map below in a new page by clicking on the [ ].

Bilit Adventure Lodge

Kinabatangan River at Bilit
Tel: +6016-826 6194

Website: https://www.stwadventure.com/main.php?mode=tplBilit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bilitadventurelodge/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@bilitadventurelodge
Email: [email protected]

There are no roads after you reach Kampung Bilit, up-river and across from Bilit Adventure Lodge, so everything comes by boat across the Kinabatangan River from Kampung Bilit. You’ll need to park or leave your transport near the school, close to the small boat landing and they’ll collect you from there.

Not only the guests travel by longboat. So do all the staff who live off-site, food that can’t be grown on-site, and all the construction materials. But the boats are clean and well maintained by the boatmen, who also ensure there’s a life vest on every seat. 

The sun comes up early and the boatmen are already readying their boats for the visitors before sunrise, as the best time to see the local wildlife is early morning or late afternoon. By 6am, they’re usually on their way. We didn’t leave until about an hour later and probably missed at least some of the early wildlife. You’ll have breakfast when you return.

There’s a big location map in the walkway and it’s easy to sign up as all activities and timings are on a big board outside the Hall.

Accommodation & round the resort

The open hall is the nerve centre of the Lodge. All meals are served here and there’s a small bar at the opposite end. This is also the only place you’ll get a WiFi signal on your phone, although if you really need an internet connection, you can pay a small amount, if it’s available.

The free internet ‘sweet spot’ is just outside the small shop. They’re well stocked with reasonably priced ‘take-me-homes’, local souvenirs as well as local snacks. They had a good selection of the local Sabah coffee available when we were there. I was able to pay by card, but be prepared with cash, just in case.

You’ll probably see a few long tailed macaque monkeys around the area. Don’t try to make friends with the monkeys. Just ignore them and they shouldn’t bother you.

You’ll reach your chalet along a raised wooden walkway, through natural vegetation, making each chalet quite private. If you’d like to plant a tree near the walkway like others have done, speak to the staff and they can arrange this for you.

The rooms are arranged four to a chalet, all self contained, with a clean shower/toilet supplied with toiletries, but you need to bring your own towel. They have a kettle and cups, but no fridge. You should make sure you bring any snacks and drinking water you need as these aren’t provided. There are plenty of power sockets, so you can keep your camera ready.

All our meals were in the hall, buffet style. The food was simple but delicious, lots of nice fresh veggies. And plenty of chips!

This is your opportunity to really relax. With only patchy internet and no swimming pool, here’s your chance to chill, read a book, stargaze, plant a tree, do a guided jungle day or night walk or simply enjoy the time with your family or companions.

On the river

We headed for our morning river cruise north-eastwards down river, and despite our boatman Masali’s sharp eyes, we saw no orangutan or elephants, but he did point out a family of proboscis monkeys. Though we didn’t see any orangutan, we passed under one of their bridges. These are human made simple rope links across the river to give the orangutan a way to safely cross the river. Orangutan are notoriously suspicious of human ‘offerings’ and acceptance is slow. Often the macaques and other monkeys will use the bridges and once the orangutan see they’re save, they will also use them. Masali pointed out eagles and stopped for us to see a little blue-eared kingfisher up close. And we saw plenty of crocodiles, small and big on both our morning and evening excursions.

Our afternoon cruise was much busier. Masali took us up river to the west, cutting the engine and drifting close to the bank and pointing out more proboscis monkeys, a couple of groups of macaques, and lots of silver leaf monkeys. These are quite big with long tails and most were resting.

We also saw more types of monkeys. A male proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey (Nasalis larvatus) bright red with a tuft of hair, large white belly and a huge red nose, was out for dinner in a tree with his harem. The females are quite drab in comparison. Still no orangutan or elephants, but plenty of silver leaf monkeys high in a tree.

As we waited for the sunset we spied lots of hornbills.

Then we drifted, with hornbills for company, waiting for one of the highlights of our trip, a magnificent sunset. Sabah has eight species of hornbills, which includes the Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), Helmeted Hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil), Wrinkled Hornbill (A. corrugatus), White-crowned Hornbill (Aceros comatus), Oriental Pied Hornbill (A. albirostris),  Asian Black Hornbills (Anthracoceros malayanus), Bushy-crested Hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus), (Wreathed Hornbill A. undulatus), at least three of which we saw in just this one tree as we waited.

Jungle walk

During the day, between river trips, we looked around the Lodge using the raised walkways and enjoyed a jungle walk, with a guide. Leech socks are definitely recommended and you can rent these and gum boots if you don’t have your own. (Wellies/rubberboots).

Before we actually left, we met a wandering tractor millipede (Polydesmida) and later a pill millipede(Giant Pill Millipede (Zephroniidae)), rolled into a tidy ball for protection. We knew an elephant had been there, because apart from the large oval footprints, it left the evidence. Elephant poo, and it’s not small.

Although we had a guide, they have yellow arrows painted high on trees, showing you where to walk. He also showed us how to attract attention if we are lost, by using a big stick to whack the buttress root of a large tree, which produces a loud sound.

You can also arrange an evening jungle walk, but you must be able to be as quiet as possible to see and hear what’s around you. There’s actually plenty to do and our books remained unread. We very much enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend the experience. A small thing to note: Make sure you pre-arrange your transport with a reliable provider to get to the Bilit Adventure Lodge, it is quite far from Sandakan and unless you are self-driving, it’s not wise to rely on calling a taxi/ride share.

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