The state of Sarawak is situated on the northwestern coast of Borneo and offers a vast diversity of living tribal cultures, rivers, rainforests, pepper plantations, beaches and national parks. Several indigenous tribes such as the Iban provide hospitality to tourists; travelers can book a stay at a real longhouse, which includes traditional meals and possibly even the unwanted company of live rats scurrying about in the dark!

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Kuching City

Kuching is the capital city of Sarawak and the largest city on the island of Borneo. Nicknamed Cat City, it is home to a large population of tiny cats, celebrated around the city with large public sculptures. Skip the Cat Museum and enjoy the Jalan Satok Sunday Market instead, with its streets full of vendors hawking everything from fruits, fish, clothing and handicrafts to pets, jungle produce and squirming grubs.

Bako National Park:

Just outside of Kuching is Bako National Park, the oldest and smallest in Sarawak. No ecotour in Sarawak would be complete without a trip to Bako, where visitors to the lodge are bound to see macaques, bearded pigs and the occasional viper. A 30-minute speedboat ride gets visitors and guides close to the main lodge, and overnight visitors can stay in Spartan chalets, with basic supplies available at a canteen and small store.

Trekkers taking any of the vigorous hikes available are amply rewarded with breathtaking views of secluded coves, sandstone formations, waterfalls, and towering trees teeming with exotic plant life and proboscis monkeys, as well as other primates.

Gunung Mulu National Park:

Gunung Mulu National Park is home to a huge network of caves, including the world's biggest passage in Deer Cave (imagine five cathedrals inside) and the longest in Southeast Asia, Clear Water Cave. At dusk, millions of bats and cave swiftlets swarm out into the jungle in search of a meal. Shown here, bats exit through a cave opening said to resemble the profile of American President Lincoln.

The swiflets or cave swallows merit an extra mention. High in the bat caves, these small birds construct nests made in part of their own saliva. Extremely difficult to collect by men who dedicate their lives to the task, these nests are a costly and highly prized ingredient for the Chinese delicacy, Bird's Nest Soup. This rich concoction is believed to be a natural Viagra as well as to provide health benefits ranging from digestion to improving the immune system.

Visitors who stay for the evening exodus will be walking back in the dark on the well-maintained boardwalk to the Royal Mulu Resort, built on 3-meter stilts just outside the park on the Melinau River. Bats dart in and out of the open common areas at this ecoresort, and guests are treated to a nightly cultural dance show during the evening meal. This is one of the more luxurious of Borneo's ecolodges; it's hard to explain how a swimming pool and Jacuzzi can have a minimum impact, but no one seems to be complaining after the 3.5 km trek back from the caves.

Turtle Islands Park:

After the 90-minute boat ride to the island, visitors are on their own in the afternoon, and most end up on the west beach to enjoy a bit of snorkeling and sun within swimming distance of the Philippines. A simple dinner is served at dusk, and soon after, guides give lectures in the upstairs museum about the successful turtle conservation program. After dark, guests are restricted to the lodge area until park rangers call out, "Turtle Time!" Rangers lead the way to a nesting site on the beach, and visitors watch as the giant turtle lays eggs and a ranger scoops them up into a bucket. Once the turtle has finished laying her clutch, she covers what she thinks is a full nest, and the ranger leads guests to the vast hatchery where the eggs are buried in an artificial nest and carefully labeled. The evening ends with the release into the midnight Sulu Sea of a group of newly hatched turtles from a batch that has been incubating for many days.

Turtle Islands Park is the home of a serious conservation program; the focus is on the turtles, and tourism is of secondary concern. Accommodations are not luxurious, but no serious ecotourist would complain about the clean cabins and simple meals. Some rooms have private baths, but most of the chalets on the island have communal shower and toilet facilities. Most travelers will be too interested in following last night's turtle tracks to worry about thread count in the sheets.

Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary:

Back in Sandakan, the must-see attraction is Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. Visitors can watch trainers teaching displaced or orphaned apes learning once again to be at home in a protected rainforest environment. Many of these wonderful animals are here because their natural habitats are vanishing due to the encroachment of human industries or because they have been orphaned by poachers.

Two milk and banana feedings a day present an up-close look at rehabilitating orangutans, and a visitor center provides more background on the program and a chance for tourists to get involved in the sanctuary project through volunteering, donations and community outreach. These efforts by the Sanctuary include the repatriation of captive orangutans that have forgotten how to fend for themselves in the wild.

Ape lovers wanting a second-day visit can stay next door at the Sepilok Jungle Resort, where comfortable accommodations make up for any discomfort felt at austere Turtle Island Park.

Sukau Rainforest Lodge

Take a two hour boat ride from Sandakan down the Kinabatangan River to Sukau Rainforest Lodge, owned and managed by Borneo Eco Tours. This award-winning ecolodge is the best known in Borneo and it truly is a minimal impact lodging. River cruises are conducted in boats powered by electricity, water is heated by the sun and there is no air conditioning in the rooms.

Guides present an educational slide show outlining local history and customs as well as conservation efforts presently underway. Conservationists work on staff and encourage guests to join the effort, and the resident naturalist gives a jungle boardwalk lecture that will make hikers think twice before brushing up against unknown foliage. They will remind you not to forget your leech socks!

These essential articles of clothing are made of a fabric leeches find difficult to penetrate, and they offer a bit of extra protection on top of the ever-present insect repellant. Leech socks are pulled on over your own socks and pant bottoms and tied at the knee, and everyone is advised to wear them for walks in the jungle. Borneo's tiniest bloodsuckers would love to get to know you better!

Stay a few days and you'll get to know the river and its wildlife: snakes, swimming pigs, wild orangutan, flocks of colorful birds, monkeys galore and maybe even a rhinoceros or a herd of pygmy elephants.

Danum Valley Conservation Area

Professional tour guides travel all over East Malaysia, but no location makes the guides more wistful for the rainforests that once carpeted all of Borneo than the Danum Valley Conservation area, known for its stunning biodiversity and peaceful seclusion. At Danum Valley, the guides just take you out onto the trails, and they never know what they're going to see because it's different every day. There is a wider variety of animals in Danum Valley because they haven't been forced out by endless palm oil plantations that are beginning to encroach on the rainforests everywhere. In this partially protected valley, well-versed guides lead visitors on jungle treks, bird watching (nearly 300 species!), river swimming, night jungle tours and a dazzling canopy walk. Still, all is not well in Paradise, and it is disturbing to see logging trucks going in and out with their loads of huge trunks. Supposedly, the logging is being done responsibly. There are several spots along the road into Danum Valley where there are conservation goals noted on signs and even a reforestation nursery project.

It's not easy to reach the Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley; the only way in or out is a bumpy, close to three-hour drive along a rough logging road. So stay a day longer than your tour company recommends and enjoy luxuriating in a comfortable chalet with nothing to do but enjoy the extensive buffet and bar or revisit the canopy walk or swim in the crystal clear natural 'Jacuzzi pool' . . . or dream of staying forever. Guides are happy to tell you everything they know about their favorite destination. With their clever bird and primate calls, the best guides will bring the animals to you .