Firefly tour - Went to the firefly tour and had a wonderful time exploring the mangroves looking for monkeys along the water, saw some proboscis monkeys and other monkeys. We watched the sunset from the boat, caught some fish and then when the sun went down saw some beautiful twinkling fireflies along the mangove trees! Had such a wonderful experience and so thankful tl have had an amazing and knowledgeable driver - Abdul - who took us there, came along on the boat ride and had so many interesting facts about the surrounding environment, such a lovely guy highly recommended taking his number if you are in the Sandakan/Sepilok area and want to learn about the area whilst exploring it! Mr Abdul Qayyum - +6011-16695114

Very nice evening excursion - Of course you can travel for 3 hours to the Kinabatagan River, but this tour is only 35 min. from Sandakan, fun and (I suppose) less crowded. Apart from fireflies, we saw a lot of probiscis monkeys in the trees. Booking agencies will probably want to squeeze your pockets but no need! The local number is 011-5180 0387 for reservations. It will be a 100 rm pax, 50% discount for children. Tours start at 1700. but it is in a rural village, so if you're wondering how to get there, try calling Sam +6089533780. The guy will wait for you while you are on the boat. Hope this helps.

Interesting Tour - This is an interesting tour. You get to see genuine local village and houses, a cruise through the mangroves where you can see various wildlife including monkeys. After dark you do get to see the fireflies. We did not see many as the moon was full so not as dark as it can get. It was still a good experience. You then have a meal in the village which is reasonable quality, the villagers are very friendly and helpful. Would recommend.

Magical experience - We had a great taxi driver, dinner and afternoon tea at the local village was plentiful and presented well for home cooked village cooking. The toilets were really clean. The trip up the river to the island was magical and the sunset fantastic- we had time to chat with the local policemen who are based on the island. The fireflies are like lit up Christmas trees and we even saw a little crocodile and monkeys- well worth it

Worth it. - Very nice tour. We were 6 persons and a guide in the tour and all by ourselves at the mangrove. Very beautiful and silent and the fireflies were a great experience. Eate very nice local food. Only catch was, that the pick up was half an hour late and same excuse as the day before (at our Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre) ‘The car broke down’!!!!

Fun evening - Very nice way to spend some time with the locals. Food was great and the tour was interesting. Kids would love it.

Mangrove and fireflies Jan 24 - Cruising down the river in the dark was quite amazing. Not many fireflies out and we did not spend time with the village kids or throw pots so that was a bit disappointing. The food was plentiful and delicious, even the doughnuts at the start! As there was no sunset due to weather the island was superfluous so this should be reconsidered if it rains.

Great tour - This was a fantastic tour. Yen our guide was brilliant, very knowledgeable and eager to answer all of our questions. We saw monkeys crocodile and fireflies. We had booked a tour with a seafood dinner and while we did get a beautiful home cooked traditional meal it was not seafood. So a little disappointing when we were expecting seafood. The driver who picked us up from the motel was courteous, however it was a very busy night and so there was a lot of traffic and as a result the driver seemed a little anxious to get to the tour destination. Often driving quite fast. If it had been seafood for dinner and the driver wasn’t so rushed it would have been an exceptional tour.