The UN just voted to retire the 500-year-old Mercator map. Here’s what that means for how the world has been sizing up Borneo all along.
Sabah’s longest river cuts through one of Borneo’s last significant lowland forest corridors — and offers some of the state’s most reliable wildlife viewing, from proboscis monkeys to pygmy elephants.
Where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea, Sabah’s coastline reaches its northernmost point — a windswept headland with some of the region’s best sunrise and sunset views.
Off Semporna’s coast, the Bajau Laut live almost entirely on the water — exceptional free-divers with documented physical adaptations, and one of the world’s last genuinely sea-nomadic peoples.
At Sabah’s northern tip, the Rungus community maintains a longhouse tradition, distinctive beadwork, and a language distinct enough from other Kadazan-Dusun groups to set Kudat apart culturally.
In the small Kudat village of Sumangkap, brass gongs central to Sabah’s indigenous ceremonies are still hand-hammered and tuned by ear — a craft as much about sound as sight.
Beyond Borneo’s famous hornbills, Sabah’s forests hold a quieter, equally rewarding cast of birds — kingfishers, trogons, nuthatches, and more. A field guide to some of the species worth watching for.
Since 1964, Sepilok has given orphaned and rescued orangutans a structured path back to the wild. Here’s how the rehabilitation process actually works, and what visitors should understand before they go.
The world’s smallest elephant subspecies lives along Sabah’s Kinabatangan River — genetically unique, surprisingly gentle-natured, and increasingly squeezed by fragmented habitat.
Kinabalu Park is home to over 800 orchid species — one of the highest concentrations on Earth. Here’s why one mountain holds so much diversity, and where to actually find it.
