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August 27 - September 9, 2027 - Accepting Applications

Borneo! 

The word conjures up visions of deep dark rainforests with unidentifiable screams and calls. 

If that scares you – stop here! 

If it intrigues you, read on!  And start packing your gear!

Borneo, the world’s third largest island, is situated in Maritime Southeast Asia close to Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.  The rainforests on Borneo are 140 million years old – long enough to develop diversity that is simply unimaginable!  We are talking 3,000 species of trees, 220 species of terrestrial mammals, 420 species of resident birds, 440 species of fish!  New species are being discovered here every year!

The highlights?  Oh my, so many!  Primates – orangutans, proboscis monkeys, gibbons, macaque!  Sun bears.  Pygmy elephants.  Jungle fowl – the ancestors of modern chickens.  Several hornbills and colorful kingfishers.  The coluga - a flying mammal that is just amazing! Dazzling carnivorous plants.  Rainforest trails and canopy trails.  Photography from river boats. Headhunters!

Our 2027 Borneo Wild Adventure is carefully curated to immerse you in Sabah, Borneo’s ancient rainforests, to introduce you to a number of fantastic species (several endangered or threatened), and to put you into positions to make excellent images.  We’ll even check in with the headhunters!

We’ll progress from the easiest experience to the wildest.  You’ll have time to get used to the environment and refine any rusty image-making skills in the easiest environment – where most of what we are photographing is moving at speeds that give you second and third chances.

We’ll make multiple visits to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center – where our energies will primarily be spent on a feeding station (think bird feeder for primates) where those orangutans who are returning to the wild can catch a meal – alongside wild orangutans who have located close by.  Every orangutan we will see at the feeding station is totally free to disappear into the rainforest and never be seen again.  However, this group of primates is a little bit used to humans and tolerates our presence – yielding great observational and photographic time!

Nearby, we’ll see sun bears.  These are recovering bears in large fenced natural enclosures – dependent on humans for food.  But, they also do a lot of behaving as if they were totally in the wild.  Like climbing trees or tearing apart logs looking for insects.

Nearby, we’ll see sun bears.  These are recovering bears in compounds – dependent on humans for food.  But, they also do a lot of behaving as if they were totally in the wild.  Like climbing trees or tearing apart logs looking for insects.

We won’t be rushed through these facilities – and we’ll come back at different times of day to find new species in the discovery center and new individuals at the orangutan feeding station.  In the process, we’ll capture images that will amaze you and get you ready for more challenging situations ahead!

And, in the same area, we’ll make multiple visits to the Rainforest Discovery Area.  There are ground trails and the most stable set of canopy bridges you can imagine – you can even use a tripod up there.  Think birds, primates, other mammals, reptiles, and beautiful insects.  And so many ways to see a rainforest – from macro images to landscapes to looking straight up through giant trees into the sky.

From the Sepilok area, we’ll move to the world famous Kinabatangan River, splitting our time between two lodges along the river.  We’ll ply the river and some of its tributaries in search of birds, primates, pygmy elephants, crocodiles, and monitors! We'll find exciting images on the grounds of both lodges - birds, primates, dragon flies, macros, and maybe even a colugo! 

On the river, we’ll find proboscis monkeys.  More orangutans – totally wild.  Long tailed and pig tailed macaques – we may even see these at the lodges.  Red leaf monkeys, silvered leaf monkeys, and more.  We’ll find raptors, storks, several types of hornbills,  colorful broadbills, a variety of kingfishers, and so many more interesting birds!  We may find a colugo (a flying mammal) or a flying squirrel!  And the pygmy elephants (quite elusive) are amazing.  Don’t forget the gorgeous river landscape images themselves!

The photography opportunities are more challenging.  You’ll be sitting in a boat – and the animals will be going about their lives.  There are many more things to photograph (and learn about) at the two lodges themselves.

Then, we’ll move to the fabled Danum Valley and the Borneo Rainforest Lodge (one of the most sought after lodges on the planet).  We’ll be right in the middle of a virgin 130-140 year old rainforest.  Our lodge, right on the river, puts us in position to photograph so many things from macro insects to fog swirling through the forest canopy.

Gibbons will call –screams emanating through the morning fog.  There are birds everywhere, from the forest floor to the part of the forest that rises above the canopy.  Many of them are endemic. We’ll find odd insects – photograph, but don’t touch!  Perhaps a snake or two.  Fungi.  Primeval vines.  Dragon flies!  Patterns in leaves.  The occasional primate that gifts us a view.

And we’ll venture into the canopy on the most amazing canopy trail we have ever seen (Diane and Bob have seen dozens in several parts of the planet).  It’s up on this trail that you can begin to comprehend the complexity of a 140 million year old rainforest.  It’s up here that you can begin to design images that actually convey what that looks and feels like – and are artful reminders of this amazing place.

If you are like us, you’ll be driven to capture early morning fog images.  To show ghostly shapes in layers out into a fog that denies you a sense of horizon and shrouds everything with a sense of mystery.  Pair these images with your memories of the gibbons calling – and you’ll immediately put yourself back in this pristine rainforest, full of beauty, mystery, and awe.

2027 Borneo! Photography Adventure

June 21 - Jul 2, 2025

This adventure begins and ends at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. All lodging, internal transportation (including domestic flights, vehicle transport, and transfers), English guide services, entrances, preparation materials, and photography guides are included. Almost all meals are included.

2025 Rates

$12,300 Each, Double Occupancy
$13,600 Single Occupancy

$1,000 DO Deposit with Application
$1,500 SO Deposit with Application

$3,000 Due January 10, 2026 DO
$3,500 Due January10, 2026 SO

$3,000 Due July 15, 2026 DO
$3,500 Due July 15, 2026 SO

Balance Due Febrary 15, 2027