Name: Samboja Lodge
Address: Jl. Balikpapan-Handil, Rt.01 Km.44, Senipah, Senipah, Senipah, 75273, Indonesia
Rating: 8

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At the cottage

Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport

Samboja Lodge

Senipah

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After two weeks staying at this special place I can’t wait to go back. The staff were helpful and friendly and the meals were delicious. A huge thanks for catering for my dietary requirements! The room had a lush, relaxing outlook and the top floor balcony near the kind suites was the perfect place to watch a tropical storm roll through. Best of all is getting to support the important work to save and care for orangutans and sun bears. But also providing an oasis for gibbons, hornbills, macaques and many other species.

A green jewel in borneo

Great place tucked away in the jungle. Excellent service. Delicious food and plentiful. Superb local guide with excellent knowledge and fluent English. Nothing was too much trouble for these people.  Seeing the orangutans so close up was amazing. Hearing their sad stories made us determined to help support their rehabilitation even more. The regeneration of the forest since 1991 is staggering and gives us hope for the future. We took the river trip which was interesting and we saw proboscis monkeys , snakes and cool birds. 

Jungle lodge and orangutan experience. 

This is expensive but the quality is high and the money goes to an  inspiring cause. I recommend watching Willie Smitt Ted Talk. He is the founder and it gives an overview of the vast project of Samboja Lestari. 
Although it is known for Orangutan and Sunbear rehabilitation, it's the work on replanting decimated forests that is most inspiring. An example of vision, imagination and hope against all odds.

The lodge is designed to high quality using architecture and materials of local Dayak . You eat dinner to the sounds of the rainforest plus orangutans bellowing in the background. You learn all about the Orangutans and sun bears, mainly rescued from people keeping them as pets or in the entertainment industry. The efforts to rehabilitate them (sometimes not possible). Our guide had an inspiring story of quitting is well paid job in the mining industry when he realised the damage it was doing and taking a much  less well paid job so that he could work towards a better future for his daughter. There was some information about the reforestation but the Willie Smitt Ted talk gives a much better overview of just what a challenge they took on, with planet and people front of mind and the incredible impact they've already had in just 20 years.   
The food is excellent some of the best we've had in Indonesia. They catered well for vegetarians which we were very grateful for. We looked forward to each meal.   
Service was excellent. Staff spoke good English and we're friendly and attentive which made things easy. 
Bear in mind there are costs for meals and there are no other places to eat. 250,000 rupiah per meal per person. Breakfast is included in the room rate.  

They offer pick up and drop off from where you need. It's 500,000 rupiah each way. Top tip -  if you organise pick up - make sure you specify exactly where to meet the driver or ask them to give you a description of the car that will pick you up so you can find them. We arranged to be picked up at the bus station but the driver did not look for us in the waiting area he simply say outside waiting in his car.

They are (rightly) very strict on COVID measures as it poses a risk to the Orangutans so you need to get an antigen test before you arrive. They took us to get it  as part of the pick up service.    

Great for kids - they can help create the enrichment activities for the Sunbears and you can see the Sunbears up close. Our 8 year old loved it!

A place of hope, beauty and inspiration

We stayed one day / two nights at the lodge. We watched feeding of the orangutans, and they are really beautiful animals, and it was a fantastic experience to see them. 
The sun bears were less interesting. It was a very zoo/cage-like experience to meet them
The guide was nice, but insisted we wear face-masks at all times, which is super-hysterical for outdoor activities.
We also went on the river trip in the afternoon. It is a very long drive and part of the road to/fro the lodge is extremely bad. The boat engine was the most noisy boat engine I ever hear, and I heard a few…
We did see proboscis monkeys, but they also have a group where you board the boat, so the EXTREMELY noisy boat trip seemed a bit superfluous. Most of the way is quite boring, but we did see more proboscis, a kingfisher and a sleeping snake. I cannot recommend this trip due to the engine noise. 
The lodge is beautiful and so are the rooms - with air con. Food is basic and to the very greasy side, but it’s tasty and well prepared. 
I can certainly recommend Samboja lodge!

Beautiful Orangutans

This exceptional lodge located in a rainforest near Balikpapan, Borneo, offers first class accommodation and food on the grounds of the BOSF - an NGO to provide care and rehabilitation for displaced or orphaned orangutans. Our guide, Imam, showed us a number of orangutans and sun bears, took us on a motorized canoe to observe long nose monkeys and walked with us to a canopy bridge in a nearby rainforest. He professionally answered any questions about nature and culture. Cooking and service was outstanding - everyone always smiled - and we enjoyed cold drinks under the roofed patio of the lodge. We recommend the roof top lodge overlooking the rainforest. 3 unforgettable days!

Luxurious Jungle Retreat with guaranteed Orangutan sightings

We spent a couple of nights at the lodge in the upper king suites. The view there is stunning. The general staff is friendly and ready to explain anything about the conservation station. The food is good. 

But you could do more of the place. The welcoming warmth experienced somewhere else is missing.

Something is missing

We stayed only one night in the tower room, what a delight!!! Wish we had booked 2-3 nights. Beautiful lodge, clean, great food, amazing canopy and sunset views and friendly staff. The work the BOS foundation does here is incredible and the tour guides are so well informed and can answer all your questions regarding anything Orangutans. I loved the fact that the orange primates were roaming on these islands just across a small river, easy to get good photographs, and the guides gave us plenty of time to just observe them in the wild.The orangutans there are in transition, it takes 13 years to actually release "circus", "zoo" and "pet" orangutans back into the wild, it is a privilege to witness what this foundation is providing to the endangered specie. The lodge and its surrounding is also an amazing haven to relax, read and just breathe in the beauty this jungle has to offer. I highly recommend and actually hope to have the opportunity to return one day!

Orangutan lover paradise

I have spent 3 nights in Sambodja Lodge because I had read that we could have activities with orangutans (food preparation, making behavioral enrichment activities, recording observational data). All these informations are also written on the book that is given to you at arrival at the Lodge
In fact, it is a SCAM because you are NOT allowed by the staff to do these activities, even if you show them all documents (vaccinations, findings of viral serologies and quantiferon).
Thus, I strongly do NOT recommend to stay in Sambodja Lodge. To spend a half day visit in that place is highly enough.

Isabelle (France)

This is a unique lodge i have seen. To reach this lodge, from SAMS (sepinggan, balikpapan) international airport, it takes approximately 1 hour with a distance of 35km. The lodge is Very natural, far from noisy or busy sound of the city like you maybe face it. The lodge surrounded by plants, typical endemic trees of Borneo. There is internet, but no television. You can do activities by visiting the Orangutan Concervation centre which managed by BOSF Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation and also Sun Bears (or Beruang Madu), both are typical Borneo protected animals. 
The road is little bid muddy If it rains. It is better If you bring or rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle (hoping local government can help improve the road infrastructure of this area someday).

Unique lodge

Just wonderful! So tranquil, listening to the sounds of nature at the lodge was just sublime. We wish we could’ve stayed longer, but did not have the time. I was there with my American husband who hadd never been to Indonesia and my Australian brother in October 2018 (I am half Indo/half Aussie, living in the US for 16+ years). My husband and I stayed in one of the king suites with private balcony at the top of the tower which we absolutely loved. My brother stayed in a standard room which he really enjoyed, it was comfortable and has a long balcony shared with other rooms. The lodge was so peaceful and quiet, even though there were at least 20 other people there during our stay. The food was tasty, simple Indonesian fare served family buffet style. We saw the orangutans and sunbears (as I had done before with my mother back in 2011, but only during the day and we didn’t stay at the lodge). On this trip our guide got us to go inside one of the bear enclosures to hide and distribute the food in trees and in the long grass right before the bear feeding. A sneaky and daring wild macaque monkey also made an appearance and climbed into the enclosure looking for food. My brother also went on their river tour, where he saw wild proboscis monkeys swim across the river (some were carrying their babies), he said it was an amazing sight to see! He did mention that it was a shame to see garbage in and along the water the closer they got to villages/small towns. Coming back to BOS after 7 years I noticed that their forest was smaller when we went up to the lookout tower at the office. Our guide told us they lost quite a chunk of forest during a fire a few years ago, caused by local farmers. It is such a fragile eco system and was very saddening to see, BOS is trying hard to educate the local people and government on how important it is to conserve the forest and wildlife. I just feel it is still a losing battle and one that truly breaks my heart as my mother grew up in Samboja and it is just a hopeless feeling to see it change so much every time we go back and visit the area. But at least they are trying and integrating the local community with it, including some of my distant relatives who have worked or still work for BOSF. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Garuda Airlines is a donator of BOS Foundation; they even have a BOSF documentary showing in flight that we watched that was interesting and educational. I would recommend this lodge to anyone and to support their desperate fight for conservation. They also offer volunteer programs which I would love to do one of these days.

Samboja Lodge

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