Name: Tabin Wildlife Resort
Address: KM 49, Jalan Tungku, Tabin Wildlife Reserve, SA, Malaysia, Lahad Datu, Lahad Datu, Lahad Datu, 91108, Malaysia
Rating: 8

Air conditioning

General

Restaurant (buffet style)

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Internet

Hiking

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Parking

Pets Not Allowed

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At the resort

Sahabat 16

Lahad Datu Airport

Tabin Wildlife Resort

Lahad Datu

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wired-internet-access

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kitchen

Enjoyed three nights in a riverside cabin (as part of a wildlife tour).   The cabin was clean and comfortable with an ensuite and balcony overlooking the river.    

A choice of local and international dishes were served 'buffet style' at each meal.  We particularly enjoyed the stir fried vegetables, omelettes and chef’s special cakes which were so light and fluffy.    

We loved the location.  It was rich in bird and wildlife, especially listening to and watching the gibbons in the early morning.   The local guide was knowledgeable and the driver was skilled, especially on night drives.

Beautiful location and wildlife

We went for bird watching ,but that is the sad part of the story. Except owl, Rhinoceros hornbill, Eagles , other  birds are almost impossible to photograph. They are very tiny hiding behind leaves and rapidly moving around. Thick enormous forest large palm oil plantations but birds are very difficult to spot but harder to photograph. Enquired why birds table not kept but did not receive any answer. In Brazil, Columbia, Africa, Costa Rica bird tables are used hence photographing not difficult. In the forest saw a log in open area below huge tree trunks ,and two Pitta birds are using it as bird table ,photographed easily. Two night jars sleeping in thick forest in an area known to guides could be photographed. But a place for dedicated ornithologists. Could also spot and easily photographed  wild cloudy leopard cat. . 
For us lodge service was recommendable, gentle polite efficient , food enough and good choice ,well done, beds hot water fine though in our compact tour not much time for sleeping. Our lodge was on the top of the hill, ,but in dark when lodge cart dropped us could not locate our lodge because directions not clearly written and Lodge number not written outside but after going up and down along slippery wooden staircases covered with wet leaves when went to our lodge on first night few hours after arriving actually entered a wrong lodge , later was directed to our correct lodge ,all because lodge numbers are not written outside . Had rain two  afternoons but for few hours only.

Beautiful Tabin Lodge

Abundant wildlife and our guide was brilliant. Activities are good but a jeep would be more beneficial than benches in the back of a lorry which are uncomfortable, especially on the tracks.
Food is basic. Buffet style but not many options if you have dietary requirements. Usually 2 vegetable side with one meat and one fish.
Chalets are what you’d expect for its rating but mattresses are very firm and only 1 pillow. No fridge or tea/coffee making facilities in the room. 
Staff friendly and helpful.

A good place to see wildlife.

Management has to go - and take Ernesto the guide with you.  Bring in Borneo Rainforest Lodge Management or Singita management from Africa. Much better service/food at these places.  Rooms need update, food very basic. Make yourself a PBJ at breakfast and save it for lunch or order off their menu vs. the buffet. Had soup and rice a few times.   Ernesto - didn't tell us and I heard him not tell others at check-in, that one needs to flip a switch for hot water. He did mention the generator switches over 3x daily and that you will lose lights briefly and that the a/c will need to be turned back on.  We asked the next morning about hot water, after a cold shower the night before. He greeted us, gave us a room key, said you see you at 5pm and disappeared.  We got there at  11am.  Waste of a day. He should not be the face of the resort.  How about helping us with a self guided trail or get off you xss and take us.  Then as a guide, when we were out, he missed so many animals that others in the truck saw, it became a running joke.  He was even laughing, but not really funny.  We dealt with his sidekick and ignored him - he wasn't helpful, his other assistant was much more friendly.  Plus Ernesto kept wanting to go down the main road (which has a palm tree farm on one side) - so not the best view or animal finding. Take us into the forest or into the primary forest. Drive us to a nice hiking trail.  We never did other than to mud volcano.   Other guests did see animals, but we did not. Night hike and drive ok.  Need to take off your shoes.  Room was clean.  If there was a hotel manager - he never introduced himself or made the rounds.  See google reviews as well. We locked everything up and took photos for our records. All was ok there. Not very welcoming, people seemed nice - just need better training in customer service

Maybe just skip until they improve

This had so many exciting elements, but overall, it was tougher staying than anywhere else so far this trip. Plus side we had great guides and saw wild elephants, leopard cat, civets and many frogs and insects. 
On the downside, the food is really basic, and the Hill Villas so far away and up and down some dangerous slippy steps. The resort sits within the Wildlife Department run by Government, and I would say from what we saw and heard they need to spend more money to repair tourist attractions area such as the waterfall shelters.
The resort uses generators which is fine but each has to shut down every day and the next kicks in for lights and electrics. The air condition does not kick back in unless you press a button and given one shut down is 23.30 at night if you don't wake up you have no air conditioning until you do. 
Overall , some management to make this a tourist resort people will want to come back to.

I don't think we really knew what we were coming into. This is more for the adventurous types with less need for luxury

We booked a long trip to Malaysian Borneo through an agency with long experience in the field, Naturalis Expeditions inc. with which we had already traveled previously, remaining very satisfied.
Unfortunately, this trip was a total disaster.
Although the Tabin rainforest is wonderful, even if it is next to an endless expanse of oil palms, the Tabin Resort is one of the poorest, worst organised, dirty, unsafe and decaying places I have ever seen around the world (I have over 20 years of experience in nature travel).
I attach some photos of our room only. Without commenting on them.
The staff, although courteous, is in disarray, also because they are very young. Instead of organizing the work, management sits holed up in their air-conditioned office doing nothing. Don't trust the photos and videos they publish because it's something else entirely. The 4x4s are old and run down, dangerous, you risk falling off. There is no first aid kit (and we needed it). The food is always the same and, I believe, what is left over is reheated the next time. The exits are almost useless, at least in terms of how they are organised. The tower on Lipad volcano was closed because it was at risk of collapse. Other structures closed because unusable. Safe deposit boxes closed perhaps because other people have reported money stolen from the boxes. So you will have to bring everything with you (even your passports).
The animals are there, but there is no communication between the guides who simply take you on tours for hours without any interest in what they are doing (at least ours).
The price paid for the services is a steal.
If you come from far away, trust my experience, better to go elsewhere.
After sending several written warnings, no one ever responded to us. We contacted law firms in Malaysia to obtain compensation.

Desolation in the rainforest

A hidden simple gem, we saw some very different wildlife to other sites including a Bear cat and great views of gibbons. Guide Moui (sp?) was very knowledgeable and restaurant staff were so friendly and caring. We had the riverside chalets which suited us perfectly (we were happy not to have to climb steps up to hillside chalets).

Terrific Tabin

Tabin is located in a picturesque setting in secondary rainforest, and a beautiful, peaceful place to be. 
Whilst the chalets are basic, the resort as a whole is beautiful, and the people are exceptional. Our guide was knowledgeable, professional and fun.  We didn't see much of wildlife, but he didn't stop searching for us!
I personally found the experiences of driving in the trucks, visiting the mud volcano and waterfall, and the night walk to be great. For the bird lovers you will see a lot!  Plus an abundance of long tail macaque all over the resort.
The food was good, and the foot soak experience a very sweet addition. 

A Special Experience

We stayed at Tabin for 2 nights as part of our tour. We stayed in Hill lodge 2 which was only 20 steps from the main boardwalk. The room itself was clean and spacious, although the safety deposit box "wasnt working" so we needed to keep pur valuables on us. Shower wasnt great but was hot so that was fine. The food was OK but the portions were waaaay too big! Other guests commented about this also- wasnt a buffet! However the best part of our experience at Tabin were the staff! Our guides Earnest and Alaistair were amazing, really friendly and could spot a Civit cat in the dark from miles away! They really couldnt do enough for us and make the experiance amazing! The journey to Tabin I must say was rather bumpy and around 2 hours long! But you really are in the jungle here, we saw lots of wildlife and the treck to the mud volcano was great as was the mud facial we had in the afternoon. Wifi was free and available in the main building. 

In Nature!

Tabin Wildlife Resort is a small collection of cabins located at the end of an extremely unmade road on the edge of fairly dense jungle.A small river runs through the resort and in the morning you can step out on your balcony and watch troupes of monkeys bathe and play. The cabins are extremely well designed and blend in with their surroundings. Central open-air restaurant serves excellent local food and western alternatives. Our guide was Alastair, and he and his team were extraordinarily quick at spotting wildlife (including a tiny warbler on a night-safari that nobody else would have seen). We saw many species of birds from Hornbills to Serpent Eagles as well as Civets and a Leopard Cat. The walk into the jungle followed by swimming under a waterfall was an absolute highlight. Lovely staff, both friendly and knowledgeable, and we can't wait to return!

Tabin Wildlife Resort

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