Borneo

Malaysian Borneo is where the wildlife lives. The lowland dipterocarp forest of Sabah's Danum Valley is among the oldest and tallest rainforest anywhere, the Kinabatangan River floodplain is the single best place in Asia to see wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys and Bornean pygmy elephants from a boat, and Sarawak's coast around Kuching mixes forest, mountain and sea within an hour of the city.

The stays here are mostly lodges and camps rather than Airbnbs, because that is how the best forest is reached. On the Kinabatangan you choose between a polished riverside lodge with boat safaris included and a community-run camp of ten stilted platforms on an oxbow lake with gas lamps and no phone signal. Danum Valley's lodge is a two-and-a-half-hour 4x4 ride from Lahad Datu into a conservation area with no other accommodation. Near Sandakan, the chalets at Sepilok sit inside the forest reserve that holds the famous orangutan rehabilitation centre. Around Kuching, a canopy-level treehouse by the sea at Santubong and a riverside cabin reached on foot through fruit farms round it out.

Most of the wildlife circuit is based out of Sandakan and Lahad Datu on Sabah's east coast, both short flights from Kota Kinabalu. The north-east monsoon brings the heaviest rain from November to February; March through October is drier, and the lodges run year round. Packages usually include transfers, meals and guided river cruises, so the headline price covers more than a bed.