Dec 11, 2024
Really great time.... - Really great time. Communication on collection was perfect. We saw both monkeys which was very exciting. Food was really good! Bird, our guide, was great and so helpful taking photos at the beach and making sure we got the good poses! Fireflies at the end was really nice. Great value for money.
Review provided by Viator
Oct 11, 2024
Memorable - Tour guides were very professional and took great care of a solo female traveller.
What a memorable and fantastic trip this was.
Highly recommend. Sunset and fireflies were breathtaking.
Review provided by Viator
Sep 24, 2024
Amazing Views, Great Tour Guides! - This was a really amazing experience. I would like to especially give thanks to James not only a great tour guide, a really good photographer. When I injured myself he became Dr James who was very attentive and quick to help. Everyone in general was really friendly and helpful. Had a great time. The photos during sunset is a must! The fireflies and the monkeys were defo worth it. Good value for money. Would go again :)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 9, 2024
Super - The guides were super and make a great tour it was jist perfect ! We Saw a lot of animals everything wzs fine
Review provided by Viator
Aug 4, 2024
Amazing experience loved it - Overall a great value trip to experience monkeys in the wild, fireflies and some gorgeous beach photos.
We were staying out of Kota Kinabalu at the Shanghai La rasa ria so had a longer transfer journey and had to pay the driver slightly more but the journey/driver/guide were brilliant, communication with WhatsApp prior to the trip gave you confidence.
We arrived at a shack by the river where a number of trips & boats were. It’s authentic, there’s clean toilets but don’t have high expectations for high tea. It was tea/juice/ fried banana and something else which tasted quite pleasant. The trip starts with this and then we were shown on a boat and donned our life jackets. The long tailed monkeys are along the river bed, the guides pull close by and attract the monkeys with bananas. They board the boats swinging around you. It’s quite intense but amazing to experience them up close. You can feed them with the banana if you want. A great experience we got lots of photos & videos. You then go hunting g for crocodiles and proboscis monkeys. You do t get as close to these but we sat watching them a while.
We then got taken back to the same shack for dinner. This is a buffet of rice, noodles, vegetables and chicken/prawns. It was all very tasty especially the noodles. There’s juice and you can buy fizzy soft drinks.
We then reboarded the boat and were taken to a nearby beach where you stay for around an hour. Great sunset, pictures and we saw a fire show. The locals are here selling drinks/snacks. There was a tiger beer stall but buy before you walk down to the beach as he sells out pretty quick and had left by the time we walked back up the beach.
Our guide Hector took the most amazing shots of us by the water. It was incredible. We then returned to the boat for the firefly experience. Never would you normally be happy for a fly to land on you and you stare at it not wanting it to move. They are magical and a must see activity.
We then returned to the shack and boarded the mini bus for return. I was really disappointed to see no one from our trip tip the guide or driver. They made the trip. Well done and thank you Hector 👏👏👏
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 23, 2024
Half day trip with small kid. - Good half day trip, you get what is promissed. Nothing spectacular but ok for the money. Friendly staff. Food could br better.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 8, 2024
Great, professional tour - We had a good time during our experience. Pick up and drop off was smooth and there was good communication with us before we started. The fireflies were amazing and the proboscis monkeys were so interesting. The beach and sky mirror was stunning. The guides were great in helping to take some amazing pictures.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 8, 2024
Interesting half day tour - fireflies the best bit - Tour is based on river about 1.5 hours by Van from KK - so quite long transfers. Monkey tour is short, a free hundred metres up river. They have some tame macaque monkeys which come on the boat and we saw a proboscis monkey in the distance. Mirror beach needs a clear sunset but it was very cloudy for us. The fireflies were the best bit for me.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 3, 2024
Don’t book it if you have any respect for nature and wildlife - When you go to visit animals, nature, wildlife…you are supposed to be respectfull, not bother the animals, be quiet and try to observe them in their real habitat. The people on this tour does completelly the opposite. They call the monkeys to jump into the boat to feed them and use them as they were so kind of toy, they light and screem to the fireflies to scare them and make them fly….0 respect for animals and the environment, so please do not book this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 2, 2024
Unethical - Don't book this tour if you care about the wildlife , it felt very unethical.
When we did the river cruise, there was a big lizard sunbathing on the palm tree a few metres above the water (pictured), the boat took us very close to it, and one of the guides pushed it off the tree and into the water. The guides were all laughing. The lizard was fine, but there was no need to disturb it.
Also when feeding the monkeys, the tour guides were teasing it by holding out a banana and then snatching it back to try to get the monkeys agitated and show their teeth. Again, this was unnecessary. I don't feel the monkeys should be fed by the tour groups at all because it can result in them being dependent on us for food and affect their natural behaviours.
The firefly part of the tour was incredible, there were so many fireflies in the trees and it was magical. That was until the tour guides shone a torch to bring them onto the boat and encouraged tourists to catch them with their hands. Most tourists were gentle which I've read is safe for the fireflies, but some tourists were clapping their hands together, which would kill the fireflies if caught. The guides did not ask them to stop doing this or show the correct method.
Overall this has the potential to be a great tour, the river is stunning and we saw proboscis monkeys, the beach is massive and there were lots of sand bubbler crabs which was cool to see, the sunset was very pretty, the fireworks on the beach were cool, and the fireflies were amazing and unique. Unfortunately the tour guides have made this trip unethical, which spoiled it for my group.
Review provided by Tripadvisor