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 👏👏👏

Excellent trip thank you! - Excellent trip! It was so beautiful to see monkeys in their natural habitat. Nick and James really went out of their way to make the trip special, and James took great care in helping to capture the best photos at Sky Mirror beach. Fireflies were great too, and the fire display at dusk on the beach was an added bonus. Would definitely recommend!

Amazing experience - We had an amazing experience w feeding the monkeys and watching the fireflies in front of your face. Strongly recommend this tour. The crew will do everything in order for each person to get the best pictures by the water.

Amazing experience! - The most memorable part is to feed the monkeys from hand and see the fireflies in front of your face. Its one in the life time experience! You do not need binnacles like other companies recommend to take. I did a lot of research before we booked w this crew. I would strongly recommend to book with them! The crew will do everything in order for you to have this amazing experience. And more, they will take pictures to make it memorable.

Definitely worth checking out - I had a blast on this adventure! I was surprised it was a 2-hr drive from Kota Kinabalu but they made the whole afternoon very much worth it. The guides were funny and made sure we all got super close to the macaques and pointed out the Proboscis monkeys. They even saw a couple monitor lizards and pointed them out. They were really attentive during the sunset photography which I appreciated because I traveled solo and they got some AMAZING shots! The dinner was delicious and the firefly part was hilarious and fun. Totally worth it!

Highly recommend this tour and tour company - Great experience with a great group and an even better guide. The fireflies were incredible and the guide worked super hard to get the perfect sky mirror shot.

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.

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.

It’s OK if you are only going to be in Kota Kinabalu. - The fire flies were amazing and the guide did a great job of attracting them to the boat. The macaques portion was only ok. They gave everyone a piece of banana to hold out for them to take, but they also dumped a whole bunch on the bow (I was in the very back). Not being able to stand made it difficult to even get good pictures of the ones on land, as I had been moved from one side to the other and then the boat never turned for the other side to face the shoreline. Even though there were 2 people searching for the proboscis monkeys, I was the first to spot one in a tree as we were passing it. I understand that with wildlife, it’s always hit and miss, but there do not seem to be a lot of proboscis monkeys in this area, as there are lots of farms along the river. The sunset was quite nice, you do need to walk through some water to get out to the oceans edge. We were left to our own devices and told to meet after 40 minutes. None of the guides told us their names. The one who picked me up for the ride slept most of the way to the river and only asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom at our rest stop. Note it is about an 1 1/2 ride each way. Though they seem to be building a new road that will make it better. I would say that is 6 months to a year from completion. There are other river cruises in the Sepilok area that are probably better, but if you are only in Kota Kinabalu this one is ok. Even if it is just for the fire flies

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.