Wildlife Holidays

This trip had beautiful walks in the Carpathian mountains. Seeing the bears while in the hide was a highlight though. The visit to the bear sanctuary for rescued bears was also very moving. The hikes did require a high degree of fitness. Note that when we booked this trip was a level 2, but the same trip has been reclassified as a level 3, which in our experience is merited. The last day is the most challenging but the last part to the very peak is optional and was only done by a small part of our group. Our guide Sebi was excellent and paced the walk for the group’s abilities. He was also very knowledgeable about the local wildlife and customs.

Malcolm Vant Carpathian Walking & Bears

The itinerary for this trip was remarkable – saw oragutans and Komodo dragons in the wild, snorkeled, and enjoyed touring around Bali and the various islands. Did the Gili Trawangan extension and went scuba diving there. And Elly was a wonderful tour guide. However, there were some downsides, including the boat in the Komodo islands and some of the other transportation. The boat itself was not very comfortable, and actually a little dangerous in certain regards. The boat was not set up to accommodate the number of people on the tour, so was at times crowded and uncomfortable in the common area. There wasn’t just an option to sleep on the deck, but a requirement for a few people, as there were not enough cabins to accommodate the entire group. And when those deck sleepers needed to use a restroom in the middle of the night, they had to barge in to one of the cabins in the dark – no restrooms on the boat except inside the few cabins. The dining table where they served all the food buffet-style was crammed in a small room, with the stairs leading down to a couple of the cabins right alongside of the table -as you were getting your food, it would have been extremely easy to fall down them if you weren’t very careful. The refrigerator with all of our drinks was very often blocked by people sitting at the table, so there was major shuffling to do you when you wanted to get a drink. There was a low railing around the boat, which in rough seas would have been very easy to fall overboard.
there was only one support skiff with the boat that could only take half of us ashore at a time, so getting everyone onshore took forever. The local guide that accompanied us on the Komodo boat trip was not very good. He didn’t do any kind of assessment of everyone’s snorkeling abilities but instead took off on the first snorkel in a strong current, and didn’t look back to see if everyone was following, or try to keep the group together. People fell way behind and because there was only one skiff, that skiff couldn’t (nor ever intended to, it seemed) stay with the snorkelers. People were scattered over a large area in the water and in some cases, were told to just wait in the water when the first half of the group had already filled the skiff for the return trip to the big boat. It was a situation ripe with the potential for disaster. And the guide wasn’t around to stay with the people who had to remain in the water waiting. And if you wanted to jump in and swim off the big boat, the ladder was so high in the water that it was very difficult to get back on the boat – and there was no safety line deployed behind the boat to make it any easier, or safer, to get to the boat.

Other transportation was disappointing. The small group of us that went on the Gili Island extension had to wait over an hour at port the ferry terminal, after arriving back in Bali, for the driver to show up to transport people to the airport for thir flights. I stayed a couple extra nights in Bali before going home, and the driver that was supposed to transport me from the hotel to the airport never showed up at all – the hotel had to make alternate arrangements for me.

In closing, it was a wonderful, adventerous trip, but Exodus has some work to do to make it a little safer and comfortable.

Kathryn Curtis Primates & Dragons of Indonesia

This was a good trip but could have been even better. Highlights were seeing orangutans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants in their natural setting.
On day 2 trip notes state a day trip to Bako NP and we left hotel at 7.45am. Unfortunately we were back at hotel by 1.30pm and this included an hour spent having lunch at Bako. Felt that if Exodus weren’t giving us the day trip promised then they could have added in an optional afternoon trip perhaps to Semenggoh to see orangutans.
On day 5 you fly from Mulu NP to Kota Kinabalu and meet new guide as Exodus have recently changed the trip so that you have different guides in Sarawak and Sabah. This is difficult for both group and guide as you no sooner meet new guide than you have a free day in KK (unless you choose the snorkelling day trip option). Unfortunately the hotel in KK has no outdoor space or swimming pool and Exodus need to upgrade this hotel to make free day more comfortable.
Stay in longhouse on Day 7 is a one-off experience and some on group really didn’t enjoy the basic facilities on offer. Unfortunately day 8 was a Sunday and the tea factory was closed so this spoiled the tea factory visit as there is no atmosphere being shown round an empty factory.
When i booked trip we were meant to get an included lunch on day 8 because the Gomantong Caves were closed to the public. This was outwith Exodus control so this was an acceptable compromise however in July the caves were open to public. Exodus cancelled the “free” lunch on Day 8 but we then had to pay to enter Gomantong caves when we visited on Day 10. Seems a stupid example of penny pinching on a fairly expensive trip.
On the nights of days 10 and 11 we stayed at Nature Lodge on Kinabatangan River. No mosquito nets were provided in the rooms and most of the group were bitten. Food at Lodge was included but was fairly basic and poor quality. Three river cruises were included whilst staying at Nature Lodge but entire group was charged 60MYR a head for the final cruise because they took us upstream in search of pygmy elephants. It seemed unnecessary to charge group this extra £100+ as we had an included cruise, were not out for any longer than we would have been and probably used the same amount of fuel. Also didn’t like that it was compulsory- if entire group didn’t agree then trip to find elephants wouldn’t happen.
Borneo rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley was lovely but unless you opted out of arranged activities it was full on for the entire visit and exhausting.
My main concern on this trip was the amount charged for single supplement. This is not something that you give much thought to until you find yourself travelling solo. On this holiday paying the supplement only gets you your own room for 10 nights as you have to share for 2 nights at Mulu NP and Rainforest Lodge in Danum. The other 10 nights are spent in fairly average hotels and a quick check of prices showed that the entire cost of a room in these hotels was fractionally less than the single supplement. Given that the basic tour cost includes accommodation surely the single supplement should only charge the additional 50% cost of the room. I and other solo travellers on trip definitely felt ripped off by single supplement charged.

Linda Stalker Borneo Wildlife Discoverer