Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Tabin was gazetted in 1984 as a wildlife reserve covering about a hundred and twenty thousand hectares in eastern Sabah, and its shape tells the story: it is an island of forest with oil palm plantation on almost every side, established specifically to hold populations of species being squeezed out of the surrounding landscape. Mud volcanoes in the reserve are the practical draw - mineral-rich vents where elephants, deer, bearded pigs and birds come to feed on the salts, watched from hides. Pygmy elephants, orangutans, sun bears, clouded leopards and eight hornbill species are present. Tabin was also where the last Sumatran rhinos in Malaysia were held in a breeding enclosure; the programme failed and the last individual, Iman, died in November 2019, making the species extinct in the country. The reserve does not pretend otherwise about that.

What you actually see

• Mud volcanoes - mineral vents drawing elephants and deer, watched from hides.
• Forest surrounded by plantation - the reserve as an island in oil palm.
• Pygmy elephants and orangutans - along with sun bears and eight hornbill species.
• Where the last rhino died - Iman, in 2019, ending the species in Malaysia.

When to go

February to October. Three days.

Honest expectations

Access is through lodge packages with permits - there is no independent visiting. Wildlife is wild and sightings are not guaranteed. Leeches and heat throughout. The surrounding plantation is visible on the drive in.

Nearby

Lahad Datu is south-west; the Danum Valley is inland.