Sepilok Nature Lodge

Set on timber stilts along the border of Sepilok's protected rainforest in Sabah, the lodge looks over a still lily lake that mirrors the canopy at dawn. Boardwalks connect the chalets above the forest floor, keeping the ground undisturbed so wildlife can pass freely beneath the rooms. Rooms are finished in local hardwood, with open-sided decks facing the water and the treeline beyond. It is a quiet, low-built stay. Orangutans, gibbons and hornbills move through the trees close to the balconies, and the lake draws swifts skimming its surface through the day. You can hear the forest shift into its evening chorus as the light drops behind the treeline, cicadas first, then the deeper calls of the night. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre are both a short walk away, along with the Rainforest Discovery Centre and its canopy walkway. A lakeside restaurant and bar serves Borneo dishes alongside international plates, with tables set on an open deck above the water. Birders come for the reserve's density of endemic species, among them the Bornean bristlehead and black-crowned pitta. The lodge runs on a local staff and low-impact design, with grey-water systems and stilted architecture built to leave the forest floor and its root networks intact.