Arrival point

Lahad Datu

Located on Darvel Bay, Lahad Datu is the essential arrival point for anyone visiting Danum Valley or Tabin Wildlife Reserve.

Plan your Danum week

Town context

The district centre

Lahad Datu is the administrative and commercial centre for its district. For a visitor the town has a second identity as the mandatory staging ground for the Danum Valley Conservation Area. It also serves the wildlife-dense forests of the Tabin Wildlife Reserve . All the permits, administrative briefings and vehicle changes happen here.

You leave the sealed roads of the coast and head into the Class I Protection Forest Reserve. Travel and health insurance is advised for any visit to Danum Valley and cover that includes emergency evacuation is sensible in a place this remote. Your permits are arranged with your stay.

Key highlights

What you need to know

  • The essential arrival point for the Danum Valley Conservation Area and Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
  • Daily 55-minute direct flights from Kota Kinabalu operate on AirBorneo.
  • Private four-wheel-drive transfers handle the 81-kilometre logging road into the rainforest.
  • Secure mainland destination cleared for travel by foreign advisories.
  • Town ATMs provide cash; the Servay hypermarket supplies provisions for rainforest stays.

The flight

AirBorneo provides direct links to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. The Kota Kinabalu route operates several times a day and takes exactly 55 minutes. The flight to Sandakan takes roughly 40 minutes.

Onward journeys

Lodge meeting points

Borneo Rainforest Lodge maintains its own dedicated office in Lahad Datu town. Representatives meet you at the airport and bring you to this office to board a comfortable four-wheel-drive vehicle. See the Danum Valley page for more details.

Overland travel

Lahad Datu serves as a central hub on the east coast. Knowing the drive times helps you plan flight connections and onward journeys to Sandakan or Sepilok. Read the travel practicalities.

Related

Next steps

Danum Valley

2.5 hours by road from Lahad Datu, Danum Valley is 438 square kilometres of lowland rainforest that was never logged with three very different places to stay inside it.

Tabin Wildlife Reserve

A 122,500-hectare lowland reserve bordered by oil palm, Tabin is Sabah’s premier destination for night drives. The sharp forest edge concentrates small cats and civets along the boundary roads.

Is Eastern Sabah Safe?

If you are reading your government's travel advice for Sabah and wondering what it means for your trip, this guide sets out the independent record and what visitors experience on the ground.

Town context

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The team can organise flights and Lahad Datu transfers to match your stay.