Danum Valley Night Safaris

The experience

Slow vehicle patrols

2.5 hours from Lahad Datu, Danum Valley protects 438 square kilometres of lowland rainforest. When the sun sets and diurnal birds roost, you will join a slow vehicle patrol to find nocturnal mammals. You will spend 2 hours sweeping the dense canopy with red-filtered spotlights to look for animal eye reflections.

Rainforest nocturnal mammals

Sightings of the Malay civet and the common palm civet happen on most stays. Red giant flying squirrels and greater mouse-deer are regular on the night drive. The western tarsier and the slow loris are resident primates seen with luck resting in the dense vines.

Reflected eye shine

Your guide looks for eyeshine from a reflective layer behind many nocturnal mammals' eyes. Civets reflect yellow-green; the slow loris reflects orange or amber. Tarsiers lack this layer, so guides look for their silhouettes.