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Abai Jungle Restaurant & Lodge (wholly owned and managed by S.I.Tours Sdn Bhd)
(Kampung Abai, Kinabatangan)

Abai Jungle Restaurant is situated at 47 km from the river mouth of Kinabatangan River, The longest river in Sabah and Malaysia”s second longest river, it takes you about 1 hours boat ride( from Sandakan jetty or From Sukau) to reach the restaurant/lodge.
Abai Village just in front of Abai Jungle Restaurant, both places have no water and electric supply, no road but Government provide water tank and solar to the villagers.

Abai Jungle Restaurant was set up in the end of year 2002 and was completed in the year 2004. S. I Tours had made a decision to set up the Lodge and Restaurant after receiving feedbacks from guests that, by setting up a restaurant half way by boat to Sukau will be convenient for the guests especially for the senior citizen to relax. By having such facilities and strong support from the villagers, these will create job opportunities for the locals and develop Eco Tourism.

Local products such as fresh water prawn (Udang galah), fresh water fish (Marble Goby), or locally known as Ikan Ubi, is bought from the villagers and one of the highlights in our Eco Tourism Project.

In supporting for the Eco Tourism programmed, every RM1 from each day trippers or in house guests who are having their lunch at the Restaurant will be donated to Abai Homestay Development Fund (AHDF). The donation are used to upgrade the home stay at Abai Village by buying toilet pedestal, grass cutter machine, Vegetable Seeds, mattresses, pillows, bed sheets, blankets, mineral water, school bags, uniforms and ETC.

Abai Jungle Lodge was started to built at behind the restaurant in June 2005.
The purpose of building this lodge is to avoid the overcrowded in Sukau, Kinabatangan. Abai Jungle Lodge is surrounded by the Secondary Forest Reserved. It is far away from Oil Palm Plantation and is safe from flood round the year. All the walkways are made from hard wood called “Belian” and flat in and out. There are 18 rooms in the Lodge which comprise 42 inch width bed with 8 inches of mattress. All the rooms are with attached bathrooms, ceiling fan, hot shower, smoke detector, emergency action plan and netted windows. We use Reversed Osmosis Purifier system, Kimberly-Clark Biodegradable and Environmentally friendly shampoo, soap and toilet papers.

The lodge is provided with 24 hours electricity by 3 units of 50, 35 & 25 KVA Diesel Green Engine Generators.

Rainwater is collected in 6 units of 1200 gallons & 2 units 0f 900 gallons tanks.
In dry season this is supplemented by river water, 6 units of 900 gallons tanks, which is treated and sand filtered before use.

Hot water is supplied by storage water heater of 15 gallons and are placed safe outside in every lodge.

The 500 meter long trails to the Jungle with Bird tower are made from hard wood “Belian”. Apart from the river cruise, guests can spend more time and are free to enjoy the nature surroundings. Birds, monkeys such as Silvered Langur, Maroon Langur, Hose Langur, Wild Orang Utan is always spotted here. In Aug 2007, a couple who went for a day trip to this Lodge spotted a clouded Leopard at the trail behind the Lodge and on 07th Dec 2007 a Sun Bear is also spotted at the same trail. I believe if one stayed longer in Abai Jungle Lodge, the chances of seeing wildlife is high, The night cruise to see fire flies as Christmas tree is the highlight of your visit at this lodge.

When Abai Jungle Lodge was completed in Dec 2006, The new project “Tree Planting project and lunch with the Villagers” design to help the villagers by paying RM25 per person included in our new package SIA 10,whereby stay one night at Abai Jungle Lodge and one more night at Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge at Sukau,. This project is monitored by Amy Chin to ensure that all the villagers get the benefits from it. At the same time, The villagers had the opportunity to get in touch with the tourists and the project will definately made the villagers more busy with their own nursery and of course for the tree planting.

Apart from it, S. I Tours have also organized competitions such as “The Most Beautiful House” in the village. In 30th Sept 2005 the first competition was held and winners win cash prizes. During the competition, S.I tours was very impressed with the villagers the way they involved themselves with decorating their houses with different kinds of plants and flowers and also landscaping which you not easily seen in a village that’s far away from town. The village is only can be reach by boat. With this the villagers are aware with the Tourism and Cleanliness. To show strong support for the villagers, S.I tours decided to continue with the competition by increasing the cash prizes for the second year on 24 Sept 06 and the third year and final competition was held on 30 May 2008.

Sept 08, 2 boats with 15HP Honda Four stroke engine had been contributed to the homestay people, i believe this will help them a lot especially their tour activity.

Therefore, S.I Tours would like to thank everyone who participate for making this project successful and hope to work closely with the government by promoting this new destination to the world.

Special build in 2004 for guests convenience half way by boat to Sukau.

Sandakan Jetty to AJR (1 hour) and continue (1 hour) to Sukau.

Abai Village Fact

located 40 km and about an hour by boat ride from Sandakan Harbour
In the 1920s, Martin and Osa Johnson took the first pictures of the rare Proboscis Monkey here.
hi 1937, the Johnson's made two films - "Jungle Depths of Borneo" (lecture film) and "BORNEO" (20th Century Fox Film Corporation, the Johnsons last adventure together, narrated by journalist Lowell Thomas after Martin's death in a plane crash in California. He was enroute to edit and premier this film.
Population - 200 native Orang Sungai.
Occupation - Fishing, agriculture and tourism sector


Front View of Abai Lodge.	Jetty.

Jetty to dinning hall.	Another view of Abai Lodge.

Another view of Abai Lodge.	Side view.

Night time at Abai Lodge.	Evening Scenary.

Twin Bed	Fire Flies at Abai Village.

Board Walk	Tree Planting.

Bird Tower at Abai Jungle Lodge.

Accommodations / Facilities

18 Rooms - 6 units Chalets x 3 Twin Bedroom
All rooms with attached bathroom, toilet, hot shower, ceiling fan and netted windows.
All rooms with smoke detector and emergency action plan
Uses Reserve Osmosis Water Purifier System.
Use Kimberly-Clark Biodegradable and Environmentally friendly shampoo, soap and papers.

The Restaurant.

Set in beautiful riverine forest surrounding overlooking the Kinabatangan river.
Serves local delicacies such as fresh water prawn, fish, vegetables and fruits.
Lunch and stopover venue for our daytrip and over night visitors to Sukau.
Cater for 120 people for lunch especially for incentive Group where Cultural perfomance and Village tour can be arranged.

The Attraction.

Wildlife river safaris in search of Primates ie Proboscis monkey.
Cultural Experience - Homestay Programme.

The Objective.

Create job opportunity to the locals and develop Responsible Eco Tourism.