Borneo, Indonesia

I travelled to Borneo with my 8 year old son and what an adventure we had! We flew into Kota Kinabalu from London and stayed at the Shangri-la for 3 days to acclimatise to the time zone. This a great hotel for children – there was a kids club where the staff were extremely attentive and there was so much to do!
It was absolutely gorgeous and very close to the main town. You can grab a taxi via the app “grab” which only costs around £1 Per journey.

The day after we arrived, we hired a taxi driver for 4 hours and drove about 45 minutes north to go surfing. Hiring a taxi for this time cost around £16.
My son had a BLASTTTTT and the surf instructors were so kind, knowledgeable and helpful. It was a private lesson for the both of us. They filmed the whole session on our gopro! Their Instagram handles are @karambunaisurfer (our instructors were @srapawg and @aminudi_n) My son asks if we can go back to Borneo just to surf with them again.

Be sure to visit the markets whilst in Kota Kinabalu and try their local cuisine at reputable restaurants.

We flew to Sandakan, after a couple of days and we participated in river tours, jungle treks and got to see orangutans in the wild and the sanctuaries. It was such an incredible experience.

Lastly we went to Gaya Island. Here was PURE BLISS! Gorgeous bright blue oceans and white sand. We stayed in the Gaya Island resort. I would say if staying there, go all inclusive as you cannot get any other food apart from buying it in their restaurants which does start to become costly.

As a single black woman travelling with her 8 year old son, I felt safe and welcomed in every environment we went to in Borneo. The local people were lovely and extremely welcoming. I only saw 2 other black people the whole time we were out there, so it’s definitely not well travelled by black folk – however I would recommend visiting wholeheartedly.

My son says it was his favourite holiday to date!