Kota Kinabalu: Bongawan River Cruise, City Tour & Fireflies
Description
Embark on the Bongawan River Cruise for an unforgettable ecological adventure in Kota Kinabalu, observe wildlife intimately, admire stunning natural phenomena, and engage with local culture through shared, private tour, or just a simple entry tickets, tailored to your preferred language. Alternatively, choose to include a stop at a Filipino market in private tour, complete with dinner and refreshments at the conclusion of the experience. The grand finale awaits as darkness falls: glide silently along the river and be mesmerized as fireflies illuminate the mangrove trees, transforming them into a dazzling, twinkling galaxy. This immersive experience combines incredible nature, photography, and a taste of local culture for a perfect day trip from Kota Kinabalu, includes local guide, ticket, entry fee, dinner, refreshment and optional transfer service, market visit or along the route.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your journey begins with a pickup from your hotel in Kota Kinabalu, or you may choose a more affordable entry ticket option that allows you to meet directly at the cruise site. Visitors selecting the private tour will be treated to a free visit to the Filipino market, either before or after the cruise experience, whether for a guided journey or tailored brief visits along the way. They will then proceed through areas where the urban urban landscape gently gives way to lush rice paddies and charming villages (not applicable for those opting out of transfer). In the meantime, for the shared tour with transfer, take the opportunity to make an additional stop at the iconic floating mosque and the exquisite chocolate factory at no extra charge.
Upon arrival at the serene Bongawan jetty, guests are greeted with tea and light snacks before head toward the first river cruise navigates through lush mangrove forests when the animals are most active during the cooler parts of the day, sight potential long tail macaques and other wildlife. although wildlife sightings can be a bit unpredictable because of their natural behaviour, the guides' knowledge really boosts the likelihood of having some unforgettable moments.
Following the wildlife cruise, continue to explore the most photogenic moments, the Sky Mirror Beach experience earns its name from the remarkable phenomenon that occurs during low tide when the receding waters leave behind a vast, glassy surface that perfectly reflects the sky above. As the sun sets below the horizon, it paints the sky in beautiful shades of orange, pink, and purple, with these colours reflecting beneath your feet, creates a magical atmosphere that many visitors say is the highlight of their experience. Then return for a delicious Malay-style dinner served on board.
As the dinner end, the tour moves into its final chapter: a delightful firefly cruise that showcases one of nature's most captivating spectacles. The guides often share fascinating facts about these insects' life cycle and behaviour, while encouraging visitors to reduce artificial light and noise to truly enjoy the natural phenomenon. For many travellers, this experience is a unique chance to see a natural wonder that is becoming harder to find, highlighting the importance of preserving pristine environments like Bongawan.
At the end of this cruise, head back to your hotel with included transfers or at your own transport (those opt without transfer) with an unforgettable memories to cherish for a lifetime.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
The pick up will be infront of the Orange Convenience Store, next to Burger King outside of the store, please take note this pick up in the town of city of Kota Kinabalu area and we will start the city tour before head to Bongawan with transfer inclusive, Your guide is familiar with your name and personal details, so no worries. 5 ringgit entry fee each person to floating mosque need to be paid extra (for this shared transfer option except Friday only). for those choose without pick up, they need to go bongawan directly at own transport, there are no transport for pick up for those choose no transfer service.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The itinerary may be modified due to bad weather, governments rules, and current road conditions.
- Just a friendly reminder that this is a wildlife area, so wildlife or fireflies sightings aren't guaranteed.
- Please be aware that weather, river, traffic, and local regulations may cause delays in the tour's start and end times.
- If you opt not to include transfer pick-up, please ensure arrive at the meeting on time.
- Pls be advised that if the group is too large, a larger cruise or boat might be used.
- A private tour can request quick stop along the way with experience to filipino market visit.
- A shared cruise with pickup run with potential extra stop such as chocolate factory and floating mosque (except Friday)
- For entry ticket without transfer, a valid ticket is required before arrival otherwise not possible on board tours.
- Sky mirrors depending on weather, it is same for all.
- This tour run in day and shine.
Reviews(10)
Seeing the monkies and firfeflies are by chance. The fireworks at the sky mirror beach is commendable tho.
Nice trip. Dinner was basic but good. Cruise operator was good.
Nice place & friendly hospitality.
First off, Timmy was great and full of knowledge and fun! It was unfortunate that we got rained on, I guess it is expected in that region. Overall was a great experience, got to see proboscis monkey, the firefly was great too. Overall good experience and value for the money.
Our tour guide was called John and he was absolutely amazing! We started off with just over and hour mini bus journey where we then had a small snack and cold drink before heading out on the river cruise. John was trying his absolute best to find crocodiles and the Proboscis monkey. Of course this is real life and real nature, you’re not always guaranteed to see them ! But he found them, the boat then stopped for over 10 mins so everyone could look and take pictures. We then head back and was provided with a hot dinner before we then went back onto the river down to the beach for the most amazing sunset. John was offering out his photography skills and got that perfect instagram photo of me and my friend against the sunset. We then watched a fire show before heading back along the river to watch the fireflies. We was then taken straight to our hotel front door. The most amazing day with great tour guides. Would highly recommend this trip.
The content was very substantial, monkey, sunset, firefly, and it was great! If you were having trouble catching a Grab taxi on your way home, a friend of the staff called and dropped you off. They waited with us until our friends arrived, and the tour was filled with very kind and hospitable staff. Thank you very much.
Tour guide John is excellent, we saw everything on the itinerary and the fireworks at the beach after sunset was a nice big surprise. It was an absolutely lovely day 💖
Very disappointing tour. The whole experience was rushed including having to leave mid way through dinner, and the river cruise was spoilt by the awful plastic and rubbish floating in the water everywhere. I would not recommend this trip to anyone.
Dear, Thank you for your honest feedback – and we’re truly sorry that the tour didn’t live up to what you were hoping for. Just to kindly clarify a couple of points for future travelers and for your own understanding: You're right that both the product description and the voucher clearly state this is a shared tour. That means the itinerary, timings, and stops are fixed to make sure everyone in the group can enjoy all the planned attractions. Shared tours aren't designed for personal customization, though we absolutely understand the desire for a more tailored experience. If that's what you're looking for, we’d recommend considering a private tour next time – it’s more flexible, less rushed, and can better match individual preferences. You also mentioned the pace feeling rushed. Unfortunately, most day trips to Bongawan do have tight timing because of the distance and shared schedule. Private tours are the only way to really slow things down. Now, about the environment – we completely respect your concern for nature. You mentioned things like trash or palm oil plantations, and we want you to know we hear you. While we as a small tour operator don’t have direct control over regional environmental issues, we do care deeply about Borneo’s beauty and want to be honest with travelers: in some rural or developing areas, you may see things like litter or land use changes that can be surprising or upsetting, especially if you’re used to different standards. We never want anyone to feel shocked or disappointed. That’s why we gently suggest that if environmental conditions like these would seriously affect your travel enjoyment, Bongawan might not be the right fit right now – and that’s completely okay. We’d rather you have a wonderful time somewhere that aligns with your values and expectations. Our main goal has always been to give guests a memorable, enjoyable experience. We’re sorry we missed the mark for you this time. Please know we’ll keep working to improve how we set expectations upfront. Wishing you all the best in your future travels – and thank you again for helping us learn. Warm regards,
There was torrential rain, but we still saw the huge lizard, two types of monkey, numerous birds, baby Croc and some fire flies. The food was delicious, snack and dinner and the team was excellent thoroughly enjoyed
From pick up to drop off Timmy my driver/guide was excellent. He shared his knowledge of Borneo, cocoa, wildlife, climate, food and just about every subject… I learnt a lot. Each stop was planned well, there was no waiting around and the food was great. We got so see a troop of probiscus monkeys, a crocodile, numerous birds and lastly the fire flies… it was amazing. I’d recommend this trip to anyone visiting Kota Kinabalu. 10/10
