Shangri La in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo

For B's birthday we decided to visit somewhere we had been wanting to go for a long time: the Shangri La in Kota Kinabalu. The special thing about this resort is the onsite nature reserve, which houses animals like barking deer, 60 species of birds and most excitingly, two baby orangutans (raised here until they are old enough to be released in more wild conditions at affiliated national parks).

The resort houses tame macaws

and wild hornbills

Baby orangutans being fed by their keeper

They are so agile in the trees

The resort has a lot of other amenities as well (spa, kids' club, water activities, beautiful swimming pool, private beach, etc.) We played with R at the kids' club and greatly enjoyed the massive trampoline installed in the ocean for kids to bounce on (it even convinced R to play in the ocean, something she typically is timid of doing).

R with a roving mascot

Kids' club

Orangutans at the kids club: they are all over the resort

More kids' club toys

Onsite petting zoo

Swimming pool with water slide

Overall, the resort was incredibly child friendly, and especially for slightly older children was a kind of kid paradise (R was not big enough for many of the activities like pony riding, assisting the rangers with orangutan care, and river excursions).

We didn't leave the resort at all for our entire five-day stay (there was really no need to, plus as it is in the middle of the jungle, there is nowhere to go). I would like to go back to Borneo sometime to explore Kota Kinabalu (which sounds like an interesting city) and do some hiking of the rainforest: another trip to look forward to, perhaps once R is a bit bigger!