Q&A (FAQ)

Q: Who is Borneo Overland? I am a very seasoned traveler and adventurer, but I have never done vehicle based travel, is it safe?

A: The team you are looking at and the expedition leaders have been in this for close to 20 years. We consults and recommend equipment to Overland explorers and supply equipment throughout Asia. Outfitting cars that does drives from Singapore to London, Siberia trips, Trans Amazon, and prepare vehicles for pan African overlanding. So hardware wise, nobody knows better than us.

On the software front, we have led expedition trips in the deepest Pahang jungles in West Malaysia, and have trasversed most of the offroad tracks and camped at most of the campsites in West Malaysia. We have extensive overland travel mileage in Thailand, and have led Expedition Overland Tours in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. We have also marked our names as the first in Many areas. Like leading a mix Convoy of Singapore, West Malaysian, East Malaysian, Bruneian, Cambodian and Thai Cars into Vietnam. Being the first International Convoy to wild camp in Myanmar. Crossing borders that no international crossings has been done before us including the Htee Kee border between Myanmar and Thailand, as well as the Borders between Myanmar and Laos.

Q: Do I need to buy Travel Insurance

A: Travel Insurance is a personal decision, and just like any other travels, we are no different. We recommend that you get basic travel insurance on your own.

Q: When do I need to make payment?

A: As soon as you decide to join. Why? Because we only fit 3 participants per car and 6 participant car per event. We will block the slot on deposit payment. Being the only Expedition Overland Tour company in the region, our tours sells out very fast!

Q: How much deposit do I need to pay?

A: 50%

Q: How about the balance of payment?

A: Bill must be settled 1 week before actual expedition.

Q: What is your cancellation policy?

A: If cancellation is initiated by Borneo Overland (us), usually because of weather and other unforseen circumstances, we will provide a full refund of the expedition package excluding other peripheral cost that you may have incurred preparing for this trip. If the cancellation is initiated by the explorer. We reserve the right to charge 20% of the full value if cancellation is requested 6 months or earlier than actual commencement date and 50% of full value if cancellation is requested less than 6 months of commencement date. This is due to booking and external cost that cannot be retrieved. We may on a case by case basis refund more or in full depending on the situation.

Q: Are there toilets at the campsite? What's the condition of the toilets

A: Most of the campsites have proper toilet facilities, some includes hot water showers. The campsites for the 3D2N packages are for beginners and are sufficiently well maintained.

The wild camp sites are from the 6D5N Expedition onwards and participants will be informed and will be notified what to prepare.

Q: Are there mosquitos, sandflies, leeches?

A: Nature is 2 sided, so no location is sterile. On one side we want to see prestine nature and wildlife, on the other side we are not happy with an intergral part of the ecosystem.

We will advice participants on what to expect as much as we can and will also have preventive and post remedies on hand.

Q: Is there power supply at the campsite?

A: Each of your vehicles has a dual battery system and there are USB ports in the rear that is powered 24/7 that you can use to charge your mobile phones and small devices. At each campsite, one of our crew is designated the "Electrical Officer" and he/she will set up a charging station where you can deposit all your devices to be charged up securely.

Q: Why is a shaver not supplied in the toiletries kit? I mean you already supplied almost everything.

A: After consideration, we have taken out the disposal shaver from the toiletries pack. Men will look more rugged with a little bit of stubble and fit the expedition theme better. But practically, we want to remove any little risk for injury or cuts when using razors in outdoor context or unfamiliar places.

Q: Whats the type of food that we eat?

A: Generally our standard menu will be international and more towards chinese style. With a tinge of local highlights on the side for participants to try. Generally non spicy to cater to a wider audience.

Depending on the group, we usually customize the food palatte to the group.

Q: Are we able to try the wild durians?

A: Food and fruits are seasonal and usually if it is in season, we will highlight before the event and ask if the participants wants some prepared for them for the trip.

Q: Do I need International Driving License if I want to drive?

A: You will need an equivalent of Malaysian class D, American class CM, Singapore Class 3, Australian Class C license. 

Q: Are all the cars Manual?

A: Yes

Q: Do you have automatic cars?

A: No

Q: I am not confident driving these type of cars

A: These type of cars are required to reach the places we go to. Qualified participants can have their hands on the wheels but we will be accessing their skillset for the first 15-20KM of the expedition where we are on sealed tarmac. At anytime our experienced crew deem that you are not up to the skillset required to ensure proper operation of the vehicle or the safety of the team, we will have the utmost say to take over the driver function of the vehicle.

You are free to take the codriver seats and enjoy the ride and let our crew handle the vehicle if you are not a driver type of person.

Q: Do you cars have seatbelts?

A: Front seatbelts are required to be used during travel for all cars. For our cars registered before 1995, the law does not require seatbelts in the rear passenger seats. And most of our classic cars does not have seatbelts in the rear.

Q: Do you cars have childseats?

A: We do have a limited quantity of child seats and we will deploy selectively and only if absolutely necessary.

Q: Is there Wifi/ 4G Data?

A: Sabah does have a lot of pockets of blind spots for cellular connections. Except for the trips above 6 days, we have cellular data at all the campsites. For the KK3D2N package, there will be a pocket of about 3 hours where cellular data is intermittent on the afternoon of Expedition Day 1 while we trasverse through the hills.

Q: What SIM Card should I buy? Do I need one?

A: Just like any holiday trips, you should research and plan on a suitable roaming/ data package for Malaysia. Our recommendation would be that Digi Celcom should have good coverage and packages that are affordable for our trip. For West Malaysian participants, there is no setting to set and its the same as Semenanjung.

Q: What Language do they use in Sabah?

A: Sabah is largely populated by local ethnics like Dusun, Kadazan, Murut, and Malays as well as large population of Chinese, there is also a large population of Filipinos and Indonesian. English works very well most of the places, better than in Penninsular Malaysia, as it was the National language during the North Borneo era. Malay is definitely the best language to use, Teochew and Hakka is almost universally understood by the Chinese population here.

Q: I just got a Drone for my birthday, can I bring it along to shoot awesome videos?

A: As per almost every other country in the world, Malaysia has their protocol and permits are required to fly unmanned aircrafts in their skies. In practice, we have not had issue with the customs with drones. We have our own in-house drone that weights 740g and we use it for our trips within vicinities when we are out in nature and away from the cities, not disturbing anybody and we never had any issue with it.

Do let us know if you have the intention to bring your drone and we will advice accordingly.

Q: Do I fly in and drive from the Airport?

A: We recommend you to fly in latest the day before the event flag off. We provide city acommodation the night before and the night after the expedition.

Q: What acommodation will that be?

A: The main course is the expedition, we will prepare a suitable inhouse acommodation (Apartment or AirBNB or Hostel or Hotel) depends on the group make up.

Q: Can I come in earlier or extend my stay at your acommodation after the expedition?

A: We are glad to host you beyond the included nights at extra charge. There will be preferential charges than public rates.

Q: I want to stay in a specific hotel in town. Is that ok?

A: Any arrangement is ok and we will coordinate. Anything that is not in our package will be chargeable. We may advice you against certain locations or arrangements if it is very far away or logistically difficult to arrange.