Sandakan, North Borneo - 5 Days 2026 Anzac Day at Sandakan

Day 1: 23rd April 2026

Arrive Sandakan where you will meet your driver for your transfer to your hotel. The rest of your day is free.

Meals: Nil
Overnight: Sabah Hotel (or similar)

Day 2: 24th April 2026

Depart Hotel: 8:30am
Return: about 5:00pm

Leave your hotel at about 8:30am and travel about 25 minutes west of Sandakan, to visit the Sepilok Orangutang Rehabilitation Centre where orphaned orangutans are prepared for introduction back into the wild. Next door, if time permits, visit the Sun Bear Conservation Centre and observe the smallest of the bear species.

Return to Sandakan late morning and have lunch at the English Tea House. Perched on the side of a hill with spectacular views overlooking Sandakan, this colonial style restaurant serves a mix of English and Asian delights or try one of their famous Devonshire Teas.

After lunch, walk next door to the restaurant and visit the Agnes Keith House, a museum dedicated to this famous American author who wrote about life in British North Borneo. Continue your local tour of Sandakan observing places of interest such as the stilt houses at Sim-Sim Water Village, admire Puh Jih Shi Buddhist Temple and reflect at the Sandakan Liberation Memorial.

Arrive at the Sandakan Memorial Park, the site of the Sandakan POW Camp in WWII, where the Anzac Day Dawn Service will take place the following day. Use this time free of crowds, to walk around this lush and serene park seeing relics that still exist today. Visit the park’s pavilion which displays photographs and artifacts that tell the story of the infamous death marches.

Return to your hotel but on the way, visit St Michael’s and All Angels Church and discover the magnificent stain glass Windows of Remembrance and the Friendship Windows as the late afternoon sun shines through before having a moment of quiet reflection in the POW Chapel. Your evening is free.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Sabah Hotel (or similar)

Day 3: 25th April 2025

Depart Hotel: 5:30am (to be confirmed)
Arrive Hotel (Kota Kinabalu): about 5:00pm

Proceed to the Sandakan Memorial Park for the moving Anzac Day Dawn Service. After, attend the Gunfire Breakfast and mingle with other Anzac Day travellers, before returning to your hotel.

The remainder of your day is free until your driver arrives to take you to the airport for your flight (flight details to be advised) to Kota Kinabalu. Arrive Kota Kinabalu where you will be transferred to your hotel. Your evening is free.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu (or similar)

Day 4: 26th April 2025

Depart Hotel: 8:00am
Return: about 4:30pm

Depart your hotel about 8:00am for your day trip to Ranau, to learn more on the tragic story of the infamous Sandakan Death Marches. You will also learn of the horrific story of an Australian POW, Gunner Albert Cleary who, over many days, was brutally beaten by the Japanese before finally succumbing to his injuries.

About 90 minutes into your journey, visit the Kundasang War Memorial. Established in 1962 and nestled in the highlands of Kundasang, at the foothills of Mt Kinabalu, this memorial was one of the first to honour those who perished during the death marches. Comprising of four interconnecting gardens – the Australian Garden, the British Garden, the Borneo Garden and the Contemplation Garden and Pool – each symbolises the peace that the POWs never found. A black marble Memorial Wall lists the names of all the POWs. Take a moment to find Gunner Cleary’s name.

Another 25 minutes on, arrive at Ranau, the destination of the death marches. Only about half the POWs who left Sandakan arrived at Ranau. The others had died along the route, from starvation, disease or execution, and their bodies left where they fell.

There were 2,700 POWs, most of whom were captured at the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 and sent to Sandakan during 1942 and 1943. By the end of the war, only six Australians would survive Ranau, having escaped into the jungle. There were no survivors amongst those who were left at the Sandakan POW Camp.

After lunch, visit the 1st POW Campsite Memorial and beside it, the Cleary Monument which is named in honour of Gunner Albert Cleary.

Travel a short distance out of town to the Last POW Campsite Memorial. This memorial is a solemn reminder of the ultimate price of war and commemorates the tragic end of the death marches.

Return to Kota Kinabalu late afternoon and your hotel. Your evening is free.

Meals: Breakfast
Overnight: Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu (or similar)

Day 5: 27th April 2025

Depart Hotel: 8:00am

Check-out of your hotel at 8:00am and depart for the airport for your mid-morning flight (flight details to be advised) to Labuan. You will meet the guide and then visit the Labuan War Cemetery. Discover the final resting place of Private Cleary before a short ceremony of laying flowers at the Cross of Sacrifice, to honour those remembered at this cemetery.

After lunch, you will finish the tour with a visit to the Surrender Point Memorial where on the 9th September 1945, Major General George F Wootten, Commander of the Australian 9th Division formally accepted the unconditional Japanese surrender to end the war in Borneo.

Return to the airport about mid-afternoon, to meet your onward evening flight. Overnight accommodation at Labuan can be arranged.

Meals: Breakfast

• Airport transfers

• Hotel pick-ups/Drop-offs for tours

• Hotel (Sandakan) - 2 Nights

• Hotel (Kota Kinabalu) - 2 Nights

• Meals as indicated

• Experienced, English-speaking guide

• Comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle with driver

• All touring & activities as per program

• Entrance fees as per program

• Historic War Tours – Anzac Day Polo Shirt

• International airfares:
To Sandakan
From Labuan

• Domestic airfares*:
Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu to Labuan

• Passport and visa expenses

• Meals and services not mentioned

• Comprehensive travel insurance

• Personal expenses (e.g. telephone, internet, laundry, drinks, souvenirs etc.)

• Tips to Guides and Drivers

*Please note: We can arrange your domestic flights.

If you find that you are unable to join a tour that has been booked, confirmed and paid in part or in full, the paid amount of that tour less any unrecoverable costs, may be converted to a voucher. The value of that voucher may be used towards the same tour with a later departure date or any other HWT tour.

If a refund is requested, the following cancellation fees may be deducted from the paid amount:

• Greater than 45 days prior to tour start date - 10% of total tour amount + any unrecoverable costs

• Greater than 10 days but less than or equal to 45 days prior to tour start date - 50% of total tour amount + any unrecoverable costs

• 10 Days or less (including ‘no show’) prior to tour start date – No refund

Day 2:

• Sepilok Orangutang Rehabilitation Centre - Low-Moderate

• Sun Bear Conservation Centre - Low-Moderate

• English Tea House - Low

• Agnes Keith House - Low

• Sandakan Liberation Memorial - Low-Moderate

• Sandakan Memorial Park - Low-Moderate

• St Michael’s and All Angels Church - Low

Day 3:

• Anzac Day Dawn Service – Low-Moderate

• Gunfire Breakfast - Low

Day 4:

• Kundasang War Memorial – Low-Moderate

• 1st POW Campsite Memorial - Low

• Cleary Monument – Low

• Last POW Campsite Memorial – Low-Moderate

Day 5:

• Labuan War Cemetery – Low-Moderate

• Surrender Point Memorial – Low