From/ To: Sandakan, North Borneo
Duration: 3 Days / 2 Nights
Departs: 23rd April 2026
Departure: Guaranteed
Tour type: ‘Join-in’/ Small Group

Overview:

Attend the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Sandakan, the site of the start of the infamous Sandakan Death Marches in WWII. Visit the Sandakan Memorial Park, the site of POW Camp and learn the story of the death marches. Delight in close-up encounters with mother and baby orangutans going about their daily routine.

Why Anzac Day at Sandakan?

After the Fall of Singapore in 1942, about 2,400 Australian and British POWs were sent to Sandakan in Sabah, North Borneo. They were to become labour for the construction of the airfield, now Sandakan Airport. Once the airfield was completed, the Japanese had no further use for the POWs. So began a strategy of death by starvation, disease, beatings and execution. Even after all this, the fittest were then sent on a 260km march (Sandakan Death Marches) through dense jungle and over rugged terrain. Death was ever present. By August 1945, no one was alive at Sandakan and only six Australians had survived the death marches by escaping.

Honour the fallen by attending the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Sandakan. Discover some of Borneo’s amazing wildlife, but above all, discover Australia’s rich but tragic, wartime history on this 3-day tour.

Highlights:

• Anzac Day Dawn Service & Gunfire Breakfast

• Sandakan Memorial Park (the site of the Sandakan POW Camp)

• St Michael’s and All Angels Church, Sandakan

• Sandakan City Tour

• Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre

• Sun Bear Conservation Centre

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

• 14 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 Memorial Park - Low-Moderate

• St Michael’s and All Angels Church - Low

Day 3:

• Anzac Day Dawn Service – Low-Moderate

• Gunfire Breakfast - Low

(SDK Only)

• Registration with the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs, for the Anzac Day Dawn Service, is required. 

   

• All customers must have comprehensive travel insurance for the duration of the tour.

• This tour is conducted in accordance with the Terms, Conditions and Policies (Terms) of Historic War Tour Pty Ltd (HWT). By booking a tour with HWT, you acknowledge that you have read and understand these Terms and accept them.

Thursday, 23rd April 2026

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

Hotel included: Sabah Hotel, Sandakan - Superior Room (or similar)

Friday, 24th April 2026

Depart Hotel: 8:15am
Return: about 5:00pm

Travel about 25 minutes west of Sandakan, to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre where the orangutangs are prepared for introduction back into the wild. Walk along the boardwalk through the jungle and look out for these amazing animals. Arrive at the ‘Nursery’ where you will see firsthand, mothers and babies undergoing their daily routine. Next door, visit the Sun Bear Conservation Centre and observe the smallest of the bear species.

Return to Sandakan late morning and have lunch (own expense) 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.

After lunch, walk next door 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, the Puh Jih Shi Buddhist Temple.

Arrive at the Sandakan Memorial Park, the site of the Sandakan POW Camp in WWII and 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 Interpretive Pavilion which tells the story of the camp and 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 before having a moment of quiet reflection in the POW Chapel. Your evening is free.

Meals included: Breakfast
Hotel included: Sabah Hotel, Sandakan - Superior Room (or similar)

Saturday, 25th April 2026

Depart Hotel: 4:15am
Return: 8:15am

Travel to the Sandakan Memorial Park for the moving Anzac Day Dawn Service. After, attend the Gunfire Breakfast and mingle with other Anzac Day travelers, before leaving at about 8:00am to return to your hotel.

Your day is free until your driver arrives for your transfer to the airport for your onward flight from Sandakan.

Meals included: Breakfast
Hotel: Own arrangement