Kota Kinabalu Off The Beaten Path

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Klias River is in Beaufort region which is 110 km south of KK city. Depending on the traffic conditions, it may take 2 to 3 hours to reach there by car. Although the journey is tiring, you will have a very nice experience once you reach there. There are organized river cruises which give you the chance to watch the funny looking Probiscious Monkeys in their own environment. The small boats get closer in the river bank to provide you some nice photo shots. Watching the sunset on Klias River is fascinating. After that you are taken back to your departure point for a dinner. After dinner is the second event : Fireflies. The trees which you watched the monkeys jump and play before dinner transforms into Christmas trees thanks to the fireflies in the region. This was such a nice scene for me as I only saw a few fireflies when I was just a small kid. You can find tours organized to Klias River easily in KK city. The journey starts afternoon around 1:30 pm and you return back to KK city around 9:30 pm. For me and my wife, it cost us 340 RM including transportation, meal and the boat tours. It is not cheap but it is definitely an unforgettable experience.

Pulau Manukan is part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) Marine Park in Kota Kinabalu... It is the place where locals come to get away from the bustling city by simply relaxing on the beach... Visitors can also go island hopping, jetskiing, kayaking, ride a glass bottom boat and banana boat, parasailing, snorkelling, diving, bird watching and trekking to sunset point... The sea is crystal clear and the emerald green water is full of all kinds of fishes, inlcuding white promfret and clolourful coral fishes, swimming around the boat as you arrive at the long jetty... Fringed by casaurina trees, the hills at the back of the beach is also alive with bees, birds and monkeys... There is also a resort on the island in Manukan Island Resort...

The is also a Marine Research Centre on the island... The centre provides visual education on marine life as well as conservation work done in the TAR Marine Park... Exhibits at the centre includes the giant head bone of an 8m long Byrde Whale that beach on nearby Pulau Gaya some years back, as well as the shell of a giant clam, skeletons of a dugong and dolphin, seagrass and seaweeds...

Pulau Manukan is only 20mins by sea from Kota Kinabalu... Boats leave for the island from Sutera Harbour Jetty, Tanjung Aru Marina (at Tanjung Aru Resort) and Jesselton Point (near the Sabah Port Authority)... The fare to/from the island is RM40 return... There is a RM3 charge for staying on the island...

The Nature Interpretation Centre, located at the Shangri-la Rasa Ria Resort, was established by the resort in collaboration with the Sabah State Wildlife Dept in June 1996 in providing the initial steps at rehabilitation of stranded and orphaned baby orang utans as well as other endagered fauna... When the orang utans reach the ages of six or seven, they are send to the rehabilitation station in Sepilok and subsequently released into the wild...

Visitors are allowed to enter nature reserve through bookings must be made as only 50 visitors are allowed at any one time... The hour-long In Search of the Orang Utan programme is on daily at 10am and 2pm to coincide with feeding times. Entrance fee is RM65 for the public and RM50 for resort guests... Children between the ages of 6 and 16 pay RM10...

The programme starts with a talk and video show by the rangers and then leads a way up a forested hill... Along the way, lucky visitors may catch glimpses of hornbills, monitor lizards, tortoises, musedeer, civet car and over 60 species of birds and 30 species of butterfiles... There are 2 viewing platforms overlooking the feeding stations for visitors...

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The nature park spreads over 25 hectares of land and the public can choose one fo the 5 jungle trails available, depending on their interest and fitness...

The 1.5km Nature Trail takes two hours and visitors learn about monkeys, insects, leeches and inspect a termnite mould.... Ranges will also point out medicinal plants and palm species...

For something more, the 1.8km Native Trail also brings visitors to a native house in the reserve...

Bird watchers may prefer the Bird Watching Trail, a 2-hour walk that stops at bird feeding stations and an observation tower where over 60 species of feathered friends have been spotted... It also meanders through a widllife garden and includes butterfly watching...

The Honeymoon Lagoon Trail takes it easy with mostly plants and trees for viewing...

For the really adventurous, the Nocturnal Animals Watch offers a chance to run into nocturnal wildlife like sambar deer, civit cat, barking deer, slow loris and porcupines... The 2-hour trail starts at 9pm...

There is also a special Ranger For The Day programme for children between 8 and 16, with a maximum of 3 children per session... For a fee of RM20, children get to help rangers in their daily work like feeding the animals...

KK City Mosque which is situated at Likas Bay near the sea has similar features ot the Nabawi Mosque in Medina. It is the biggest mosque in KK and can accommodate 9,000 to 12,000 people.

Visitors are allowed only in the mosque compound while entry into the building is prohibited.

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Our great tour guide from Wildlife expeditions offered to either leave us at the hotel for 2 hours to wait until our flight from Sandakan to KK was due, or he could take us to a relatives wedding. We accepted his offer as you don't get an offer like that everyday! The family was very welcoming, and we sat on the floor and ate a meal with them, then they insisted that we take part in dancing and playing traditonal musical instruments. Then we were sat on the bridal thrones and photographed with the bride and groom. A wonderful experience that we will remember for a long time. Thankyou Amran!

You can go white (yellow really) water rafting at Padas river. Price can range between RM120-250 depending on your connections and bargaining skills. Basically a tourist can forget about the lower price-try get RM190. These days prices are advertised online so unless you are a group tourist you probably won't get charged the higher end prices. You'll be picked up from your hotel, taken to Beaufort train station where you'll get on a neanderthal era train to the starting point. All done, maybe you'll get there from your hotel in 2.5 hours.

Now you'll get a safety talk and get thrown on a raft. Duration can take between 40-90 minutes depending on whether it's been raining recently and you'll go through 5 rapids. You can jump off and are rescued by kayakers if you can make it back to shore. Food is available at the end but be quick-it's not necessarily enough for everyone. Then you go back.

Toilet facilities there there but can be quite basic, to say the least, both on the train and rafting area...

I have more information on my Kampong Padas Valley travel pages.

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yes another white water rafting adventure with class 3 n 4 rapids this time. it starts with a train ride on an antique train then welcome fruits and drinks before the safety briefing and a very very very good lunch buffet of grilled lamb and more!!

the riverguides of riverbug are really trained for things and you can see the coordination from arrival at the train station to the people getting on board. even the safety briefing was very done in a way that people will really pay attention. and the rescue kayaks were unbelievable. can you imagine being a tiny speck in that washing machine of water!!