Crocker Mountains ( ms, Banjaran Crocker) is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

West Coast Division West Coast Division ( ms, Bahagian Pantai Barat) is an administrative division of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the northwest portion of Sabah. With an area of 7,588 square kilometres, it occupies 10.3% of Sabah's territory. It also has approxim ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

that separates the west and east coast of Sabah. At an average height of , it is the highest mountain range in the state named after the British administrator in

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

William Maunder Crocker William Maunder Crocker (born 1843 Devon, England – died 1899 Surrey, England) was an administrator in Borneo. Education Crocker was educated at a private school in Plymouth. Career In 1864, Crocker joined the Sarawak civil service, eventually d ...

Geology

The mountain range is made up of uplifted and folded

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s consisted of weathered soft

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

s and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s. The highest point is

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...

at . Most of the park boundary lies above with its lowlands used for

cash crop A cash crop or profit crop is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") ...

s and

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

. On the eastern side of the mountain range resides the Tambunan Valley at which are mainly

terraced In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

paddy fields and groves of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

s border the north-eastern part of the protected park. The park area is important as a

water catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

to supply water into various river in the west coast and interior districts of Sabah including

Papar River The Papar River ( ms, Sungai Papar) is a river in West Coast Division, northwestern Sabah of Malaysia. It has a total length of from its headwaters in the mountains of northwest Sabah to its outlet at the South China Sea, northwest of Papar tow ...

, Kimanis River, Bongawan River, Membakut River,

Padas River The Padas River ( ms, Sungai Padas) is a river in Interior Division, southwestern Sabah of Malaysia. It has a total length of from its headwaters in the mountains of northwest Sabah to its outlet at the South China Sea, southwest of Beaufort, M ...

and Melalap River that flow west to the park while the Pegalan River, Pampang River, Apin-Apin River, Tendulu River, Melalap River, Liawan River and Tikalod River flow the opposite direction.

History

The area surrounding

has been a state park since 1964 and was the country's first

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Part of the mountain range has been gazetted for protection as Crocker Mountains National Park since 1984. Through the Bornean Biodiversity and Ecosystems Conservation Programme (BBEC), a technical co-operation existed between the

government of Sabah The Sabah State Government is an authority governing Sabah, one of Borneo states of Malaysia, based in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital. The state government adheres to and is created by both the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the supreme law ...

and

Japan International Cooperation Agency The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...

(JICA) to innovate Community Use Zone (CUZ) concept as a management option to address the issues concerning indigenous communities living and utilising resources within the protected areas. Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest mountains in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, is a part of this mountain range. In 2014, the range was recognised as a

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments. MAB's work engag ...

, becoming the second Malaysian site to be designated, after Chini Lake in the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

Biodiversity

The Crocker Mountains Forest Reserve area has a wide range of

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

diversity and having the highest diversity of

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

insects in all the 20 forest reserves surveyed within the

Heart of Borneo The Heart of Borneo is a conservation agreement initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature to protect a 220,000 km² forested region on Borneo island. The agreement was signed by the governments of Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia in Bali on 1 ...

area in Sabah and recorded a number of endemic species. File:Crock Range map.png, Map of the mountain range. File:Sabah CrockerMountainRange-02.jpg, The mountain range shrouded by natural

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

. File:Nabalu Sabah CrockerMountainRange-01.jpg, The mountain range as seen from

Ranau District The Ranau District ( ms, Daerah Ranau) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The c ...

. File:Sabah CrockerMountainRange-06.jpg, View of the mountain range from Ranau–Tamparuli Road. File:Tuaran Sabah ViewsFromLingSanPagoda-09.jpg, The mountain range as seen from Ling San Pagoda in

Tuaran District The Tuaran District ( ms, Daerah Tuaran) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The ...

References

External links

* {{Geography of Sabah Mountain ranges of Malaysia Landforms of Sabah Biosphere reserves of Malaysia