Kinabalu Park ( ms, Taman Kinabalu), established as one of the first
national parks of Malaysia in 1964, is Malaysia'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 ...
designated by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
in December 2000 for its "outstanding universal values" and the role as one of the most important biological sites in the world with more than 4,500 species of flora and fauna, including 326 bird and around 100 mammal species, and over 110 land snail species.
Located on the west coast of
Sabah
Sabah () is a 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 Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...
,
Malaysian Borneo, it covers an area of 754 square kilometres surrounding
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is third-highest peak of an island on Earth, and 20th most prominent mountain in the wor ...
, which at 4,095.2 meters, is the highest mountain on the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...
.
The park is one of the most popular tourist spots in Sabah and Malaysia in general. In 2010, the park received 611,624 visitors, including 47,613 climbers.
The site has been identified by UNESCO as a Centre of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia, as it contains representatives from at least half of all Borneo’s plant species and is extremely rich in species with elements from China, Australia, the Himalayas, Malaysia and pan tropical floras.
History
The region was designated as a national park in 1964. British colonial administrator and naturalist
Hugh Low led an expedition from
Tuaran to the region in 1851. He also became the first recorded man to reach the peak of Mount Kinabalu.
The highest peak of the mountain was later named after him—
Low's Peak
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is third-highest peak of an island on Earth, and 20th most prominent mountain in the worl ...
.
Geography
Kinabalu Park is situated on the
Crocker Range
Crocker Range ( ms, Banjaran Crocker) is a mountain range in West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia that separates the west and east coast of Sabah. At an average height of , it is the highest mountain range in the state with the range is named ...
on the western coast of Sabah. It is located within the district of
Ranau, within the
West Coast Division. The park is not to be confused with
Crocker Range National Park
Crocker Range National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Banjaran Crocker) was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah ...
which is a separate park in the south.
The park headquarters is 88 kilometres away from the city of
Kota Kinabalu. There are sealed roads leading towards the park headquarters from other parts of Sabah. It is situated on the southern boundary of Kinabalu Park, at an elevation of .
Administration and park features
This park is administered by an organisation called
Sabah Parks
Sabah Parks ( ms, Taman-Taman Sabah) is a conservation-based statutory body established in 1964 with the purpose of conserving the scenic, scientific and historic heritage of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. The organisat ...
. Accommodations in the form of chalets can be found in the park, mostly around the headquarters. Reservations for accommodation and mountain climbing guides are processed through Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, a private company. Every person who wishes to climb the mountain must be accompanied by a qualified guide. Sutera is now requiring hikers to stay one night at their lodge near the entrance, in addition to a required stay at Laban Rata. The cost to stay is considerably higher than at lodging just outside the park and includes a mandatory purchase of meals, etc.
The mountain summit trail begins at Timpohon. There is also an alternative route called the
Mesilau Trail.
A notable feature of the park is
Low's Gully. It is a 1.6-kilometer deep ravine stretching 10 kilometres on the side of the mountain peak.
Ecology
This botanical site contains a variety of flora and fauna that ranges over 4 climate zones; from rich
lowland dipterocarp forest through the
montane oak,
rhododendron, to the
coniferous forests
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...
, to the
alpine meadow
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...
plants, and to the stunted bushes of summit zone. The mountain is also known for its many
carnivorous plant and
orchid
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of floweri ...
species, most notably ''
Nepenthes rajah''.
It is also home to a multitude of
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
animal species, including the
Kinabalu giant red leech
The Kinabalu giant red leech (''Mimobdella buettikoferi'') is a large bright orange-red coloured leech that is endemic to Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. It can grow to a length of over .
Etymology
The holotype was collected by Johann Büttikofer, and t ...
and
Kinabalu giant earthworm
The Kinabalu giant earthworm, ''Pheretima darnleiensis'', is a grey-blue coloured peregrine annelid. It is found widely in Southeast Asia, primarily in the Indo-Australasian Archipelago (e.g., Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Borneo, Sulawesi, the ...
. The park also plays host to a variety of birds, insects, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.
Mount Kinabalu is one of the youngest non-volcanic mountains in the world. It was formed within the last 10 to 35 million years. The mountain still grows at a rate of 5 millimetres a year
Gallery
File:Kinabalu park HQ.JPG, Kinabalu Park Headquarters
File:Borneo Mount Kinabalu Moutain Squirrel Rat.jpg, Mountain squirrel
File:Ochraceous Bulbul from Kinabalu National Park.jpg, Ochraceous bulbul
The ochraceous bulbul (''Alophoixus ochraceus'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from Southeast Asia to Sumatra. It is usually found in the mid-storey of broad-leaved evergreen and rainforests up to 1500 m ...
File:Philautus bunitus male from Mt. Kinabalu Park.jpg, Male '' Philautus bunitus''
File:Kinabalu Crested Dragon (Hypsicalotes kinabaluensis) male (6679673009).jpg, Crested dragon ('' Hypsicalotes kinabaluensis'')
File:Black and Golden Cicada (Huechys fusca) emerging at night from nymph exoskeleton (14491224658).jpg, Black and golden cicada (''Huechys fusca
''Huechys'' is a genus of cicada belonging to the family Cicadidae
Cicadidae, the true cicadas, is the largest family of cicadas, with more than 3,200 species worldwide. The oldest known definitive fossils are from the Paleocene, a nymph from ...
'')
File:Orb Web Spider (Araneidae) yellow underside (14490683008).jpg, Orbweb spider ( Araneidae)
References
External links
Sabah Parks websiteTourism Malaysia - Kinabalu ParkKinabalu National Park Lonely PlanetKinabalu National Park UNESCO
{{authority control
Crocker Range
National parks of Malaysia
World Heritage Sites in Malaysia
ASEAN heritage parks
Protected areas established in 1964
Mount Kinabalu
Protected areas of Sabah