Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Adventure II (Kinabalu Park and Poring)

Kinabalu Park and Poring Nature Walk

Mt Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo. It is the tallest mountain in the Malay Archipelago.  The mountain and its surroundings are among the most important biological sites in the world, with thousands of species of plants, birds etc.  Its rich collection of wildlife include famous species such as the gigantic Rafflesia flower and the orang utans.  Mount Kinabalu is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia

We were not ready to climb Mt Kinabalu but wanted to see its rich collection of wildlife.  So we paid MYR360 per person for a private tour of Kinabalu Park and Poring.  We booked this with Dive Downbelow as it was the only company that provided a private tour.  Other service providers that I checked with were only offering seat in coach tours which I was not interested in.  We wanted to be able to walk around at our own pace and not be herd around like cattles.

Kinabalu Park is cooling because of its high altitude. It had beautiful flora and fauna.  We saw beautiful orchids of various varieties.  One looked like Mickey Mouse, another was like a bunny!  There were interesting bugs and beetles and we even witnessed a pair of mating butterflies.  All every interesting for our city kids.

Flora & Fauna @ Kinabalu Park

After a local lunch at Poring, we went for the canopy walk.   The canopy walk was not for those with height phobia. It was a few roped suspension bridges between the tall trees.  They were very narrow and each section takes only 6 person each time. Nice to be able to walk among the tall trees, though.

Canopy Walk @ Poring Hotsprings

The hot spring at Poring was just like some public swimming pool. There were lots of locals playing in it but it didn’t seem very clean. Our guide also said he won’t go into the water as there are no filters like swimming pools. They just fill up the pool very morning and drain them at night. So by each afternoon the water is quite dirty.   After the canopy walk, since we didn’t want to go into the hot spring, we took a 15 min walk to a nearby waterfall.  It was a great cool place to rest in the hot afternoon.

Kipunjit Waterfall @ Poring Hotsprings

Mt Kinabalu is also home to the world’s largest flower, the Rafflesia.  As the Rafflesia was not blooming in the park when we were there ( they flower about once a year only), we paid extra to be brought to a private garden which had the flower that day. The Rafflesia flower is the largest flower in the world and takes 9 mths to grow. When it blooms, it last about 6-7 days only. Thereafter it starts to rot and gives out a pungent smell which makes people call it the smelly flower. We were glad to be able to see the flower when we were there.  The particular flower we saw was about 70cm in diameter. Interesting note is that it has no leaves but sprouts from vines from the ground.

Rafflesia, the World’s Largest Flower, only at Mt Kinabalu

Next up: Kota Kinabalu, Borneo Adventure III (KK Town and Wildlife & Firefly Cruise)

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