Category Archives: Island & Beach

Cave of Balambangan Island

Cave of Balambangan Island

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Pulau Balambangan (Balambangan Island) looks so big on Sabah map. However, very little is known about this island. The British East India Company built their first establishment in Sabah hundred years ago as a trading post. Unfortunately, it was attacked by Sulu pirates and British had to move their base to Kudat.

Someone call Balambangan Island a “Treasure Island,” as they believe there was an old Chinese/British ship, carried plenty of gold and other precious, was sunk by storm around this island but yet to be found. Anyway, I was not there for the treasure. I just want to document the caves, before they are gone. There are over 20 limestone caves on Balambangan Island and none of them is named, and only four are studied. I went to this island by following a boat departed from Banggi Island (Pulau Banggi), which is about 10KM away from this island. I stopped by Kg. Selamat (Selamat Village), which has abalone farming (at the left in photo below). Kg Selamat is not so “selamat” (safe) because sometimes you can find aggressive crocodiles swimming under the houses.

Talking about the salt-water crocodile, a local said the crocodiles were used to live in peace with the people here. One day, a fisherman caught some fishes and left them at the shore. When he came back, he saw a crocodile was eating his caught. In anger, he shot the crocodile. Probably the crocodiles also have “feeling”, so they started to attack the human. Some fishermen were eaten when they setup the fish trap in the water. Nevermind if you don’t believe this story. Below is a photo of limestone hills on the island.

Then we proceeded to other side of the island, with mangrove area infested with crocodiles. Probably they all went to church on Sunday, so I didn’t see any of them around. There was no nice beach for landing, so I crossed the sharp limestones around the shore to get to land.


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After a 10 minutes walk through a dense forest, I reached the limestone cave, where prehistoric human stayed here about 200,000 years ago. Archaeological findings from the Pleistocene era (the Ice Age – between 1.75 million to 11,000 years ago) was discovered in the cave of Balambangan Island. I also wonder if the Japanese had stationed here during the World War II, like the local mentioned.


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This cave is very big and deep. I saw many unique cave formations consisting of stalactites, stalagmites, flow stone and many other speleotems. I wished I could stay longer to see the art of nature that takes thousands years to form. I started taking photos like crazy, while others kept on yelling, “Hurry Up!! There were more stuffs here!” Busy, busy, busy…


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There were many stalactites on top and stalagmites on the ground, making the cave looked like a big mouth of a monster with sharp teeth. You do not need to be a geologist to appreciate the beauty. These caves are not protected though they are considered as a natural and historic heritage. In the future, some developers would build a clinker plant to mine the limestone, the major raw ingredient of cement. So sad huh. It is like burning our house to keep ourselves warm.


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Some swiftlets and bats made noise to warn the “intruders”. The cave is dark and the floor is uneven, so I have to walk slowly. Otherwise I would step on a stalagmite that takes hundreds years to form (FYI, it grows only 0.5 inch every 100 years). The cave got a few tunnels that went very deep and narrow. None of us had the time and gut to explore the cave network. I also saw some ball-like “Cave Pearls” inside the stream of the cave. I shared over 50 photos in the album, so you can see more about the cave.


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Undoubtedly, this cave is a promising spot as a geo-tourism attraction. Tip of Borneo is nothing if compared with it. To go to this island, you can hire a boat in Banggi Island, which will cost about RM200-300 (for day trip). Who knows you might find treasures in those unexplored caves.

Photos taken in Balambangan Island of Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Maliagin Islands

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Not all the beautiful islands are at Semporna. The sea off Kudat (northern tip of Sabah) has a few nice islands that are not listed on tourism map. Maliagin Islands are also known as Molleangan Islands. Actually Maliagin Islands consist of two islands, i.e., Maliagin Besar and Maliagin Kecil (Besar=Big, Kecil=Small).


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There is no ferry going to these 2 islands, so I followed the boat of WWF to get there. WWF has some conservation projects on these islands, to recover the corals and to educate the local fishing community not to employ destructive fishing methods such as fish bombing and cyanide (poison) fishing, which are same as killing the geese that lays gold eggs.

The fishermen are staying in Maliagin Besar, and the smaller Maliagin Kecil Island has no resident. Electricity and pipe water are not available on the island, so they use the water from a well. Other than these, I think they live in a vacation spot. The sea is so crystal clean and the sand of the beach is powderly white.


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The fishermen are Bajau people, but their houses are built on land, unlike the Sea Bajau who live at East Coast and build stilt houses on the water. One thing I found unique is their graveyard is still outside their houses. You know most cultures want the graves stay far away from the residential area. Probably Bajau has very different attitude towards death.

Excited about this discovery, I walked around the graves to get some photos. Then I saw a small stone next to my feet. Oh sh*t, I was standing on a grave! Quickly I moved aside. I have been hearing scary stories about people being harassed by the spirits coz they offended the thing slept under the soil. Luckily that night was a peaceful one. Looking at my photo album, you would notice that the tombs come in different shapes and size. In fact this gives us some information about the gender, age and status of the deceased.


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Later we moved on to nearby Maliagin Kecil Island, which is such a tiny spot on the map. Its shore is rocky, in contrast to the sandy shore of Maliagin Besar. You have to walk carefully in the water coz the rock is slippery and covered with a layer of brown algae, sometimes with sea urchins hiding between them.


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Since there is no people living here, all the coconuts on the island are free for us to enjoy, provided that you have to skill to pluck them high on the tree. Fortunately, the very kind boatmen helped to do the job. Despite the hot surrounding, the coconut juice is cold and it tastes like carbonated drink. It was such a wonderful trip, but the travelogue doesn’t end here. The following days I experienced something more interesting and will share with you later.

Photos taken in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Sea Snakes Highway

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Look for a painful death just a few feets away? You can have it in Pulau Banggi (Banggi Island) off Kudat town. If you walk around the Bonggi Resort, you will see the sign below by WWF that reads:

Be Careful!..
Sea Snakes
Scientific Name: Laticauda Colubrina
Group: Elapidae
Sub-group: Hydrophiinae
“This area is a habitat of sea snakes. Sea snake is a venomous snake. It can reach 2 Meters in length. There are more than 50 species of sea snakes. They normally live in beach and sea, and reproduce in land.

Sea snake is not a threat to human, unless provoked or beaten. Thus, when you see it, please do not beat or disturb it because it is a poisonous snake. It is also an unique wildlife that can become an attraction for this region.”

The notice is written in Malaysia language, so the foreigners may not aware that they have entered a danger zone. I only knew it in my second visit to Banggi Island. The locals told me that the sea snakes would leave the sea and wander in this spot after 7pm, then return to sea around 4 and 5am morning. Below is a figure of their moving routes. They love to hide in the tree at the right.

Snake phobia can go to bed early then. Since Pulau Banggi is such a remote place with nothing to do at night, I can sit there and watch them for whole night. The area is dim and not well-lighted, so you can step on the sea snake accidentally. It venom is so potent that one drop of it can kill 7 people, 3 times more poisonous than cobra and can kill us within 2 hours! But its head is very small, unlike most other poisonous snakes.

Right after 7pm, I could see something moving in the dark. It was a sea snake in black and white stripes. Actually I had seen Yellow-lipped sea snakes in Sawangan Beach of Kuala Penyu. The difference is the sea snakes here are not so afraid of human, even we were only a few feets away. It just continued to go to the old tree. Later I saw 2 more. They are about 4 to 6 feet long. I saw about 6 in 2nd night. There might be more coz I didn’t stay there for long.

When we were watching the snakes, the locals came and touched the sea snakes and said how “friendly” these snakes were. I know yellow-lipped sea snake is not aggressive, but I think wildlife is not a pet that love to be touched, so better just leave them alone. I was told that the darker color one is more aggressive.

From its flat and paddle-shape tail that is equipped for swimming, you can tell that it is a sea snake. This type of sea snake has the habit to come to land to sleep and lay eggs at night. I have been watching them for 2 night. They just moved back and forth, before really settled down under the trees. I guess the interesting phenomenon here have started about as old as the tree. Even though human has claimed this area long ago, the snakes insist to come back every night.

Sea snakes are always trapped in the fishing net. When the fishermen are busy sorting out the fishes, they might be bitten by this sea snake and don’t know it, due to the anesthetic effect of the venom. Later the fisherman will die mysteriously, and his co-workers would think that it is the act of sea ghost. They will place the dead body in the sea, and “let the sea ghost takes him away”.

Another good reason not to anger this snake is — there is NO antidote for the poison. The hospital would use other substituted antidote for the cure, which is less effective. If the situation worsen, the poison will dissolve the muscles of our body, it is very very very very very painful, then our urine will turn into cola red color. The color is actually the protein of the muscle cells dissolved by the venom. Our kidney will try to filter this protein and will eventually fail due to unbearable burden. At last, we die in agony.

Therefore, if you want a wonderful and unforgettable travel experience, do not mess with sea snake. I hope you get it, I mean the advice, not the snake bite itself. Don’t ask me why those Pulau Tiga guide asks the tourists to hold this snake in Snake Island. Personally I don’t think they should disturb the snakes, no matter they are harmful or not.

JFYI, ALL species of sea snakes are poisonous.

Photos taken in Banggi Island (Kudat), Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Pulau Banggi Revisited

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I visited Pulau Banggi (Banggi Island) in year 2006, but this time I came back for different activities, which I will blog about soon. The weather had been bad for past few years, so I was so glad about the sunny days.


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Something have changed since my last visit. When approaching the jetty, you would see the tall blue and white government building on the hill, the lower blue building next to it is a new hospital. The jetty is also improved with proper walk-in entry, so you are no longer needed to jump from the boat to jetty.


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Bonggi Resort (photo below) still remains the only accommodation for tourists. The old wooden Bonggi-style guest houses are upgraded to stronger structure, but losing a bot of traditional taste. For air-conditioned room, it is about RM75 per night, while a double-bed room with fan is RM60. 3 years ago, the air-cond room cost RM50 per night. I stayed in the fan room and didn’t like it. There is no proper ventilation, so for the whole 2 night I was breathing the recycled warm air and couldn’t sleep well. I didn’t feel safe to be asked to leave my shoes outside the door, but my worry was proven needless.


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The thing that doesn’t change is — tons of rubbish along the shore. I can understand why Tourism ministry would never officially promote this place as a tourism spot. The garbage is such an eyesore the moment the tourists land on Pulau Banggi. FYI, there is a ferry from Kudat comes to Pulau Banggi(Karakit) twice a day.


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You could easily tell (hear) that Banggi Island is a Muslim area coz of the echoing loud speaker of the mosque during praying times. Muslims do not eat pork, so the wild boars live here happily and grow in large number. The stilt shop house near the jetty is still operating, but the toilet seems unstable. It would be a very amusing view to see the toilet and the user falls into the sea. The shops also dump rubbish and food leftover into the water. Obviously, it is too dirty to swim in it.


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Majority of the residents are still living in wooden houses and water villages. Tourism would help this place to develop. At the moment, there are less than 100 tourists come to this island very month. I went to this island with a group of 10 other people. We could see that the shopkeepers were so happy when we bought from their shops. But please improve the cleanliness first.

To know how to go to Banggi Island, you may check out my previous blog.

Related Post:
Banggi Island (year 2006)

Photos taken in Banggi Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Marine Ecology Research Centre (Gayana Resort)

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Many years ago, I went to “pulau” (island) a lot with my father who owned a boat that time. I can tell you that Sapi and Manukan Islands today are NOTHING compared to their past. There were so many (and dense) beautiful corals that I could even see them from the beach. After more and more tourists flow in, now the corals don’t stand a chance to grow near the shore when so many people step on them every day.

That’s why I like what Gayana Resort (of Gaya Island) is doing now. Not only their restaurant has removed shark fin from their seafood menu, they also put a lot of efforts on conservation and being environmental friendly, so their business won’t impact the surrounding environment negatively. When they take, they also give – what we call responsible tourism. Besides recycling the waste, this eco-resort also replants the corals at Gaya Island.

Their Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) is an education and aquarium centre worth checking out. It has some display of live hard and soft corals and giant clams, which they also try to cultivate and release to the sea. Their staffs are also very knowledgeable and introduce us the cuttlefish that can change colors, pretty bamboo sharks and other interesting sea life.

The centre claims to have 7 out of 8 species of giant clams in the world. Giant clam is very sensitive to pollution and grows very slow. Even after 10 years, its size still can be smaller than a fist. Their population is declining fast and listed as protected species, though many fishermen don’t care and still eating them.

They label each coral and clam with number, for their coral and clam restoration programme, so the tourists, who release them, can come back and visit their “baby” years later. Last time I had very bad impression about MERC coz the previous management seemed like never cleaned the fish tanks. They improve a lot after the new management took over.

There is a tank with two turtles. They were excited to see people and came to us. I am not sure if they want to play with me or bite me. Below is a photo of hawsbill turtle at the front and green turtle behind, both are endangered species. This hawksbill turtle was sick and was rescued from the hands of children who played with it on the beach. It is doing well and looks healthy after treatment by UMS (University Malaysia Sabah).

Below is a photo of green turtle that “smiled” at my camera. Many of them are killed by swallowing plastic bags that look like tasty jelly fish to them. And also a lot of them are trapped and died inside the net of fishing boats every day.

The government sector needs to work harder. Fish bombing still happens even in marine park as close as Sapi. Many scuba divers will tell you that they hear it and there are less and less fish species in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. I also hear a lot of stories about the corrupted marine police (at east coast) who disregard fish bombing and more interested in constantly harassing the fishermen by taking away their caught. Turtle eggs are still readily available at the market if you know how to signal that you want to buy.

Sorry that I don’t have a lot of photos to show coz I stayed there only for a short while. BTW, Gayana Resort has RM68++ dim sum buffet promotion (include transfer to/from Gaya Island and free visit to MERC) during Chinese New Year (Jan 26,27 and 31 if I am not mistaken). FYI only, I don’t work for them. I let you know coz I think it is better than buying the RM100 BBQ lunch package of other island trip (I read the reviews that their food taste like sh*t for that price).

Photos taken in Gaya Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tindakon Cave

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Finally, this is my last stop of Misompuru Homestay. We came to Terongkongan Beach (or Tindakon Dazang Beach) to see the Tindakon cave created by sea erosion. Under the rain, we moved slowly, painfully on 1KM of sandy beach to the end of the beach. The lady inside the photo is Mona, one of the local guides. I used her as a free model so many times that she wanted to poke me with her umbrella. Just kidding.


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Though the cave is our target. The view along the shore is wonderful. I saw some weird rock cut by the wind. The best thing was there was no other people around. We walked freely as if this is our private beach. The guide told me that someone would camp here during the nesting session of sea turtles. They will collect the turtle eggs then kill the mother for her shell and meat as well. It is so depressing to imagine this bloody scene taking place in beautiful beach here.


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There are some spiky odd plants grow there too. Their leaves are sharp. Quite hurt to walk among them.

To let you have an idea, below is the diagram of the Tindakon cave. Actually the cave is a deep hole created by the sea, after many years of “digging” by the sea water. The hole got bigger and deeper and became a cave. At the end, it even digs a “tunnel” and connects to the other side of the hill. There is a big opening above the cave. I’m not sure how the opening was formed. I guess it is because the cave under the hill kept on washing soil away from its bottom. At last it collapsed and became a big hole?


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Before I went there, I told the guides that I wanted to go inside the cave. Immediately I saw the expression of reluctant written on their faces. Then they came out all sort of scary reasons why I should not do it. One said there was fierce animals living inside, another said it was dangerous and slippery… Actually the more they tried to stop me, the more I wanted to try.. Later I learnt that this cave was used as a bomb shelter of Japanese during World War II.

Anyway, we went and checked out the big opening behind the hill first (see below). It is quite steep and about 30 feet deep, very hard to go down with a camera with me.


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The cave is about 30 feet away from us. I used the camera zoom to take the photo below. We could see wave movement in the cave and with a bit of light behind. Obviously, this cave connects to the sea at other side of the hill. I saw fear in the eyes of a guide who mumbled, “so creepy… like there is a ghost inside..” The cave is not really big but can fit one person. I didn’t go inside coz the cave was filled with sea water.


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Then we walked to the other side to see the cave entrance facing the sea. If you look at the photo below, the cave is under the “drain” at the right side. I decided to walk nearer to take a look, hoping that I could see the entrance of the cave. This area is called Tindakon Dazang, which means jumping fairies. According to the legend, the lucky ones would see fairies playing on the rock here and swimming at the beach during full moon.


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After I moved closer, I understood why the guides were so concern. The cave was flooded by sea water. I would be drown if I went inside. But someone did manage to walk through the cave during low tide. It was really not my day.


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The wave was quite strong and the rock was slippery. I had to keep an eye on the sea when I walked to the cave. The height of waves seemed to have timing, 1 feet, 1 feet… then 3 feet. About every 15 minutes, there would be a super big wave nearly 5 feet high. It took me by surprise. When mass volume of water rushed to me, I was freak out and thought I would fall.


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They told me there was a whale stuck inside the cave and died in the past. According to the guides, sometimes the waves were so strong that they created loud noise when they hit the cave opening. They even can see the sea water splash at other end. The villages can hear the sound from a far distance and they will know that the sea is rough.


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Now they have built a traditional longhouse nearby. It is a homestay open to tourists and you can find out more on the Facebook of Tindakon Dazang Beach.

Photos taken in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Tanggui Beach

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Kudat has a lot of nice and clean beaches. At our so-called famous beaches around KK, floating rubbish such as water bottle and plastic bag are so common. Tanggui Beach is not particular beautiful but I hardly see any garbage washed to the shore.

Personally I am quite disappointed to see what is happening to our sea and islands near developed region. Years of traveling in Sabah shows me how dirty Sabah is. If we don’t work harder on the cleanliness now, the tourists will go somewhere else. We won’t see the effects now, until only few tourists are willing to come to our beaches, after some years.

Getting to Tanggui Beach takes a 20-min walk. I walked through a muddy trail and a long suspension bridge. The sea waves were quite rough that day.

The weather was really bad. It was a rainy and windy day. Most of the time, I held umbrella with one hand, another hand with camera to take photo.

Despite the cold weather, I still found some village boys swimming. When they saw me taking their photos, they were so excited, waving hands at me and even did dolphin jump. I already felt so cold on the dry land. Really can’t understand why they are so enjoyable in the cold water.

This beach gets some interesting spots for outdoor shooting. Too bad I didn’t try it due to the rainy day. I will introduce you the Terongkongan Beach in next blog. That one is really worth a visit and I spent a long time on it (a lot of photos, of course).

Photos taken in Kudat, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Wild Gaya Island

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Gaya Island is big. If you walk inside its forest, you would not believe that you are on an island.

Below are photos of what I saw along the jungle trail there. The cup fungi is so cute. I am quite curious what function its hair has.

You can find many snails on the forest floor. They seems to be more sensitive than normal garden snails, probably they smell the insect repellent on my skin. It is so warm and humid in the forest. No wonder people call it rainforest, I sweat like rain.

Mangrove forest near the beach area, with some rubbish trapped between their root.

This hermit crab as big as my fist. When I held its shell, it slipped its body out of its shell
and ran away nakedly.

Very often you will hear red skink lizard running on the dry leaves when you approach. They are not only commonly found here, you can see many of them in inland forest too. They have beautiful red skin.

There were about a dozen of bats roosted under a big rock. They kept an eye (or an ear?) on me. The photo below shows them in an alert and ready-to-fly-away mode.

The ranger at Padang Point showed me an antique they dug out from the ground during site construction. It looks like an old machine left behind by British and its function is unclear. Do you know there is another “Gaya Island” in Semporna? Note its mountain looks like the face of an old man.

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Gaya Island
Hornbill Beach

Photos taken in Gaya Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo