Earlier this year, I went to Membakut for a day trip. Thanks to Emily, I discovered the charm of Membakut. Membakut is a town about 80 KM away from Kota Kinabalu city and near to Beaufort.
There is a long paved road in Binsulok of Membakut. The road is in good condition and its end leads to a ferry terminal that brings you to Kuala Penyu. Driving along this road is a pleasure experience. Besides the scenic countryside view, the best part is the Binsulok River next to the road. The mangrove forest of Binsulok River is still in pristine condition. The dense mangrove is so green and beautiful that I pulled my car over a few times to take photos.
Mangrove forest is the nursery and bleeding ground of seafood such as fishes and crab. Needless to say, the river becomes the popular fishing spot for the locals. Whenever I went, I saw villagers carrying fishing rods. I think this river is also a great place for kayaking.
Mangrove trees really grow inside the water. The peculiar stilt root of mangrove allows the tree to breathe. Sabah has largest area of mangrove in Malaysia. However, very few knows that that’s why Sabah has abundant seafood. Sabah is a hilly state, so the mangrove area at the coastal (flat) area is constantly under pressure of development and will be clear anytime. If our mangrove is gone, so will our seafood.
Photos below: The trees look like being soaked in flood water but they actually survive well in such condition.
But what interest me the most is the sundew grows on the river bank. At first I know they are fallen fruit. A closer look reveals that they might the carnivorous plant that I’ve been looking for. I never expect I would see them in Membakut.
Then we came to a riverside hut that looks like a great place for fishing and relaxing. Unfortunately, it is very poorly maintained.
The plank on the boardwalk is in bad shape..
Centre part of the hut is sinking and would collapse.
To make thing worse, some idiots made camp fire inside the wooden hut, creating big holes inside the hut. I guess it’s the irresponsible act by the local anglers.
There is a toilet next to the hut. The door is gone…
If you follow the Binsulok River, you will find its water flows to the sea in Pimping Beach. That’s why the sea water of Pimping Beach is brackish in color and you will find foam along the shore and float on the sea, probably caused by the mixture of sea and river water. It was holiday but no people swimming so I assume the sea is not cool for swimming.
“A bay full of corals” is my first impression of Usukan Cove in Kota Belud district. In fact, the rich diversity and density of corals in Usukan Cove reminds me of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park 30 years ago, the time when the corals were in pristine conditions and found in shallow water only a few feet away from the sandy beach, before they were spoiled by thousands of tourists nowadays…
To go there from Kota Kinabalu, just drive in the direction to Kota Belud town. After an hour, you will arrive a roundabout, just follow the brown signage that says “Jeti Ke Pulau Mantanani” (Jetty to Mantanani Island). Then you will see second roundabout (Kuala Abai), follow the junction at the left, and you will arrive the entrance of Usukan Cove Lodge within 10 minutes.
On the way, you will pass by a white steel bridge built by Japanese to transport the copper that they collected from Mamut Minefield about 30 years ago. The locals call it the “Japanese Bridge”. The funny thing is – it is a one-way bridge in arch shape. Cars entering from both directions can’t see each other until one of them reaches the top. One car has to give way (by reversing back) to the car that comes up to the top first. The traffic volume is low so the locals seem to get used to such inconvenience.
Usukan Cove Lodge offers basic and economic accommodation, from bunk-bed room (2 to 4 beds) to sea front twin-bed room (Online Booking available). These building were used to be the staff quarter of Shell who has oil rig off Mantanani Island. A tour operator took over it in March this year and turned it into a lodge. Though the rooms have no attached bathroom cum toilet, they are clean and cosy. The lodge is able to host maximum of 50 people, so it is a suitable school retreat location. Many European tourists also like this quiet place, because other islands such as Sapi and Manukan are too crowded and noisy to them. But frankly, the beach area there is quite small.
Snorkelling is the best choice of activity due to the rich corals in Usukan. Diving is available but you should not expect “too high” coz in rainy season, the flowing river nearby would make the sea water a bit murky and poor in visibility. One of the highlight is the “Christmas Tree” coral, which I believe is a tubeworm. Turtles and seahorses were spotted here before but not common. There are about 4 dive sites in Usukan, and 3 wreck diving sites for advanced divers.
The density and size of the coral reef is remarkable. The boat dropped me in Usukan Reef and Icy Point for the snorkelling. The Usukan Reef mainly consists of hard corals. Each species seems like gathering in large clusters. I saw large areas of big plate corals and stag-horn corals. In Icy Point, I also saw mainly hard corals, with more mix of soft corals and sea grass. The sea water in Icy Point is a bit funny. In one spot I felt warm, but moving a few Metres away I would feel cool, probably that’s why they call it Icy Point. The corals come in different shapes, like big boulders, brain, hand, pyramid, sponge and flower. Though the shore is quite a distance away, the water was shallow and the corals grew quite tall. I had to be careful so I would not destroy the corals by accident.
Above: Diving / Snorkelling sites of Usukan Cove
The sad thing I noticed was the coral bleaching. About 10% of corals here were showing sign of bleaching. You can even see these white spots (bleached corals) clearly from the boat. This was not present two months ago. I saw a big and white “coral tree” underwater. Its look was so stunning, like a big snowy tree with ice branches. But the corals were dead actually, a heart-broken but beautiful scene.
Due to global warming, the corals of Peninsular Malaysia are badly affected and they have to close down 12 dive sites. Now the coral bleaching is slowly spreading to Sabah. It is not a local issue, as other Sabah islands in west coast (in South China Sea) are also facing the same problem. In fact, the pollution from our mainland has been stressing the corals, global warming is just the last stack of grass that crushes the camel.
Then I went “deep sea fishing” in the sea 20 minutes off Usukan Cove by boat. Ehem… it was only 14 Meters in depth, not really deep. The “real” deep fish fishing is going for the depth of over 30 Meters. This tour operator does take hardcore anglers to real deep sea but that’s another package. It was so nice that the workers prepared everything for us, the fishing rod, hook and bait, making our lives so easy.
Can you believe it? In 3 minutes, we got our first fish! I thought we were only lucky. But from there on, we got fish in every 3 minutes. That’s not my case though. At first my fishing line entangled, then my fishing hook stuck in a rock, no fish for 30 minutes but the bait was gone, my fishing became “feeding fish”. Then a worker taught me a tip, I had to release my fishing hook all the way down to the bottom, not letting it dragged in the mid water or surface.
Above: blue-dotted stingray that has venomous sting
The tip really worked! Within 20 minutes, I got 3 fishes, two blacktip groupers (red color) and a Jackfish (silver color). One of us even got a puffer fish and another got blue-dotted stingray. The capture of blue-dotted stingray caused a brief moment of fear onboard coz its sting is venomous. I’m not sure about other countries, stingray is considered a delicacy in Sabah. Its meat is quite delicious if you don’t mind it gets a weird “chemical” taste (can mix it with lime juice to cover the smell). The sea was a bit choppy, so I walked like a drunken man on the deck. Btw, it is perfect to enjoy some beer while fishing. After an hour of fishing, we returned to Usukan Cove Lodge with our fruitful caught and they cooked the fishes for us.
Above: They cooked our caught as dinner. I hope this is steamed though.
We started our river cruise at Kawa-Kawa River at 4PM, to look for playboy of Borneo. I mean the Proboscis Monkey, which has many wives and always in “ready” mode to mate. On one side of this 15-Meter-wide river is human settlement and another side is mainly mangrove and nipah forest. Since the proboscis monkeys are used to people, they are relatively less elusive and we can get really close to them.
Proboscis Monkey has the habit of spending the night on the trees next to the river in the evening. For them, riverside is the safest site to stay away from predators at night. About 4 to 5 herds of Proboscis Monkey were spotted at Kawa-Kawa River. But there is no guarantee we can see them. Luckily we found 3 groups of them despite the poor weather.
Besides long-nosed monkeys, we also saw crab-eating macaque (long-tailed macaque), monitor lizard and many birds such as oriental darter, white-bellied sea eagle, little heron, blue-throated bee eater, white-collar kingfisher, frigate, doves, egrets and bulbul. After we exited the estuary of Kawa-Kawa River and on the way to Abai River, we were rewarded by the magic moment of the sunset.
Above: a male proboscis monkey showed warning then ignored us
Then we proceeded to the mangrove forest of Abai River to look at firefly around 6:40pm. Normally there should be hundreds of them. Unfortunately, that night was rainy and bright with moonlight, the most inactive time for firefly, so we only spotted a few twinkling fireflies in the riverside. Weather is not something we can control so nevermind then. Anyway, I had so much fun that day and would call it an excellent trip.
(Note: the island resort is closed) Whenever divers come to Sabah, they will think about Semporna and Sipadan only, as if there is no good dive sites in other part of Sabah. FYI, Tabawan Island (Pulau Tabawan), which is also known as Pearl Island, is a new gem inside the Coral Triangle zone of Darvel Bay. For many decades, the pearl farm of Tabawan Island has vigilantly safeguarded the surrounding waters to keep thieves and trespassers away. Recently they start to allow divers to visit the island, and an accommodation, Tabawan Eco Dive Lodge, was built for the tourists.
The security of Tabawan is tight. There is a police base, equipped with radar, stations on the island. We even saw a patrol boat on duty. Since no outsiders can come near, the corals are spared from destructive fishing methods such as fish blasting (fish bombing) and cyanide (poison) fishing. The size of the sea fans and various other corals are so big, making Tabawan one of the most impressive scuba diving destinations in Sabah. This is really a good news to people of Kunak town, as they try to promote the tourism in Kunak, and they were lack of island attraction.
The tour operator told me that the name “Tabawan” was from Chinese words “大把湾”, which means “so many bays”. It is quite a close description of Tabawan coz this largest island off Kunak really has many bays, with calm water suitable for pearl farming. To go to Tabawan, you could book a diving trip with Sulawesi Sea Safari, which is a dive operator bases in Semporna. By boat, it takes about an hour to reach Tabawan Island from Semporna. For my trip last month, we departed from the jetty in Kunak, so it took only 20 minutes.
Because Tabawan Island is located inside the Darvel Bay and surrounded by many islands, the sea is very gentle and suitable for diving all year round, unlike other remote islands which have rough sea and easily affected by bad weather. The boat ride was not very bumpy and the sea was so calm that it even reflected the cloud like a mirror. The sea water is very clean too, another critical requirement for pearl farming. But the sea is dark blue color and look really deep, kind of scaring me a bit.
You will see dozens of “bagang” on the way. Bagang is a traditional fishing structure used by the local fishermen (usually Bugis people) to trap the fishes (mainly the small Bilis fishes). They will lower the fishing net into the sea in the evening, use light to attract fishes gathering over the net, then lift the net for the fish caught. I also saw Bagang in the sea near Pitas, they share the same concept but the design look a bit different.
Very soon I reached Tabawan Island and saw their pearl farm on the sea. The pearl farm is actually some wooden frame structures float in deeper water, and you could see pearl oyster cages hanging from this structure. The pearl farm is run by a Japanese company, and they have an office on the island. I was told that they will move the pearl farm to other place as this site is less suitable for pearl farming now. But no worry, they may keep the farm around as an attraction. I cannot imagine if government builds the coal power plant near Darvel Bay, as the coal power plant will release water, which contains harmful metals such as mercury, into the sea and pollute the Coral Triangle.
Please join our Facebook anti-coal plant group to oppose coal plant. If the government insists to build coal plant, I will penalise the Barisan Nasional politicians with my vote in next election because long year of ruling has made them arrogant and deaf to the voices of rakyat (citizens). You really think that a new coal plant can solve all the black-out problems? Don’t be so naive.
Tabawan Eco Dive Lodge is the only accommodation on the island. Currently they are expanding but a few lodges are already ready to host the tourists. The facilities are quite basic at the moment but they already have a dive center on the island. They will also install air-conditioning in some rooms. The lodge is good enough for a group of 10 to 20 divers. Day trip package, with 2 dives and lunch, is also available. This island has no other resident, so the island forest is mostly intact and we even saw a wild boar hanging around the lodge.
We did two dives in House Reef (26 Meters deep) and Turtle Station (15 Meters) around Tabawan. I didn’t dive in Sea Fan Garden and the operator is still trying to discover more dive sites around the island. The visibility was about 5 Meters. This time I rented a camera with underwater housing so you could see the pictures of the dives. Well, I am not so familiar with the setting of this Olympus compact camera and it affected my buoyancy so it was a bit of struggle to take photos under the sea. Ok, after hearing all these excuses, you could expect the quality isn’t good. Anyway, it is better than nothing.
Personally I think Tabawan is one of the best place to see coral groups because they are huge, rich in variety and high in density. Many grow bigger than a human. We saw sea fans, black corals (which is not black), table corals, blue corals, staghorn corals, plate corals, brain corals, barrel corals, etc. We didn’t see turtle and barracuda that live here and the fishes are not big. But it is rich of macro-life, we spotted filefish, dancer fishes, convict blenny fish ball, cuttlefish, nudibranch, striped catfish (dangerous!), giant clams, lobster, shrimp fishes, razor fishes, tubeworm, flatworm, starfish, etc. The underwater current was not strong so the dives were quite relaxing. We also dived under the pearl farm and saw the hanging pearl oyster cages.
During the diving, Su, one of the divemasters, spotted a Crown-of-Thorns, a weird starfish with 15 thorny legs. He caught it and left it on the shore to perish. According to Su, crown-of-thorns eats corals so it is a pest to coral reef ecosystem. It is also very sly. Once caught, it will release a chemical to warn its kind. If you see many crown-of-thorns, you better organise the elimination with a few divers to catch them all in one go. If you catch only one, the rest will sense the danger and go hiding before you come back for them again. As nasty as it looks, its spines are poisonous. Sound like a sinister creature that deserves to be killed.
After the dives, we dropped by the office of the pearl farm. The manager is a gentle Japanese and he is telling us how a pearl oyster is cultivated and harvested. Basically they insert a tiny round-shape “seed” into the oysters to induce them to produce pearls after many years. This is a high risk business that needs years of intensive care and monitoring. He also showed us the specimens of two pearl types, gold and white (creamy white actually). The white pearl is more valuable than the gold one, which is about 10% cheaper. You can tell the color of the pearl inside an oyster from its shell color, which is same as the color of the pearl.
The round pearl is for making jewellery and the irregular-shape pearl is the raw material to make cosmetic powder for smoothening skin. Wow, some pearls cost more than 2 months of my salary and I almost wanted to put them into my pocket while nobody watching. Haha.. just kidding. Someone (not the pearl manager) told me that pearl is like jade, which has “life”. A pearl “grows” over time. It would “die” if a pregnant woman touches it.
So that’s all about my pearl adventure. If you want to go to Tabawan Island, you may contact Sulawesi Sea Safari to arrange the diving / snorkelling tour. They also have a lot of info and pictures in their web sites.
Out of 9 species of giant clams (Kima Gergasi) in the world, Sabah has 7. Namely (number in bracket is the adult size of each species):-
1. Tridacna gigas (1.5M)
2. Tridacna derasa (40cm)
3. Tridacna squamosa (30cm)
4. Tridacna maxima (20cm)
5. Tridacna crocea (15cm)
6. Hipoppus porcelanus (40cm)
7. Hipoppus hipoppus (30cm)
Don’t be so happy yet. Due to overfishing, the two largest species, Tridacna gigas and Tridacna derasa, are now considered critically endangered in Sabah (some say they are locally extinct). All species of giant clams are listed in “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” (CITES), which means they are endangered and should be protected.
Above: Tridacna gigas, the largest species of giant clam, can reach 2 M in length, weigh over 200 KG, and live to more than 100 years old! But sorry, locally extinct already.
Above: Tridacna derasa, also a locally extinct species. Very rare in the wild.
Above: Tridacna squamosa species
Above: Tridacna maxima species
Above: Tridacna squamosa species
Giant clams live like a plant, as their main diet is organic nutrients which come from the photosynthesis of millions of symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that live inside their mantle. In return, giant clams offer the algae a safe home.
Harvesting, trading and buying of giant clams are prohibited under the Malaysian Law. However, enforcement is different story. Just went to tamu (native market) in Kota Belud and see it yourselves. The hawkers sell and slaughter the giant clams openly. They don’t feel anything wrong about it, and didn’t even bother when I was photographing them.
Above: see the yellow and red boxes and two big white sacks behind the seller? They are all giant claim shells! There were many happy buyers and many giant clams were sold in just a few minutes.
Poor giant clams. They may have taken more than 3 years to grow to these sizes. They are eaten before they are mature enough to breed.
Giant clams live in shallow lagoons, reef flats, and the sandy and rubbly substrate of coral reefs in the tropical Indo West Pacific.
Giant clams were once everywhere. Now they are getting rare because human eats their meat. Humans are the worst predators of giant clams.
Giant clams do not get enough attention like sharks and turtles, though they are one of the most fascinating marine creatures.
Giant clams also uses a siphon to draw in water to filter and consume plankton. By absorbing and filtering nitrates, ammonia and other organics that are harmful to coral reefs, giant clams help to clean the water in marine ecosystems.
These giant clams were slaughtered for their meat and sold for RM5 (small) or RM8 (big) each.
Above: giant clams waited to be slaughtered alive. Business was good and they were unlikely to survive until sunset.
I also went to Gaya Street Sunday Market on the same day. More than 100 giant clam shells were sold as handicraft items such as soap dishes, ash trays, shell lamps and ornaments.
There were tourists buying giant clams. Under the regulations of CITES, giant clams, whether dead or alive, cannot be carried out of our country. I don’t blame the tourists don’t know they are sponsoring an illegal trade. But what the heck is happening to our authorities (Fishery and Wildlife Departments)? Are they blind?
Below: a big giant clam shell is sold for RM25 (about USD7.50).
More photos of giant clams sales in Gaya Street… It seems like giant clam trade has become an “industry”. It is very hard to find the whole complete set of giant clam shells on the beach, so very likely these shells were taken from live giant clams.
So you think that the problem is not serious enough? Just take a walk in dried seafood market nearby. You will see giant clams (as dried seafood) everywhere.
The most valuable part of giant clam is its adductor muscle, which is commonly sold as scallops, which cost over RM100 for a small pack in dried seafood markets.
Overfishing of giant clams is a serious problem, as they are considered as a delicacy and profitable seafood. Besides overharvesting, climate change and pollution are also factors that speed up the extinction of giant clams. Excessive CO2 from atmosphere makes the sea water more acidic and lessens the ability of giant clams to grow their shells. The rise in sea temperature will also disturb the symbiotic relationship between the clams and the zooxanthellae that nourishes them. The introduction of a coal power plant in Darvel Bay, which is located inside the Coral Triangle, would pose a threat to giant clams.
More giant clam handicraft items sold in handicraft market… My heart is broken.. FYI, giant clam in movies is always portrayed as a man-eater because it snaps swimmers’ legs by surprise and drowns them. Actually this is impossible. First, you have to find a really huge giant clam, which is extremely rare. Second, giant clams close very slowly and most do not close completely. They do not snap. They are not monsters ok.
Currently Sabah has two places that spawn and propagate giant clams and you can see all 7 species of giant clams in their sites. The first one is Marine & Ecology Research Centre (MERC) in Gayana Eco Resort of Gaya Island, and another one is Sabah Parks Hatchery at Bohey Dulang Island (see photo below) in Tun Sakaran Marine Park off Semporna. This hatchery was built in year 2004 and fully operational with a completed laboratory in 2009.
To start, the giant clams will be induced (by temperature or injection of chemical) to release their eggs and sperms for fertilisation. The eggs will be collected. A week later, the larva of giant clams will settle and find a spot to grow, then they are moved to settlement tanks.
The giant clam larva will spend half a year to grow up to 3 cm. Then they will be released to the sea inside a cage (to protect them from predators), until they grow to 9cm or more after a few months. At last, they will be released independently to the ocean bottom without a cage. Less than 10% of the eggs will survive at the end.
T. gigas and T. derasa have the fastest growth rate. They may reach up to 9-12cm after a year. The suitable release spot will be clean and well-illuminated sea about 10 feet in depth or less with mild water current. Giant clams reach maturity very late, at about 7 to 8 years old.
Bohey Dulang Hatchery Station has a mini exhibition hall and a settlement tank area, which are open for public to visit. You can see at least 5 species of big giant clams in their display tank, great for an education tour. To visit the islands of Tun Sakaran Marine Park, you need to get a permit from Sabah Parks first.
However, no matter how hard and how long these two centres try, they are only able to increase the population of giant clams in limited scale, not the whole ocean around Sabah. The conservation has to be started from you, the consumers. Just don’t eat and buy any giant clam product and the killing will stop. Eating giant clams is as bad as eating shark fin and turtle eggs. The key obstacle of all conservation efforts in Malaysia is the mentality of “if I don’t kill them, others will”, a selfish excuse for greedy mouth of Malaysians. Well, that’s why our country is so dirty, as everyone thinks, “if I don’t throw rubbish, others will.” Anyway, if I can make only one of you to stop consuming giant clam, this blog already worths my time and efforts.
Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu & Semporna, Sabah Malaysia
What makes a perfect honeymoon destination? Tropical island? White sany beach? Crystal clear sea water? Beautiful sunset? Luxury room? Mataking Islands seem to contain all these elements. In fact, many Italian tourists spend their honeymoon on Mataking. To go to Mataking, first you need to take a flight to Tawau city (a 45-minute flight between Kota Kinabalu and Tawau), drive one hour from Tawau to Semporna town, then take a 40 minutes boot ride to Mataking. This island is also gaining popularity among Chinese tourists from Hong Kong and China.
Mataking consists of two islands, namely, Mataking Besar and Mataking Kecil (in Malaysia language, Besar means Big, Kecil means Small). Both islands are connected by a long and narrow beach (isn’t this look like connecting two hearts?). During low tide, you can walk to Mataking Kecil in 20 minutes. All the facilities and accommodation are built on Mataking Besar. At the moment, the island is managed by Reef Dive Resort. I saw a new luxury resort was being built in the middle of the island, so there will be two resorts in the future.
Besides making baby, there are many other activities you can do on Mataking. They have a 5-star dive centre, which can bring you to dive around Mataking Island, as well as dive sites around the islands of Tun Sakaran Marine Park. The dive site that is worth a mention is the “underwater post office” in a ship wreck about 40 feet deep. You can send a letter there, probably Nemo will help to deliver? This is a remote island, so the best ways to spend your time are diving, snorkelling, canoeing, kayaking, batik painting and enjoying SPA. They also have a reading area with a lot of books. Asian tourists NEVER read, but westerners do read a lot.
Upon arrival, we were welcome by a singing group at the jetty, the start of king treatment experience. After a short briefing by a friendly host at reception area, we checked in. I was staying a night in a King Chalet. Everything was perfect, but too bad I was sharing room with a guy, not a female, haha… The room was very comfortable, just like the room in 5-star hotel, completed with bathroom, big bed, air-con, TV, cabinet, etc., but I like their wooden structure and traditional architecture with more natural setting. They have a generator on island so power supply is available 24 hours. Each room was also given a mosquito insecticide. Since the accommodation is under the shade of trees, there are some mosquitoes around. Just keep your door closed all the time and it won’t be a problem. Don’t spray insecticide in your room coz it smells. I hope no tourists would spray this on their bodies like insect repellent.
Chinese New Year was approaching so the restaurant was nicely decorated with new year theme. I didn’t really shoot a lot of nice photos. My external flash (Canon 580 EX II) was malfunction (and it costed me RM427 to fix it later, about USD$120!). Another thing was I had 3 dives at Sipadan Island earlier, so tired that I had little mood to move in such a relaxing environment.
Anyway, I still checked out the sunset from a 20 Metres wooden tower inside the resort. It was a breath-taking view on top. They said we could see island of Philippines just 500 Metres away from east side of the island. Look at the photo below. I didn’t see any island though. FYI, my mobile phone could receive one bar of weak signal at the jetty. Sound quality was bad but I was able to text (sms).
Next morning I waked up early for the sunrise shots. After that, it was low tide so I tried to walk to Mataking Kecil along the exposed sand. But I was a bit late. The connecting sand was flooded by incoming high tide. There were many stuffs washed up to the beach, like tree branches, corals, seaweed, etc. Not quite pretty for beach photos. They say April and May are the best months for photography, as there is little junk on the beach. Mataking Besar is not very big. To walk circling the island only takes 40 minutes.
Previous night I was supposed to join the night safari at 9pm. But they cancelled it, for the reason that part of the trail was blocked by high tide. So disappointed… Because the famous coconut crabs only come out at night. Coconut crab is closely related to lobster and a protected species. They feed on coconut and pandan pineapples, and baby coconut crab also shelters in seashell like hermit crab. Another feature of the night walk is the firefly “Christmas” tree. I am surprised Mataking has fireflies. The fireflies there always gather on a specific plant every night. If you are lucky, you will see turtle laying eggs. They will collect the eggs and put them inside a hatchery area in the resort. When the turtles hatched, they will release them back into the sea. They have released thousands of baby turtles. 99% are green turtles.
Anyway, I decided to exlpore the forest in the morning. The friendly host, Ms Fatimah, was kind to be my company and gave an educational tour. The “jungle” was not so jungle, as the trees on this island are small and short (but quite dense), look more like a city park. It was fairly a short tour. Fatimah introduced the fruits and herb we saw along the trail. The vegetation of this island forest is so different. I had visited so many places and islands in Sabah, but most of the plant in Mataking looks so unfamiliar, may be Mataking is too far from mainland so it has developed its own unique ecology.
There was a police base on the island. On the beach, I saw so many old and new footprints of guide dogs, meaning that patrol is carried out regularly. They also have more police bases in nearby islands. Despite the travel advisory from US, this is really a safe place. I will come back again, hopefully next time bringing a female. I am not that irresistible but the island is. 😉
Police Beach of Gaya Island is the best beach in Kota Kinabalu. I always wanted to go this pristine beach, but it had become a private beach of Bunga Raya Island Resort recently. Instead of cutting down all the trees for building of the resort, the forest is largely intact, with 47 luxury timbered villas constructed among the wood, more like a nature resort (forest + beach) setting.
Honeymooners will find plenty of privacy here and have over 1 KM of white sandy beach as their playground. As you can see from the map, the beach is inside a bay so the sea water is so tranquil that it is suitable for any watersport. Some says it is a fascinating dive site which is rich in corals and lobsters.
Price wise, I think this resort targets at high-end tourists. Anyway, it is one of the best resorts in Sabah. The resort blends so well into its environment that I can’t tell that there is a resort, by looking at it from the sea. Everything looks like postcard, but no… I don’t work for them. They also didn’t pay me anything.
Bunga Raya means Hibiscus flower, the rose of tropical world. You could see many species of hibiscus flowers planted here, with red, pink, yellow, white and other colours. The resort is facing the west, so I guess the sunset here is wonderful too. Even though the resort is in the jungle, I don’t find any mosquito around, weird…
Though some locals are unhappy that the accommodation is so unaffordable, it can be a good thing. Even if we open a nice beach to everyone, people will come and spoil it soon. Just look at the dirty rubbish left behind by locals in Tanjung Aru and Tanjung Lipat. Last time I enjoyed the sunset at a beach and a small girl was slurping soda drink next to me. When I was so immersed in that beautiful moment, suddenly the girl just threw the empty cup into the sea (and her mother didn’t say anything). Sadly, we have many locals like this.
What I really like is their swimming pool. If you look at it from low angle, it is like connecting to the sea… such a nice design. You can see the similar one in Gayana Resort too. Both resorts are under the same management.
I thought all the beautiful island in west coast of Sabah was gone until I met Mantanani Islands (Pulau Mantanani). Sapi and Manukan Islands? They are not even in top 10 most beautiful islands of Sabah (but they were, 30 years ago), and it is funny that most tourists flow to these islands. That would make them think that all islands of Sabah are dirty, polluted and lack of corals. Local divers also expresses their concern about the dwindling corals and fish species in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. Due to increasing pollution and garbage from the shore (especially Gaya Island), very soon swimming in Sapi Manukan will be same as swimming in toilet bowl.
Mantanani is fairly accessible (prior booking with travel agent is required). Just drive 1 hour to the jetty of Kampung Kuala Abai in Kota Belud, then take a boat to Mantanani. The boat ride takes 40 to 50 minutes depending on the sea condition. If the weather is bad, they might cancel the trip. Mantanani consists of 3 islands, namely, Mantanani Besar (the biggest) Island, Mantanani Kecil (Kechil) Island and Lingisan Island (smallest). Above is the map to Mantanani. In fact, these islands are so tiny that they are not appear in most Sabah map. I draw the map myself just for you to get an idea, the shape and scale are not accurate, so don’t use it in textbook ye.
Above is the view of Kg Kuala Abai (Kuala Abai Village) fishing willage. To go to Mantanani, you need to arrange the tour with the island operator prior to the visit. I went 2-day-1-night with Mari Mari Dive Lodge (of Traverse Tours), the sole operator of Mantanani Kecil Island. On Mantanani Besar, there are a few operators such as Mantanani Resort.
Lucky tourists would see dolphin in the boat ride. They usually follow behind the fishing boats. This is no guarantee and too bad I didn’t see any. Though it was a sunny day, the sea was so choppy that I felt the boat was riding on something rock solid and I got free shower from splashes. After 45 minutes, I arrived the jetty of Mari Mari Dive Lodge (MMDL). MMDL is built 400 Meters away from the shore of Mantanani Kecil. If not, tourists will have to walk extra 400 M from the island to jetty during low tide, which is too shallow for boat to enter. You can walk from MMDL to the island when it is low tide, but watch out for the venomous stonefishes and stingray that can hide really well in the sand. Better way is to snorkel to the island during high tide or ask the boatman to send you there. MMDL is a structure of 3 stilt houses joined together, i.e., a 4-room twin-bed accommodation, a dive lodge and a dining area.
Manatanani is also known as “Mermaid Island”, due to the presence of an endangered sea cow “dugong / duyung”, which is occasionally found grazing on the sea grass around the island. Sighting is rare and the most recent sighting was reported last month. Taking beautiful photos of Mantanani is so easy, coz everything is like a picture, the blue sky, crystal clear sea and white sandy beach… The visibility of the water can reach 20 Meters, so clean that as if it is drinkable.
Though very few Sabahans know about Mantanani, many tourists from Europe, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Korea had discovered this pristine island by words of mouth. You would be impressed if you see the photos. FYI, the dark patches under the sea are rocks and corals, in case you misunderstand they are something dirty.
The photo above is Lingisan Island, which is named after frigate birds that fly around there in the evening. Lingisan is very small and nobody lives on it. The big island behind it is Mantanani Besar. Personally I call it “flower pot” island coz of its round shape and dense vegetation on top. I was so curious what was inside its cave.
Before I came, I was not too excited about this trip coz I heard about the fish bombing activity in Mantanani, thinking that it was a degraded island. However, what I saw in snorkelling and diving was a huge number of corals like an underwater garden. Since the setup of a police base on Mantanani Besar, the fish bombing is greatly reduced. Some fishing boats like to come here to fish. There are over 15 dive sites in Mantanani, more adventurous divers can try out muck diving and wreck diving. You would see turtles, bumphead parrot fish, big stingray, giant clam, moray and eagle eel, nudibranch, finger corals and many other marine life.
The underwater current is quite strong under the sea. Instead of fighting it, divers can use the current as an “escalator”, go with the flow to “glide” above the corals. In one of the dives, my dive group was swept to 1.5 KM away within an hour! The boat man took nearly an hour to locate us. Honestly, I was quite pissed, but forgot it soon.
Besides the sandy beach, Mantanani Kecil has a nice view behind. You can walk to a small cliff behind the island and enjoy a bird view of its rocky shore (see photo above). The sea under the cliff looks deep and rough, so it is meant for watching only. There are only a few MMDL workers live on Mantanani Kecil, and they look after the power generators and water supply on this island. All communication is cut off on Mantanani Kecil, so no need to worry about phone call from your office. Kayaking is allowed if the sea is calm.
Mantanani Besar is a few KM away from Mantanani Kecil and mainly resided by local fishermen. The people there are very friendly and I saw some youngsters were playing volley ball in the evening. I visited there briefly to buy something, as there is no shop on Mantanani Kecil and Lingisan. Sadly, Mantanani Besar didn’t give me a good impression coz I saw rubbish everywhere on the beach. There were many cows wandering along the beach but too bad they were not the sea cow that I was looking for.
After the shopping, I toured around the islands and checked out the other side of Mantanani Besar. It is a rocky shore with interesting mushroom rock formation, probably the collaborative work of wind and water over years. I climbed onto the rock and walked around. The surface was slippery, rough and sharp, so I moved carefully with naked feet. Do visit this when you come to Mantanani.
Lingisan Island is the one I most eager to check out because of its big cave. A closer look reveals that it is not a deep cave and its bottom only submerges a few feet under the water during high tide. The staff told us that only swiftlets and bats live inside, and the owner comes to collect edible bird nest from the cave sometimes. It is a small but very unique island.
Sunset was approaching and we returned to MMDL. Everything was painted with gold color. Jesus light came out at north, later I had to call it a day. Most tourists only opt for day trip so most of them had left around 3:30pm. Unlike honeymoon couple who can make baby at night, I got nothing to do. But hey, this is a holiday, so I shouldn’t do anything right? Living in city for too long, I was not used to leaving my brain stops thinking for a moment.
Whole day of water sports already made me so tired. Surprisingly, Mantanani is supplied with 24-hour of pleasing sea breeze, so I don’t feel warm even in hot afternoon. I even slept a while on the veranda, just to enjoy the gentle wind, sound of ocean and freedom. The next morning I waked up very early to take sunrise photos and was rewarded by magnificent view of Mt. Kinabalu.
Hopefully government will gazette Mantanani as a National Park, so we could preserve its beauty and marine ecology for future generations to enjoy. There aren’t many pristine islands left in Sabah west coast.
However, with weak enforcement of Sabah government, who recently denied the presence of illegal coral mining that destroyed tons of coral reef in Tawau and release of effluents into Segaliud River by oil palm mills nearby, I am not so optimistic about our conservation.
I first knew pistol shrimp (aka snapping shrimp), one of the loudest animals on earth, from Discovery Channel, and I was so happy to see this strange animal exists in an unexpected place – Manukan Island (Pulau Manukan) of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.
Compared to other islands nearby such as Sapi and Mamutik, the long and white sandy beach of Manukan Island attracts the most number of tourists. After I was done with snorkelling, I decided to check out the rocky shore behind the island.
Hearing popping sounds, I knew this fellow was around. I search among the rubble partly exposed on the water. Then I sensed something retreated very fast into a burrow under the water.
Quickly I stayed motionless next to the small burrow. About 5 minutes later, an 1-inch shrimp came out. My goodness, look at its left super claw. Doesn’t it look like a robot in Japanese anime? It was busy cleaning up the stone in and out of the burrow.
However, its huge claw is more than for display purpose. Pistol shrimp uses this specialized claw to shoot a burst of bubbles to stun its prey up to 4 cm away, and the force is enough to kill a small fish. The explanation of such sonic weapon is quite technical. Basically, this shrimp snaps its oversized claw shut to create a high-pressure cavitation bubble, like a jet of shockwave. As the bubble collapses, the cavitation bubble reaches temperatures of over 5,000 K (4,726.85 degrees Celsius)! FYI, the surface temperature of the sun is around 5,778 K.
Nature never fails to surprise us. I thought I would only see such phenomenon in “fireball war” in Dragon Ball anime. But our naked eyes can’t see a flash of light as it is very low in intensity. Pistol shrimp does not live in sea only. When you enter a mangrove forest in Sabah, you could hear many loud “bi” and “po” popping sound in surrounding. I contacted the experts and they confirmed these are the snapping sound of pistol shrimps.
Besides amazing pistol shrimp, there were many sea cucumbers in the water.
Photo below shows a naked marine creature doesn’t mind living next to a spiky sea urchin. I don’t know what it is but for sure it is not the penis of the urchin.
Monitor lizards are abundant along the quiet shore of Manukan. This one is a juvenile foraging for food.
Last week my camera (DSLR) have started to malfunction. I’ve sent it to KL for repair. Hope it will not cost a bomb. Luckily I still have a bunch of photos enough for about 3 to 4 blog. It will be a pain to live without camera for about a month. High-tech devices always don’t seem to build to last.
Photos taken in Manukan Island, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
