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Gayana Eco Resort

Gayana Eco Resort, the crib of the giant clams

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Based on the following clues, do you know where is the place? 🙂
1) Only 20 minutes away from the bustling Kota Kinabalu city;
2) Meeting point of coral reefs, lush rainforest & mangrove;
3) The only place where you can see all 7 Giant Clams species of Malaysia;
4) 5-star island resort.

Well, the title has given out the answer. Yes, it’s Gayana Eco Resort on Gaya Island (Pulau Gaya), we have island resort so near to Kota Kinabalu (KK). That’s why KK earns the fame as Nature Resort City of Malaysia.

Below is the location of Gayana Eco Resort on Google map:

View My Sabah Map in a larger map

Over the years, Gayana Eco Resort has been improving on infrastructure and amenities. To me, their biggest achievement of all is not better accommodation, but their commitment on marine conservation. In my recent visit to Gayana, I’m happy to see their efforts bear fruit.


To go to Gayana Eco Resort is fast and easy, just drop by their office at Jesselton Point to register.


Above: Jesselton Point terminal


Then take a boat to the island and you will be on Gaya Island in 20 minutes.


There is no tourist who is not crazy about our turquoise sea. What’s more important are the “dark spots” under the water, which are easily mistaken by tourists as “rubbish”. These are corals, the nursery of marine life.

Marine Ecology Research Center (MERC)

Marine Ecology Research Center (MERC) is managed by Gayana Eco Resort. Their Giant Clam Propagation Programme won them the Most Innovative Tourist Attraction Eco-Tourism Conservation Award 2008-2009 awarded by Ministry of Tourism Malaysia.


Above: the building of Marine Ecology Research Center (MERC). The old MERC was used to be a small and poorly-maintained exhibition hall at other side. After the new management took over a few years ago, they build a bigger and well-equipped marine building, which consists of high standard auditorium, display room, lab, etc.


One of their staffs, Melissa, was giving us a short presentation of MERC conservation projects and environmental education in 30-seat auditorium. The most interesting information is the giant clam can grow more than 1-Meter wide, weight 200 Kg and live more than 100 years!


After the presentation, the staffs showed us the marine sanctuary outside the room. It’s an enclosed sea area with endangered game fishes in it.


There is a sea turtle too. Sometimes the villagers sent the sick sea turtles here and MERC will treat them. The turtles will be released back to the ocean once they are fully recovered.


Next we visited their Display Room. No camera flash is allowed inside, so please pardon my dark & blur photos blow.


The Display Room houses some large and well-lit aquarium tanks that show different ecology (e.g. sea grass) and interesting marine life such as “nemo”, seahorses and puffer fishes.


Above: can you spot the stone fish? Step on it and you will experience agonizing pain for a few days.


The aquarium allows you to look at the marine creatures up-close. Both kid and adult will love it.


In Gayana, you can see all 7 giant clam species of Malaysia. Currently they have 2,000 giant clams in their nursery. Their Giant Clam Propagation Programme was started in year 2007. After 3 years of breeding and nurturing of giant clams in the protected nursery, MERC will release 500 baby giant clams into the ocean, that includes two locally extinct species, Tridacna gigas and Tridacna derasa!


Under this Giant Clam programme, more than 10,000 giant clams larger than 1 CM have been transferred from the hatchery to the nursery area. Giant clam is important to marine ecology b’coz it filters harmful waste nutrients from the sea water, release clean water and produce oxygen for the environment. However, giant clams are highly-endangered due to overfishing.


Above: the shell of the largest giant clam species, Tridacna gigas. In fact, it can grow larger than this (up to 4.6 feet).


Above: the juvenile giant clams that are ready to be released into the sea.


Above: the Touch Tank of MERC. You can touch anything in the tank.


There are sea cucumbers, starfishes, etc. in the Touch Tank. A great way to learn sea creatures by touching.


Above: a beautiful hermit crab in touch tank.


You also can participate in their Coral Reef Restoration Programme. If you “adopt” a coral, you will be given a broken coral fragment to plant it in cement-base plate. The fragments are from corals damaged by strong wave and human activities, and they can’t survive on their own.


Then your coral will be labelled and placed into the Coral Stabilization Tank for at least 2 weeks. It’ll be transferred to the reef nearby if it’s healthy. The sponsors will also receive periodic update and photos of their “babies” corals. As of now, Gayana has planted over 2,500 corals with a survival rate of nearly 90%.

You can Click Here to learn more about the conservation projects of MERC.

Gayana Eco Resort

After the conservation activities, we took a tour around the island resort.


Gayana Eco Resort has over 20 water bungalows with beautiful sea view, great for honey moon trip.


Above: The “infinite” swimming pool of Gayana Eco Resort.


Above: Having lunch at Alu-Alu Seafood Restaurant of Gayana. It’s the first restaurant to remove shark fin from its menu.


If you would like to visit Gayana Eco Resort, you may visit their web site at gayana-eco-resort.com for more info.

More Photos

You may check out my photo album if you want to see more nice pictures:

Photos taken in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

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Giant Clams of Sabah

Pom-Pom Island – looking for bom-bom girls

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Pom-Pom Island is a relatively new destination compared to other islands such as Sipadan and Mabul in Semporna, Sabah. Few people know that Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP), also known as Semporna Islands Park, is the most reachable from Pom-Pom. In fact, TSMP is currently the biggest marine park of Malaysia and has richer marine ecology and biodiversity than Sipadan in terms of macro lives, many new species wait to be named and discovered.


Pom-Pom Island is 45-minute by boat from jetty of Semporna town. There are two accommodations on Pom-Pom. I was going to Pom-Pom Island Resort, the one which operates in environment-friendly manner. Without any fishing village and island residents, tourists enjoy more privacy on Pom-Pom. Don’t confuse Pom-Pom with another island named Bum-Bum.



The white sandy beach and crystal clear sea are as spectacular as other islands in Celebes Sea. Under the hot tropical sun, everyone just can’t wait to jump into sea. We even saw lion fishes and many other fishes under the jetty. To say it in a tacky way, Pom-Pom looks like the picture in dream holiday ad. Visitors can swim, dive, snorkel and kayak around the island.


In case you wonder if Pom-Pom Island has many hot pom-pom girls…


Actually Pom-Pom gets its name from the “Pom-Pom” tree (photo above), which is abundant on the island.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island


We checked in at their activity hall and restaurant (photo above). Welcoming drink was served (but no dancing Pom-Pom girls). It’s very nice that they sent our heavy luggage to our chalet with mini-tractor. I’ve been hearing positive feedback about the excellent service of Pom-Pom. Basically they take care of everything, so you are worry-free. They can even pick you up at Tawau Airport.

Island Chalets




>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

Of course the most luxurious chalet is the Water Villa built on the sea, and of course I can’t afford it. Anyway, I was busybody a bit and took a few photos of Water Villa (see 4 photos above).

I remember an incident that a hotel put me and my male colleague in a room with honeymoon setting. There is only a transparent glass between the room and bathroom, so I can see what my roommate doing in toilet. I am not that “open-minded”, so I requested the hotel to give us a “normal” room. Well, even if sharing room with wife, I don’t think it’s romantic to see her wiping her butt after doing number 1?


Though I stayed in Beach Villa (photo above), it’s already a 5-star lodging to me. Yes, the chalet has electricity, hot shower, light, fans and air-conditioning, and the room is spacious.


Pom-Pom is a small island that needs only 40 minutes to walk one round, but it’s big enough to have the soil to plant fruits such as Papaya and Dragon Fruit. After sunset, a large number of fruit bats (flying fox) will fly to this island to enjoy the fruits. The big bats are just everywhere after dusk. By the way, they have jogging and cycling tracks on the island.

I went for a bird-watching hunt around the island. The sighting of Barred Rail is reported on this island. This bird species is common in Philippines but it is only recently spotted and added to the list of birds found in Sabah. I was told that it likes to wander in the grass near the fruit garden, but too bad I didn’t see it. I saw other birds such as sunbirds and kingfisher.

You can find a sense of humor in many little things on the island..


Mr. Bean dustbin?


Kampung House? (Village House)

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island


OMG, a Plate Warmer? This is the first plate warmer I see in Sabah. I love food to be served on warm plate. One thing that Sabah “kopitiam” (Malaysian coffee shop) always make me mildly pissed off is when they give me the plate and spoon that are still wet. I think it is kind of disgusting.


Pom-Pom Island Resort also invests on reverse osmosis (R.O.) plant to use rainwater. It is the only island in Sabah employs such green technology. They also plan to use wind energy in future.

Below is a 2.5-min video about Pom-Pom:

Click Here to watch bigger video.

BOHEY DULANG

From Pom-Pom, you can clearly see Bohey Dulang, one of the islands of Semporna Islands Park.


According to the legend, a notorious Sultan of South Philippines eyed on Arung Salamiah, a beautiful princess lived on Bum-Bum Island, so her parents hid her on Bohey Dulang island. She vanished few days later and people believe that she was hidden by the spirits on the island and turned into fairy. Locals say they could hear her singing and her dog barking during full moon, and even occasionally see her walking on the island.


The romantic story of Arung Salamiah was even played in Sabah Fest 2010.


We dropped by Bohey Dulang island on the first day, not to visit Salamiah, but to look at the giant clam nursery. I blogged about this giant clam nursery before. FYI, you may snorkel here because they release many giant clams in front of the giant clam nursery.


We also checked out the cultivation of abalone on the island. The species of our abalone is relatively smaller.

Our initial itinerary included a 30 to 45 minutes trekking up to the high point of Bohey Dulang (probably Salamiah stood on this hill before?), to get a bird eye view of Tun Sakaran Marine Park. Due to time constraint, we had to cancel the plan, too bad, next time then.

Mantabuan

Later Pom-Pom sent us to Mantabuan Island for snorkeling. Being one of the islands of bio-diversified Semporna Islands Park, we saw so much in only 8 Meters of depth! Luckily coral bleaching does not affect the cooler Celebes Sea of Semporna, so the corals are in great shape. In merely 1 hour of snorkeling, we saw stack horn, brain corals, blue corals, lettuce corals, thorns of stars, huge sea cucumbers, puffer fish, crocodile fishes and 3 Green and Hawsbill Turtles!!! I was told by my friends that they also spotted turtle when they snorkel near the jetty of Pom-Pom in next morning. A scuba diver also said that she found 13 turtles in the sea in front of the jetty.


Above: Mantabuan Island

The sea current was not strong and the visibility was about 9 Meters. To see more, you can join scuba diving to see the precious black corals in deeper water. It’s about RM365 (USD$110) for 2 boat dives, permit fee and rental of dive equipments. Pom-Pom Island Resort has a dive center.

Night Patrol

Another feature of Pom-Pom is the night patrol for sighting of turtle laying eggs. The staffs of Pom-Pom were trained as the wildlife warden, so they know the right steps and measures on conservation of sea turtles. The nesting records will be submitted to WWF and Sabah Wildlife Department. The guests were offered a night walk with the guides around 8pm.


No turtle nest found during my stay. I only saw a ghost crab on the beach. The luck was not with us that night.


If any turtle nests on Pom-Pom, for better survival rate, the staffs will collect the eggs and move them to a protected turtle hatchery next to the dive center. The eggs will hatch after 2 months and the baby turtles will be released back to the sea. The staff (Sally) told us the number of eggs of Green Turtles and Hawsbill Turtles are nearly equal. FYI, you can sponsor the nest.


Before we departed on second day, two turtles showed up near the jetty, as if they were saying goodbye to us.

To know more about Pom-Pom Island, you may visit their website at:
http://pompomisland.com
They also have an interesting and updated blog.

>> Click Here to see more photos of Pom-Pom Island

Photos taken in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo

Giant Clams of Sabah

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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

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