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Mataking Island

Mataking – Islands of Romance

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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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).


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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. 😉


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Photos taken in 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