{"id":131,"date":"2021-11-29T20:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mysabah.com\/wordpress\/?p=131"},"modified":"2025-07-20T20:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T12:01:00","slug":"mount-nungkok-anak-kinabalu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mysabah.com\/wordpress\/mount-nungkok-anak-kinabalu\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Nungkok, the Child of Mount Kinabalu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain of Malaysia and Borneo. One of its legend says a woman was turned into Mount Kinabalu by her grief because after many years of waiting, her Chinese husband never returned, thus another nickname for Mount Kinabalu is China widow mountain. The story doesn’t end there. After she becomes rock, another mountain born in her village. That’s Mount Nungkok (Gunung Nungkok<\/em> in local language), which is also known as Anak Kinabalu<\/em>, means the Child of Kinabalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mount<\/a>
The distance between Mount Nungkok and Mount Kinabalu is less than 9 Kilometres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Standing at less than half the height of Mount Kinabalu which is less than 9 Kilometres away, Mount Nungkok does look like a baby sitting at the feet of majestic Mount Kinabalu. Looking from the angle of Kota Belud, the ancient gateway to climb Mount Kinabalu, these two mountains are positioned side by side like twin mountains. No wonder people think they are parent and kid. When Mount Kinabalu is hidden in the cloud, Nungkok is sometimes mistaken as Kinabalu by non-locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mount<\/a>
Mount Nungkok is also part of Kinabalu Park, the first UNESCO Natural Heritage of Malaysia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, Mount Nungkok is not as famous as its parent and still a mysterious mountain. Same as Mount Kinabalu, Mount Nungkok is also part of Kinabalu National Park<\/a> and have its flora and fauna fully protected by conservation laws. Climbers would spot blooming rafflesia flower, exotic orchid and endemic pitcher plant on this mountain, as well as wildlife such as deer and binturong bearcat. In the past someone mined gold in this mountain. I was told by village folk that there is a bat cave in Mount Nungkok too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
Mount Nungkok is located on the western side Mount Kinabalu near Kota Belud, so it is not visible in Kundasang and Ranau town at the east side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Viewpoints for Mount Nungkok<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most interesting feature of Mount Nungkok is – it differs in shape if viewed from different locations, as shown in the time-lapse video below (I used over 1,200 photos to create this 4K video so please watch):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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