Kinabalu National Park / Kundasang (京那巴鲁公园 / 昆達山)

Explore the Wonders of Sabah Malaysia

For a unique national park vacation in Borneo, you must make sure that you drop by at Kinabalu National Park, about 90 km or about 2-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Kinabalu National Park gives you an opportunity to escape from the hot tropical sun and enjoy the cool and refreshing mountain air as it is in the heart of the montane oak-chestnut-conifer forest. Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its “outstanding universal values” and the role as one of the most important biological sites in the world. The region was designated as a national park in 1964. British colonial administrator and naturalist Hugh Low led an expedition from Tuaran to the region in 1895. This flora and fauna botanical paradise covers an area of 754 square kilometers. The biggest attraction in Kinabalu Park would be the Mount Kinabalu Botanical Garden and one of the world’s most prominent mountains, Mount Kinabalu, which peaks at 12, 455 feet above sea level. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in South-East Asia. This distinction has earned it considerable attention in myth and legend as well as in geography, and the mountain has for most of history been revered as a sacred spot. This botanical site contains a variety of flora and fauna that ranges over 4 climate zones; from rich lowland dipterocarp forest through the montane oak, rhododendron, to the coniferous forest, to the alpine meadow plants, and to the stunted bushes of summit zone. The mountain is also known for its manycarnivorous plant and orchid species, most notably, the Napenthes Rajah. For a better understanding of flora & fauna, you may participate the daily Botanical Guided Walk which starts at 1100 hours. It is also home to a multitude of endemic animal species, including the Kinabalu Giant Red Leech and Kinabalu Giant Earthworm. The park also plays host to a variety of birds, insects, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Subsequent erosion removed thousands of feet of the overlying sand and mud stone, exposing this massif. During the Ice Age, glaciers running across the summit smoothed it out, but the jagged peaks that stood out above the ice surface remained unaffected, retaining the extremely ragged surfaces. This rugged mountain is the focal point of the National Park.