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Jungle Trekking - The Real Thing...
The Crocker Range National Park is
Sabah's largest national park and already in 1968 the area was set
aside as a forest reserve, before finally being classified a
national park in 1984. Starting in the north, with Mt Kinabalu, the
Crocker Range is Sabah's 'backbone' and continues right down to the
south of Borneo, albeit under different names. This mountainous,
almost inaccessible park is one of Sabah's most important water
catchment areas and ensures pure water for Kota Kinabalu and
surrounding towns. It receives an annual mean of rainfall between
3-4 m and the rivers flowing out of the park provide about a third
of Sabah's population with drinking water! One of the many rivers,
the Padas River, bisects the park between
Tenom and Beaufort.
There is virtually no tourism
infrastructure in this national park, which makes it a favourite
amongst those who wish to experience the tropical rainforest and go
for hard core jungle trekking. It is also a great place to meet
indigenous Dusun people. Those living along the Ulu Papar River, in
a deep cleft surrounded by the CRNP, maintain an age old life style
and are nearly self sufficient. Many only go to the
tamu in
Donggongon once a month to sell
mainly tobacco, and with the money they earn they buy goods their
otherwise self-sufficient life style cannot provide: toothpaste,
salt, coffee...
The CRNP is rich in flora & fauna, but
alas, the jungle is not the African bush and animals are extremely
difficult to spot. With lots of patience, and equally lots of luck,
one can find here at least five species of primates: orang utans,
gibbons, tarsiers, slow lories and long and pig tailed macaques.
Then there are civet cats and even Borneo's largest cat, the clouded
leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), bears, bear cats, Borneo's giant
squirrel and the ubiquitous Prevost squirrel with its
characteristic, shiny black coat and red belly, wild boars and many
bird and pheasant species.
How to Get to the Crocker Range National Park & Accommodation
Bus, van, taxi, tour operator, the closest 'entrance' is only 20
minutes from KK; there is
no accommodation within the park other than homestay.
Hard Core Jungle Trekking
Maybe you are astonished that there is
so little information on the CRNP on our site. Well, maybe it is
that we'd rather show you the park from inside! The Flying Dusun Sdn
Bhd specialises in jungle trekking and homestay, and the Crocker
Range is one of our favourite places. Here you cannot only
experience the jungle (and the hardship trekking through it), but
you can also mingle with the locals and get a pristine insight into
their not always easy, but certainly laid back life.
Trail Map |
Trekking in the Crocker Range
One of the many wild ginger types |
