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Sabah's Mega-Biodiversity Site
The Kinabatangan River (Sungai
Kinabatangan), Sabah’s longest river drains Sabah’s East Coast,
with its delta just below Sandakan. The Kinabatangan is Malaysia’s
second longest river, 560 kilometres from its headwaters in the
Maliau Basin to its outlet at the Sulu Sea. Malaysia’s longest river
is the Rajang in Sarawak.
The Kinabatangan is known for its remarkable wildlife and
fascinating habitats such as limestone caves (Gomantong are the more
famous because of their edible swiftlets nests), dry-land
dipterocarp forests, riverine forest, freshwater swamp forest, oxbow
lakes and salty mangrove swamps near the coast. This rich area has
for centuries attracted many seafaring nations, especially the
Chinese, in search of exquisite jungle produce and other rate
treasures of Borneo's forests like edible bird's nests, rhinoceros
horn, elephant ivory and hornbill casques for the Emperor and the
wealthy mandarins of China. They also sought hardwood resin, damar;
flexible rattan vines; beeswax to make candles; fragrant woods and
oil-rich illipe nuts. This has naturally also created a wealth of
myths and legends, and the name of the river itself means “Chinese
River”. The people living along the Kinabatangan are generally known
as ‘Orang Sungai’ or River People, but they do belong to various
different ethnic entities. Up to about Sukau the vast majority of
these people are Muslims but as one continues upstream there are
also Dusunic, Paitanic and Murutic tribes who have been
Christianised but also still practice some animism.
Though the ecology of the upper middle reaches of the river has been
severely disrupted by excessive logging and clearing of land for
plantations the original lowland forests and mangrove swamps near
the coast have largely survived, and contain some of Borneo's
highest concentrations of wildlife. The range of biodiversity in the
Lower Kinabatangan surpasses that of every other site in Malaysia,
and for that matter in any other place in South East Asia. It is one
of the only two places in the world where ten primate species are
found cohabiting, next to some 50 species of mammals and 200 species
of birds, amongst others. Of special note are Borneo's
indigenous proboscis monkeys and orang utans, Pigmy elephants and
the near extinct Sumatran rhinoceroses. The area is also known for its great variety
of birdlife, amongst others the Oriental darter which is already
extinct in many other parts of South East Asia, the globally
endangered Storm's stork and all eight species of hornbill in
Borneo. Other species include freshwater ray, river sharks (until
recently thought to be extinct), estuarine crocodiles and monitor
lizards. All this has earned the Kinabatangan Wetlands a place
amongst the world’s 10 mega-biodiversity sites.
Each year, the lashing rains of the northeast monsoon cause the
river to swell rapidly. Unable to disgorge into the sea quickly
enough, the river frequently overflows its banks and spreads across
the flat lands of its lower reaches, creating a huge floodplain. The
lower Kinabatangan teems with both animal and plant life, making it
the best area for viewing wildlife, not just in Sabah but all of
Southeast Asia.
In 1997, 270 square kilometres of the lower Kinabatangan floodplain
was declared a protected area, and in 2001 this designation was
upgraded to that of "bird sanctuary", largely through the efforts of
the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. However, further efforts to have
the area declared a "wildlife refuge" or even "national park" have
been opposed by the logging industry, and oil palm plantation owners
seeking to expand their cultivated land. The Malaysian government
faces now the delicate task of balancing economical interests and
ecological conservation in one of the world's biologically richest
areas.
How to Get to There & Accommodation
From KK either take a 40-mins flight, or
a 5-hour bus ride to Sandakan, the gateway to the Kinabatangan and
its wetlands. Tours can be arranged in Sandakan itself, or from KK
through all major tour operators or even hotel concierges.
Currently, most nature tourism is concentrated around Sukau,
accessible by road or river and offering comfortable accommodation
to visitors prepared to pay for well-managed tours.
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Morning mood, Sukau
A heaven for birds
Crocodile in Sukau
Gomantong Caves |
