Kinabatangan River
Encyclopedia
The Kinabatangan River (Sungai Kinabatangan) is located in Sabah
, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo
. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of 560 kilometers from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its outlet at the Sulu Sea
, east of Sandakan
.
Kinabatangan is known for its remarkable wildlife and fascinating habitats such as limestone caves
at Gomantong hill, dryland dipterocarp forests, riverine forest, freshwater swamp forest
, oxbow lake
s and salty mangrove swamps
near the coast.
of the upper reaches of the river has been severely disrupted by excessive logging and clearing of land for plantations. However, the original lowland forests and mangrove
swamps near the coast have largely survived, provide sanctuary for a population of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), and contain some of Borneo's highest concentrations of wildlife. Of special note are Borneo's indigenous proboscis monkey
s and orangutans, Asian elephant
s and Sumatra
n rhinoceros
. The area is also known for its great variety of birdlife.
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 land of its lower reaches, creating a huge floodplain. The lower Kinabatangan teems with 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 NGOs. Further efforts to have the area declared a "wildlife refuge" or even "national park" had been opposed by oil palm
plantation owners seeking to expand their cultivated land.
By August 2006, following media attention after a decapitated elephant's head was found floating down the river, the area was gazetted under the State's Wildlife Conservation Enactment of 1997 as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. It is now under the purview of the Sabah Wildlife Department.
Currently, most nature tourism is concentrated around Sukau, accessible by road and offering comfortable accommodation to visitors prepared to pay for well-managed tours. The most populated area and also the Central Administration for Kinabatangan is Kinabatangan Town, along the Sandakan-Lahad Datu highway and about 90 kilometers from Sandakan Town. The largest cave system in Sabah, Gomantong Caves
, can be found in this region.
, rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and hornbill casques for the Emperor and the wealthy mandarins of China.
They also sought a hardwood resin, damar
; flexible rattan
vine
s; beeswax
to make candles; fragrant woods and oil-rich illipe nut
s.
to Sandakan
on Malaysia Airlines
, whilst those from Kuala Lumpur
can take direct daily flights to Sandakan on AirAsia
.
Alternatively, one can take an air-conditioned coach to Sandakan
or Lahad Datu
from Kota Kinabalu
. One can also take a ferry to Sukau from the Sandakan harbour.
The main flowering and fruiting season, from April to October is generally fairly dry and a good time to spot many birds and animals.
During the northeast monsoon, from November to March, there are often heavy showers during the afternoons, particularly during December and January. During the rainy season, however, it is possible to negotiate many of the river channels leading in to the oxbow lake
s, where there is a greater concentration of wildlife.
Further up river at the villages of or Batu Putih you could opt to stay with the local orang sungai people in the Miso Walai homestay program part or a Sabah National Project http://www.mescot.org/Sabah_Homestay_Links.html . Nearby the villages there are beautiful series of oxbow lakes. They provide accommodation, food, jungle guides, boat trips, fishing and other activities. They also have recently built an eco-lodge in the jungle nearby one of the oxbow lakes - Tungog lake. The ecotourism program has been successful and helped clear the oxbow lake of weed, funded reforestation projects with partnership with LEAP and is providing a sustainable income for the communities.
s in Sabah. In 1998, HUTAN together with the Sabah Wildlife Department established the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project. A small conservation centre was built in the village of Sukau in the Kinabatangan wetlands.
Initially it conducted studies and an in-depth stakeholders' consultation process to identify the complex threats faced by the orangutans. Its findings were used by the Sabah Wildlife Department to develop and implement a sound and efficient orangutan conservation strategy, first for the Lower Kinabatangan region and later for Sabah. It now has 40 staff from the Kinabatangan local community, working in collaboration with a network of Sabahan partners including government agencies, Non-Governmental-Organisations and research institutions as well as private stakeholders.
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of 560 kilometers from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its outlet at the Sulu Sea
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.Sulu Sea contains a number of...
, east of Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
.
Kinabatangan is known for its remarkable wildlife and fascinating habitats such as limestone caves
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
at Gomantong hill, dryland dipterocarp forests, riverine forest, freshwater swamp forest
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
, oxbow lake
Oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...
s and salty mangrove swamps
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
near the coast.
Ecology and status
The ecologyEcology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
of the upper reaches of the river has been severely disrupted by excessive logging and clearing of land for plantations. However, the original lowland forests and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
swamps near the coast have largely survived, provide sanctuary for a population of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), and contain some of Borneo's highest concentrations of wildlife. Of special note are Borneo's indigenous proboscis monkey
Proboscis Monkey
The proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo...
s and orangutans, Asian elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s and Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
n rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
. The area is also known for its great variety of birdlife.
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 land of its lower reaches, creating a huge floodplain. The lower Kinabatangan teems with animal and plant life, making it the best area for viewing wildlife, not just in Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
but all of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
.
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 NGOs. Further efforts to have the area declared a "wildlife refuge" or even "national park" had been opposed by oil palm
Oil palm
The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...
plantation owners seeking to expand their cultivated land.
By August 2006, following media attention after a decapitated elephant's head was found floating down the river, the area was gazetted under the State's Wildlife Conservation Enactment of 1997 as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. It is now under the purview of the Sabah Wildlife Department.
Currently, most nature tourism is concentrated around Sukau, accessible by road and offering comfortable accommodation to visitors prepared to pay for well-managed tours. The most populated area and also the Central Administration for Kinabatangan is Kinabatangan Town, along the Sandakan-Lahad Datu highway and about 90 kilometers from Sandakan Town. The largest cave system in Sabah, Gomantong Caves
Gomantong Caves
The Gomantong Caves are an intricate cave system inside Gomantong Hill. The hill is the largest limestone outcrop in the Lower Kinabatangan area, Sandakan division, in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Situated in a Sabah Parks forest reserve, the caves and the surrounding area are a protected area...
, can be found in this region.
History
For centuries, the rare treasures of Borneo's forests acted like a magnet for traders in search of edible bird's nestsSwiftlet
Swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. They form the Collocaliini tribe within the swift family Apodidae. The group contains around thirty species mostly confined to southern Asia, south Pacific islands, and northeastern...
, rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and hornbill casques for the Emperor and the wealthy mandarins of China.
They also sought a hardwood resin, damar
Damar
Damar can refer to:* Damar gum, also dammar gum, a resin produced by the Dipterocarpaceae family of trees* Damar Island, an island of Indonesia, part of the Barat Daya Islands* Damar, Kansas, a town in the United States...
; flexible rattan
Rattan
Rattan is the name for the roughly 600 species of palms in the tribe Calameae, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia.- Structure :...
vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
s; beeswax
Beeswax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...
to make candles; fragrant woods and oil-rich illipe nut
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
s.
Getting there
One can fly from Kota KinabaluKota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu , formerly known as Jesselton, is the capital of Sabah state in East Malaysia. It is also the capital of the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park lies on one side and Mount...
to Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
on Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysian Airline System Berhad , DBA Malaysia Airlines , is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and its eastern hub in Kota Kinabalu. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Sultan Abdul Aziz...
, whilst those from Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
can take direct daily flights to Sandakan on AirAsia
AirAsia
AirAsia Berhad is a Malaysian-based low-cost airline. AirAsia is Asia's largest low-fare, no-frills airline and a pioneer of low-cost travel in Asia. AirAsia group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to over 400 destinations spanning 25 countries. Its main hub is the Low-Cost...
.
Alternatively, one can take an air-conditioned coach to Sandakan
Sandakan
Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo...
or Lahad Datu
Lahad Datu
Lahad Datu is a town and district located in Tawau Division, in the east of Sabah, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It occupies the peninsula on the north side of Darvel Bay. Its population was estimated to be around 118,000 in 1991 and 156,059 in the 2000 census. Lahad Datu is surrounded...
from Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu
Kota Kinabalu , formerly known as Jesselton, is the capital of Sabah state in East Malaysia. It is also the capital of the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park lies on one side and Mount...
. One can also take a ferry to Sukau from the Sandakan harbour.
When to visit
The Kinabatangan region can be visited all year round, though it is often flooded during the wettest part of the year in December and January.The main flowering and fruiting season, from April to October is generally fairly dry and a good time to spot many birds and animals.
During the northeast monsoon, from November to March, there are often heavy showers during the afternoons, particularly during December and January. During the rainy season, however, it is possible to negotiate many of the river channels leading in to the oxbow lake
Oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...
s, where there is a greater concentration of wildlife.
Accommodation
In Sukau, many of the major tour operators maintain lodges. All lodges offer packages, which usually include transport, accommodation, food and guiding services. However, most of the money spent in these Lodges leaves the area. Visitor's should also check locally run bed & breakfast and homestay accommodation. More information can be obtained on the Sabah Tourism Website.Further up river at the villages of or Batu Putih you could opt to stay with the local orang sungai people in the Miso Walai homestay program part or a Sabah National Project http://www.mescot.org/Sabah_Homestay_Links.html . Nearby the villages there are beautiful series of oxbow lakes. They provide accommodation, food, jungle guides, boat trips, fishing and other activities. They also have recently built an eco-lodge in the jungle nearby one of the oxbow lakes - Tungog lake. The ecotourism program has been successful and helped clear the oxbow lake of weed, funded reforestation projects with partnership with LEAP and is providing a sustainable income for the communities.
Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project
Since 1996 HUTAN, a French grassroots non-profit organisation founded and run by primotologist Dr. Isabelle Lackman and wildlife veterinarian Dr. Marc Ancrenaz, has been working to develop and implement solutions to conserve the orangutanOrangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s in Sabah. In 1998, HUTAN together with the Sabah Wildlife Department established the Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project. A small conservation centre was built in the village of Sukau in the Kinabatangan wetlands.
Initially it conducted studies and an in-depth stakeholders' consultation process to identify the complex threats faced by the orangutans. Its findings were used by the Sabah Wildlife Department to develop and implement a sound and efficient orangutan conservation strategy, first for the Lower Kinabatangan region and later for Sabah. It now has 40 staff from the Kinabatangan local community, working in collaboration with a network of Sabahan partners including government agencies, Non-Governmental-Organisations and research institutions as well as private stakeholders.