Kota Belud Mantanani Island Ferry Terminal

Mantanani island is getting popular due to its close proximity to the west coast of Sabah particularly Kota Kinabalu city.This island is a famous diving center thanks to the Japanese World War II ship wreckege.The diving spot is  widely known as Rice Bowl Wreck.

Most tourists and even tour guide operators choose to depart to Mantanani island via Kota Belud  to shorten sea travelling time to reach the island.The Kota Belud ferry terminal is located at 20km distance from town center.

Resort accomodation is available at the island .Those travellers opted to climb the mount Kinabalu later ,  will  find it is very convenient to depart direct from Kota Belud. Hotels are mushrooming in the district indicating that the tourism industry is really picking up.

Welcome To Sandakan City

Sandakan city is well known as entry point to wildlife adventures.The city is  343km away from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah.At this point in time, the city has become instant attention in Malaysia due to parlimentary election to be held on the 4th November 2010.

Local business community is enjoying lucrative earning  because of the coming election.All major hotels are  fully occupied .I was having my dinner at Ocean King seafood restaurant last night .I can't help to notice the presence of  high level politicians coming to campaign for their respective political parties.For all the people coming to Sandakan for whatever reasons, Welcome to Sandakan.    

RIVER ENCOUNTER

I had travelled to many  places and I can only admit that Kota Belud district has the most beautiful river in Borneo. The sparkling water is really tempting for someone to indulge in and swim.Being a natural swimmer, some of the natural strong current post no problem at all.In this publishing, I had included here some photos taken at Kg Rajunah recreation centre in Kota Belud.Kota Belud has great tourism potential as take off point for Mount Kinabalu climbing as well as white water rafting.

Travelling  by road from Kota Belud to Kota Kinabalu National Park only take one and a half hour.Kota Kinabalu National Park is currently a take off point   for climbing the Mount Kinabalu.
Few movie production companies have set their eyes to do movie shooting with the river as the background.Shown in this blog is the Tempasuk river.Fishing activities along the river is prrohibited and controlled by goverment through the practice of Tagal system.

Tagal system allows for  fishing be conducted only once a year and thus enable  for the variety of fish to multiply in number.The Tagal system proof to be very succesful and had become tourist attraction .In my next publishing, I shall come up with one of the most successful Tagal system   in Sabah.  

 

TAGAL LUANTI BARU

Kg Luanti Baru,Ranau that is the name of the place.It takes 2 hours to reach Ranau from Kota Kinabalu and another 15 minutes from Ranau to reach  Kg Luanti Baru, the natural fish breeding and conservation centre. This place is very popular among local tourists for its natural fish conservation .Fish are breeding naturally and fishing activities are monitored and control by a committe with the help from goverment.This make it very successful .Entrace fee is only RM5 and food for fish is charge at RM2 per packet.Some people came to try the fish massage .Bathing is also allowed . Eventhough the fish move freely along the river and subject to threat such as heavy flood, it keep coming back once situation back to normal.This amazing situation remained unexplained.

                                           A visitor is feeding the fish.....

                                           A young visitor, Jamal Pasendreng......

TAMU KOTA BELUD

Tamu Kota Belud is the biggest of its kind in Sabah.Tamu means a meeting place .It is a weekend wet market .

Local produce are available at very reasonable price.This tamu had been included by some tour guide operators in their interesting places to visit. Kota Belud is 70km away from the capital city of Sabah,Kota Kinabalu.Once a year a Tamu Besar is held here held normally at the end of the year.Variety of traditional sports and  cultural performance are held during the event.

For fresh seafood lovers, this venue is a perfect choice to satisfy that need.Facilities at the Tamu ground had been upgraded due to increasing popularity among local and foreign visitors.Kota Belud town is linked to Ranau for Mount Kinabalu climbing and  Sandakan, the getaway point for rainforest and wild life experience.

Manukan Island

Manukan island is one of the 5 islands  known as Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park.

It is only 20 minutes away from Kota Kinabalu by boats.This island should complete one admiration for an island resort holiday.Jet ski and snorkelling activities can be arranged prior depatures to this island.For satifaction, one should also set foot to other islands within the marine park.These island are Gaya island, Sapi island,Mamutik island and Sulug island.Gaya island is the biggest with two resorts.

Labuk BayProboscis Monkey Sanctuary

Labuk bay is located in Sandakan city ,343km away from Kota Kinabalu if one travel by road.Travel by airplane will take 50 minutes.The Labuk bay Proboscis monkey sanctuary is only 35km away from Sandakan city.This newly set up center is a must see for those in love with natures.

The sanctuary can  be reached within 20 minutes direct from the Sandakan airport.Travelling by road from Kota Kinabalu  is even more fun since there are  other interesting  places to  visit along the way to Sandakan.This Proboscis monkey santuary is one of them.Travelling by small car like the locally made Kancil is not a problem as the connecting road is sealed.Entrance fee is only RM10.00