Just west of KK, the five islands of Manukan, Gaya, Sapi, Mamutik and Sulug and the reefs in between make up TAR National Park, which covers a total area of just over 49 sq km. Only a short boat ride from the city centre, they have some nice beaches and t
Tuaran, 33km from KK, is a bustling little town with tree-lined boulevard-style streets and a distinctive nine-storey Chinese pagoda. There’s little point stopping in the town itself unless you happen to pass through on market day, but the surrounding are
Nestled in a cool, cloud-shrouded valley at the end of the railway line from KK, Tenom is the home of the friendly Murut people, most of whom are farmers. It’s a fertile area known for its coffee, which is widely sold, and soya beans, maize, vegetables an
A rundown port near the Indonesian border, Tawau is a centre for the shipping of timber, rubber, Manila hemp, cocoa, copra, tobacco and palm oil. Though it’s known as a Bugis city, a massive stilt village east of town houses many of the Filipino and Indon
Nestled among the green curves of the Crocker hills, Tambunan, a small agricultural service town about 81km from KK, is the first settlement you’ll come to in the range. The region was the last stronghold of Mat Salleh, who became a folk hero for rebellin
Covering 4343 sq km and at twice the size of Luxembourg, Peninsular Malaysia’s greatest national park sprawls in a huge, verdant swathe across the states of Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu. Everything about Taman Negara is big: the trees are dwarfing, the
Proclaimed somewhat grandly as Malaysia’s ‘Gift to Earth’, the mighty, muddy Sungai Kinabatangan is Sabah’s longest river, measuring 560km from its headwaters in the southwest to the point where it empties into the Sulu Sea. Logging and clearing for plan
A 45-minute drive northeast of Bintulu, this park’s deserted, sandy beaches, ‘where the rapids meet the sea’, are among the best in Sarawak. Similajau does not have the habitat variety of Bako National Park but it’s perfect if you want a quiet, relaxing n
Where Kuching takes the cat as its symbol, Sibu sees itself as a swan, and there’s a certain aptness to the comparison – thriving on its watery location, it’s unmistakably a town with character, but you can’t help feeling a little threatened sometimes! Lu
One of only four orangutan sanctuaries in the world, the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) occupies a corner of the Kabili-Sepilok rainforest reserve about 25km north of Sandakan. The centre was established in 1964; it now covers 40 sq km and