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Mt. Kinabalu National Parks -
Sabah - Borneo
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Introduction;
The
Kinabalu Park which covers an area 754 sq. kilometres is one of
the greatest attractions
of
Sabah. The park is yearly visited by thousands of tourists who
come to enjoy its climatic,
scenic,
floral and faunal splendors.
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Mt. Kinabalu
Summit
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Among other
things it also contains the granite massif of Mt. Kinabalu at 4,095.2
metres, which is South East
Asia's greatest challenge to climbers and its the highest peak in
South East Asia.
Having an
altitude which varies from 152 metres to 3952 metres above sea
level, the vast size of the park
enables the preservation of large areas of tropical lowland
forest and wildlife, as well as the alpine-like associations of the
summit zone.
Here in the
Kinabalu Park, preserved for posterity is one of the worlds most
unique ecological systems having
beauty, splendor and charm to delight any category of visitors
from the tired businessman in need of a rest to the restless
mountaineer and the nature lover who is eager to study and
enjoy natural treasures.
The Weather here
is temperate in nature, and with its refreshing and beautiful
environment, the Kinabalu Park
with all its inherent attractions is certainly a must for visitors
to the state.
Its
History; An ordinance
of 1962 established the Sabah Park
Trustees with the purpose of conserving the scenic,
scientific and historic heritage of Sabah for the benefit and
enjoyment of its people. The
obvious first choice for inclusion in a park system was Mt.
Kinabalu, and the Kinabalu Park was
gazetted in 1964. This followed over a century of interest in the
mountain by naturalist, collectors
and adventurers, after the first recorded ascent made in 1851 by
Sir Hugh Low, a government officer from Labuan Island. Since the
Park's formation, its popularity has increased rapidly, and it
attracts many visitors from overseas as well as local people.
Geology;
Kinabalu was born only 1.5
million years ago; when a mass of granite rock that had been
cooling and
hardening under the surface of several million years began to rise
and break through the overlying
crusts of softer rocks. Erosion by heavy rains and later, by ice
and glaciers shaped the new mountain. Kinabalu itself is still
rising-one estimate 5mm per year and the landslides on its slopes
and rock debris beneath its peaks are evidence of the
still-continuing erosion.
Together with the
summit pinnacles, the other major feature of Kinabalu's massif is
the awe-inspiring chasm of Low's Gully, falling almost 912 metres
from the summit plateau. Mt. Kinabalu is
not volcanic and the gully is not the remains of a crater. Rather
it represents a weak zone in
the structure of the mountain, a fault system that has been
a focus for the eroding forces of
ice and water.
The
powerful forces of Mother Nature for 1.5 million years in which
the geological and ecological system evolved today has resulted in
a scenic location of remarkable beauty complete with a hot
spring
which today has been turned into a health spa. Besides this, the
slow and gradual evolution
has
also resulted in a fauna and flora, most of which is unique and
found no where else in the
world.
Such as the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world and the
Nepenthes (pitcher plant)
and more than 1,000 species of orchids.
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