Taman Laut Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kota Kinabalu
- Borneo_Project
- Nov 10, 2018
- 4 min read
The 5 islands is Gaya, Manukan, Sapi, Sulug and Mamutik. All islands are very popular among tourists from Kota Kinabalu, due to their close proximity to the city.
Travel to the TAR Marine Park is easy as hourly speedboat rides can be caught at the Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal in the northern end of Kota Kinabalu, along Jalan Fuad Stephens. Once inside the terminal, pick from one of the tour boat companies who will all call out for your attention.
Prices are fixed: It costs RM17 per person for each island visited (return to Jesselton Point included). A compulsory Tariff Fee of RM6 per person must also be paid at the Jesselton Point Terminal before departing. A RM10 per person Environmental Conservation Fee is payable upon arrival to the first island of the day visited (some unscrupulous vendors collect the RM10 fee prior to departure, pocketing the money). Each additional island you want to visit will cost an extra RM17 pp. Boats depart every hour to the island of your choice, with earliest departure at 7:30AM and last departure at 4:30PM. The last return boats are at 5PM. You can choose to spend as little as an hour on one island, or all day, or hop in between islands depending on how many trips you purchase at the terminal. The trip takes 15-20 minutes depending on the island. For unscheduled trips, you can charter a boat starting at about RM200 (though you may be able to bargain it down).
The islands are very popular among tourists on every day of the week, and among locals on weekends. The further the island is that you visit the less amenities on the island and also the more secluded, although all are busy during the day and beaches can be crowded. It is possible to stay on the islands as well to enjoy more quiet beaches in the morning hours, although this is somewhat expensive.
Check out which is the best and beautiful island... 😉 😉 😉
Gaya Island
Gaya Island is the largest island between the other islands and has a beautiful view. If you want to stay in the best and exciting resort, Gaya Island is the most preferred choice. Various activities can be done here including Coral Flyer Zipline activities.
Coral Flyer Zipline is actually a cable or rope stretched between two points of different heights, which a person slides down for amusement by means of a suspended harness, pulley or handle. Coral Flyer Zipline Kota Kinabalu was being called with such name because you are participating in a Coral Flyer Zipline adventure above sea water with many corals down below. This is the one and only Coral Flyer zipline ride in Kota Kinabalu. It is not in the jungle (as usual, in another place) across tree canopy’s. Instead, you will ride a zipline across sea water, from one island to another!
For more detail and packages for Coral Flyer Zipline can click this link.
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Manukan Island
Manukan is one of the most developed islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park due to it's 1km stretch of white sandy beach and pine-tree lined shores. Sutera Sanctuary Lodges have expensive beach and hill-side chalets here for rent, as well as a covered restaurant and a daily beach BBQ buffet spread. Other facilities include a snorkelling equipment rental hut, a small sundry shop, changing rooms, toilets and Scubadoo underwater scooters. Life guards are on duty on the main beach where there are also wooden tables and chairs for picnics.
The island can get quite crowded, especially during the holiday season, but makes for interesting people watching. Shallow water corals have all but been destroyed by stampeding holiday makers, but in deeper water and near the jetty area there are still vibrant fish life to be found. For those interested in hiking, there is a 1.5Km "jungle trek" paved walking path which starts from the base of the dock, and leads hikers through the forest to the opposite end of the island. From the end, you can either turn back or clamber down an unmarked path to the beach below. It is possible to walk along the south side of the island all the way back to the dock and the main beach if you don't mind climbing over a lot of rocks. The accessibility may depend on the tides.
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Sapi island is like Manukan, but smaller and is the second most developed and popular island in the park. It has basic restaurant facilities, toilets, snorkelling equipment rental and a few representative stands for water sports agents. Shallow water snorkelling offers some excitement, especially as the fish react favourably to tourists who usually feed them bread. There is a sand bank to the north of the island, which, at low tide, makes it possible to cross over to the south western tip of Gaya island.
Pulau Sapi has many lizards that roam and become a tourist attraction especially from abroad because they thought it was a komodo dragons.
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Mamutik Island
This little island is slightly larger than a very friendly football field because it is ideal for beach diving, banana boat and paragliding.
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Sulug Island
Sulug island is the least developed of the isles with no facilities whatsoever, visitors can opt to camp if they wish to stay overnight. The island is inhabited and dive operators have daily trips there for diving off the corals on the northern shore as it is one of the best site around in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.
The view from the top showing the location of Pulau Mamutik, Pulau Manukan and neighboring Sulug Island forms like a smiley face. Did you see that ...?
Sulug Island is actually located next to Pulau Mamutik and Pulau Manukan.
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