Sabah offers an astonishing diversity of landscapes and people, as well as richly varied plant and animal life, yet surprisingly little is known about the treasures of this Malaysian Borneo state. Its landscapes range from long white sandy beaches to magnificent rain forests and Malaysia's largest freshwater floodplain, home to Borneo's unique proboscis monkey and the orang-utan. In Sabah's limestone caves, precious edible birds' nests are gathered, while nesting sea turtles come ashore on many of its islands.
Towering over all is Mount Kinabalu, at 4095 metres the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea, and focal point of Kinabalu Park, Malaysia's first World Heritage Site. Sabah is the perfect place for the adventurous, offering world-class scuba diving sites, including Pulau Sipadan and Layang-Layang. Discovering Sabah is designed as an introduction to Sabah, where people still retain the best of their cultural traditions as they welcome visitors with genuine warmth and friendliness.
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 In the Beginning 11
Chapter 3 The Mountains 21
Chapter 4 The Rain Forest 63
Chapter 5 Wetlands 85
Chapter 6 Beaches and Islands 97
Chapter 7 Caves 125
Chapter 8 From the Kampung to the City 135
Further Reading 166
Publisher’s Acknowledgements 168
Index 169