Attractions in Malaysia

Location

The Tawau Hills Park is located about 24 kilometers from Tawau town and is a famous spot for families and friends to get together for a picnic or camping. With its large area of lush greenery and sparkling river, it is hard to resist not spending your time here.

Overview

The park is an essential water catchment area for major rivers of this part of Sabah. The rivers are the Tawau Merotai, Kinabatangan, Mantro and Balung rivers. The park covers an area of 27,972 hectares of land. It was established in 1979. The Tawau Hills Park is the home to myriads of plants and animals. The walk down any of the paths is a learning journey. Each and every plant has a wooden label which identifies every plant. The dominant vegetation is the lowland dipterocarp forest.

With increasing altitutes, thick damp mossy forest takes over the dipterocarp forest. Lowland orchids are also plentiful and the most spectacular of them is the Elephant's Ear orchid. It is a must to take a walk in the 2 hectare lowland gardens which is the home to a wide range of flora. The wildlife here is not to be missed as well. The wildlife is generally elusive but there have been sightings of long-tailed macaques, giant tree squirrels, civets, red-leaf monkeys and even troops of white monkeys.

Visitors can choose to stay at chalets or lodges which have basic amenities such as common bathroom and kitchens. If you want something more outdoorsy, you can always opt to camp in the park. There is a camping ground not too far from the river. The river here is clean enough to take a swim too. If Sabah is the place you want to really explore, consider extending your stay here. There are plenty of accommodations in Sabah which will make it easy for you to find a place to put up during the stay.

Transport

The only way to the park from Tawau town is by taxi. Other means of public transport is not readily available in this area but you can book your return transport from the Sabah Park counter at a fee of about RM30 to RM45.