Mamatik Snorkeling

The beauty of another world on the reef. 

One of the best ways to relax in the tropics is to spend the day on a tropical island and to take your mask and snorkel for a swim. The water is pleasantly warm and there is so much to see in among the choral. So on our first opportunity to go island hopping in Kota Kinabalu we couldn't refuse. We took the boat to Mamatik, the price of the landing was included in the ticket that we purchased through the travel agent.

I came to the surface and I sighted a mermaid!

Mamatik is the smallest island in the group that form the National Park off the coast of KK. A short 20 minute boat trip drops you at the wharf. The coral here is quite good but due to the high number of people who come here there is quite a lot of damage. At low tide it is very shallow, it is best to avoid this part of the tide. There is a good little cafe on the island that cooks up some tasty noodles and other basic food and serves cools drinks.

I have never seen so many Nemos.

This soft coral seemed to have a large family of Nemos living in it.

Is this a larger Nemo or a different breed entirely?

These two came right up to the camera and tried nibbling on it. 

I enjoyed getting up close to the clown fish. With numerous soft corals in quite sizable clumps, there were a number of very confident clown fish. Some were quite big and I was left wondering if these were a different breed. I also observed a fish behaving in the same way but with a stripe running along its back.

Amazing spotty markings and marbled features on their faces.

Are you looking at me?

There were numerous other colourful fish. These fish must be used to people because they swam right up to me. A number of them attempted to nibble at my fingers and camera. Maybe they get fed. I didn't see any of the big fish here, but I was treated to some great displays of large schools of fish swimming by. Often these seemed to be going nowhere in particular.

I was left in awe of these large schools of fish that just seemed  to be all around me.

Fish everywhere. So many and so close to me.

This pufferfish was spectacular.

I spent some time enjoying the splendor of this puffer fish. He was brilliantly marbled and really not concerned about me swimming by quite close to his small cave. The coral in this part of the reef was particularly interesting because there seemed to be a number of different varieties and colours. As we don't have coral in New Zealand I find seeing these shapes under the ocean very exciting.

It is exciting to sit at home and relive the thrill of swimming through this underwater wonderland. Kermit, my little green fujifilm camera,  has been such a treat because I get to share these great sights with others who don't get to see such things.I am constantly reminded that it is so important that we all consider how we are treating the world we live in today.

Think about what you wash down your drain, because eventually it will end up in an ecosystem that is important to the survival of our planet.

Break Away In, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

We already had an extra day off due to the Deepavali Public Holiday. Our wonderful company now gives us 1 day each year as a long service leave holiday, so we decided to attach it to this weekend to give us a 4 day weekend. Having arranged the leave the next decision was where to go for 4 days????

Where shall we explore today? Ruth relaxing on the waterfront at Kota Kinabalu.

We had never been to Kota Kinabalu and we had heard about the Rafflesia Flowers that you can see in this part of Borneo. We had also been told that the islands around Sabah offer many beautiful coral reefs to explore. Apparently Mount  Kota Kinbalu is the highest in mountain id South East Asia and is set in a World Heritage Site. This was a great opportunity to fly over and see what we could see.

We based ourselves in Kota Kinabalu, staying for 4 nights in Cititel Express Hotel. This was a budget option that was very central, meaning we could walk to downtown points of interest. There were plenty of good eating options nearby as breakfast was not included in our room this was also important. Once we got over the shock of the smallness of our room, we were impressed by its cleaniness and the hospitality of the staff. We flew out after work on Sunday, arriving in Kota Kinabalu at midnight, so we were ready to crash when we finally got up to our room. The bed was very comfortable and we slept soundly.

Tomorrow we should go island hopping!

Our first day we left the room looking for breakfast and didn't find our way back to the room until late afternoon, when we freshened up before heading for dinner down by the waterfront. We had spent the day wandering and exploring, we had also decided to book an island hopping trip the following day.

Mamatik, tropical island paradise.

Day 2 : We were up bright and early to have breakfast before the guide came to take us down to the ferry terminal. We had chosen to start our day at Mamatik, with the option of paying extra to hop across to the other two islands. Great idea, it turned out we were the last to be dropped off and that we got to go passed both of the other islands. They all appeared to be similar.We landed on Mamatik and instantly we could see why the locals had suggested this as a good option. It was very much your small tropical island paradise. I spent hours in the water snorkeling among the coral. I was playing with kermit and got some interesting fish photos.(See Tropical Fish) Ruth enjoyed playing with her big camera landside. In the end we didn't hop to the other islands  because we had so much fun on Mamatik.

Crystal clear water and multitudes of colourful fish.

So this is a small Rafflesia! It is still an impressive flower.

Day3: We decided the best way for us to see the Rafflesia flower on this trip would be to hire a car for the day and to drive out to the Crocker Range where we could visit the Rafflesia Centre. Hopefully they could tell us if there was a flower in bloom.  We left early and had breakfast on the way. It was an interesting drive, even our GPS seemed to struggle with finding its way. But eventually we found ourselves climbing high into the mountains. These must be the highest mountain roads I have ever driven on, the hill just kept going up. The scenery was fantastic, with some very impressive rain forest along the way. We got to the Rafflesia centre and it looked like it was closed. Luckily it wasn't and we had the opportunity to walk down a very steep bank to see a flower that was just one day old with a local guide. It was one of the smaller flowers, a mere 30cm across. However it was fascinating to see and so close to the road as well.

If you look closely you will notice the how the bud below the base of the flower has split open.

We were surprised to learn that these flowers are a parasite that grow off the roots of a particular vine. They start out as small bud on the roots about a golf-ball size. It takes about 9 months for this bud to become a flower. The flower opens at night and lasts for 2-3 days. They are well known not only for their beauty but also their pungent smell. We saw a number of buds at different stages. We did not notice any bad smells when we were close to this flower.  We were also surprised to learn that caterpillars and squirrels find the flowers a tasty treat and they can ruin them at different stages of their growth.

Clouds rolling up and over the Crocker Range.

Over the hills and into the Valleys.

Once we had spent some time exploring this part of the forest we said goodbye to our guide and drove on over the Crocker Range, to Tenoma. We had arrived on a public holiday so many of the shops were closed. We missed out on a visit to the coffee shop here that tells the story of Sabah Coffee. But we had a delightful lunch in a local Kopitiam. We then began our return to Kota Kinabalu. We took a different road over the Crocker range and just as we reached the summit we were rewarded with an interesting display of clouds rushing over the tops and into the valleys.This drive was well worth the effort but would be even better if a night was included in Tenoma. Next time we might just spend a couple of nights here because it appeared very relaxed but with many interesting natural things to see.

Mount Kota Kinabalu. We were treated to a very clear view.

Day 4: Everyone who knows about Kota Kinabalu is lured there because of  Mount Kinabalu. At a height of of 4,095 metres, it is the highest mountain in South East Asia. It is also considered an easy mountain to climb and many people take the overnight trek up to the summit.We thought about it but did not book anything, so we decided that this time it would nice to drive out and take a look at this mountain. Maybe we would spend the day in the Kinabalu National Park exploring the trails and viewing the diverse array of plant and animal life. This is a World Heritage Site and when we arrived at the park after another very scenic drive we were treated to a spectacular view of the mountain. We had not had breakfast so we ate at the local cafe across the road from the National Park Headquarters. By this time the mountain had hidden itself in a cover of cloud. We drove across and paid our entry fee. After that we spent the rest of the day exploring trails and enjoying the sights of the rain forest. We paid to go through the Botanical garden because we knew we only had 1 day and we felt we wanted to see the range of plants growing in the park. The ground orchids in the botanical section were amazing.

Ground Orchids, in bloom. These amazing flowers are abundant here.

We found that renting a car over here was the best option for us to get around and achieve our  goals.
It was not hard to drive on these roads, once we sorted out where we were heading.
A very big plus was that we got an almost new Proton Saga to drive around in.

Snorkeling among beautiful coral and tropical fish.            Check.
Viewing the Rafflesia Flower in Bloom.                            Check.
Exploring Kinabalu National Park and Mountain.             Check.

Mission Accomplished

Four days of relaxation in Kota Kinabalu,  gets a top rating from us both.  By the way did I mention that there is much more to do here and that we will be going back some time in 2012.