GAYA ISLAND

Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park consist of 5 idyllic islands
1	2	3	4	5

Pulau Gaya	Pulau Sulug	Pulau Manukan	Pulau Mamutik	Pulau Sapi
Gaya Island	Sulug Island	Manukan Island	Mamutik Island	Sapi Island

GAYA ISLAND

Pulau Gaya

Gaya island occupies an area of 15 km� (3,700 acres 1,500 ha) with an elevation of up to 300 meters.

Only 10 minutes off Kota Kinabalu City.

Gaya island is the largest island in TAR park covered with dense virgin, tropical forest reserve since 1923.

The island has 20km of hiking trails.

Two 5 star resorts named

1) Gayana Eco Resort, home to the Marine Ecology Research Centre
2) Bunga Raya Island Resort on the north-east part of the island.

Sabah Parks, the body charged with protecting the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, is headquartered on the south-eastern part of Gaya Island in a bay shared with the Downbelow Marine & Wildlife Adventures dive station.

A development on the edge of Gaya island nearest to Sapi island is also used by Sabah Parks and offers a small, quiet beach for public recreational use.

Gaya island is also known for a legendary beach at Police Bay.

The 400 metres (0.25 mile) stretch of white sand, gently slopes out to the sea and makes Police Beach ideal for swimming in the crystal clear water. Police Beach fronts the upmarket Bunga Raya Island Resort.

The coral reefs along the entire coast of Gaya island are in excellent condition, making it a surprisingly good diving destination, considering its proximity to Kota Kinabalu city.

Pulau Gaya was the site of the English colonialist's British North Borneo Company's harbor until the site was razed by Mat Salleh in 1881. After which British North Borneo Company move the harbor to Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu City).

Mainly uninhabited and protected as Tunku Abdul Rahman Park.

But the eastern shore squatter an international disputed illegal Filipino colony territory, the "Kampung Lok Urai".

"Kampung Lok Urai" is a water village of 5,000 stilt houses along the beach. They live there happily even thought Malaysian and Sabah state governments do not officially recognize these illegal immigrants from the Philippines and their village is considered a dangerous high crime area by the police and Malaysian city people.

However this village is the main source of cheap labour supply to the economy of Kota Kinabalu City.

The houses are linked by walkways of weathered planks but new houses spread seaward each year with sanitation problem spreading toward the city. Fires wiped out half of Kampung Pondo 2 times in 1994 and 1998.

The speedboat owners of the village are kept busy, ferrying schoolchildren, then housewives, then traders who sell craftwork at the Filipino market in town.

INDEX - Islands of Sabah 1 Dec 2008 June 15, 2011 10:22:00 AM