~ Sabah Your Leisure Destination ~
Welcome to the land of awe-inspiring natural scenery, lush primary rainforests, vibrant coral reefs and mysterious indigenous cultures.
Sabah situated on the beautiful island of Borneo, Sabah is one of the thirteen states which Malaysia is made of. Sabah is the second largest state in Malaysia and shares the island of Borneo with Sarawak, Brunei, and indonesian Kalimantan.
An ideal destination for backpackers, Sabah is richly blessed with nature diversity, unique cultures, fun adventure, beautiful beaches, and fantastic cuisines for the adventurous taste buds. From mountaineering and scuba diving to wildlife spotting or just simply relaxing at the beach, Sabah is the ultimate place to go. We have it all here, from the world's largest flower, the Rafflesia, to the highest mountain is South East Asia, Mount Kinabalu, to one of the world's best dive sites, Sipadan Island.Not only will you be amazed by the places to see and things to do here, you will also be treated with unique Sabahan hospitality. Explore the unique culture and tradition of Sabah and get ready to experience sweet memories to last a lifetime.
[Copy from Sabah Tourism Board Malaysia]
Discover Sabah
Sabah is famous for their friendly and hospitable people. There are a 32 different ethnic, using more than 50 indigenous languages, plus another 80 or so dialects from the main languages.
The largest group in Sabah comprises the Kadazandusun. The Bajau are the second largest group and Paitanic the third largest. The largest non-indigenous group is Chinese. All these people are since the formation of Malaysia, Malaysian citizens and live together in harmony despite their different ethnic background and various creeds.
In the past, the Dusun people lived a little by outsiders disturbed life. Their societies are defined by close kinship, with the family being the most important unit, followed by the village. Occasional headhunting occured, more for the sake of defense than for reasons of bravery but the motives for this in Borneo widespread.
The most important celebration of Kadazandusun is the harvest festival called 'Pesta Ka'amatan'. It is held during the month of May every year and culminates in two public holidays 30 and 31 May.
In the rugged interior of southern Sabah, along the border with Kalimantan you will find the Murut people. Murut means 'people of the hills' and they can be found right up to Keningau in central Sabah but they have indeed never cultivated the plains. Normally their settlements were on hills close to major rivers and traditionally the Murut live in longhouses. The Dusun also used to live in longhouses but nowadays only the Rungus in the North continue to do so, together with some of the Murut.
The bajau were once known as the sea-gypsies and indeed, they used to live their entire life on boats, the Lipa-Lipa. They were true nomads, and extremely skilled in navigating the seas eventhough they had no compass on their small, richly decorated boats. Bajau only came to land to collect woods, water and to bury their dead. However, over the past few hundred years some Bajau have settled on the mainland, particularly along the west coast of Sabah. While the sea Bajau families tend to be small, the land Bajau have enlarged their families. Even today, a Bajau house tends to be large and spacious. They are still mainly fisherman and often build their houses on stilts into the sea or rivers, such as the Bajau of Kampung Mengkabong.
Ethnic dances
There are many types of traditional dances in Sabah, most notably:
The Geography
> The total forested area in Malaysia is estimated to be just over half of the total land area, occupying 6.4 million hectares in Peninsular Malaysia, 4.4 hectares in Sabah and 9.4 million hectares in Sarawak, much of the forests are gazetted as permanent forest reserves, national and state parks, or other legally protected forests in an effort to conserve the various types of forests for future.
> Sabah, one of the states within the federation of Malaysia, is situated at the northern tip of the island of Borneo, between latitudes 4° and 7° North of the equator. It is the second largest state in Malaysia with a landmass of approximately 7.37 million hectares. Also known as 'Land Below The Wind', Sabah is free from typhoons and hurricanes.
> The climate is marine equatorial, with rainfall ranging between 1700-5100 mm per annum, being greatly influenced by the North-East Monsoon from November to Febuary and the South-West Monsoon from May to August. Sabah is predominantly hilly and can be divided into the following 4 regions :
In the past, the Dusun people lived a little by outsiders disturbed life. Their societies are defined by close kinship, with the family being the most important unit, followed by the village. Occasional headhunting occured, more for the sake of defense than for reasons of bravery but the motives for this in Borneo widespread.
The most important celebration of Kadazandusun is the harvest festival called 'Pesta Ka'amatan'. It is held during the month of May every year and culminates in two public holidays 30 and 31 May.
In the rugged interior of southern Sabah, along the border with Kalimantan you will find the Murut people. Murut means 'people of the hills' and they can be found right up to Keningau in central Sabah but they have indeed never cultivated the plains. Normally their settlements were on hills close to major rivers and traditionally the Murut live in longhouses. The Dusun also used to live in longhouses but nowadays only the Rungus in the North continue to do so, together with some of the Murut.
The bajau were once known as the sea-gypsies and indeed, they used to live their entire life on boats, the Lipa-Lipa. They were true nomads, and extremely skilled in navigating the seas eventhough they had no compass on their small, richly decorated boats. Bajau only came to land to collect woods, water and to bury their dead. However, over the past few hundred years some Bajau have settled on the mainland, particularly along the west coast of Sabah. While the sea Bajau families tend to be small, the land Bajau have enlarged their families. Even today, a Bajau house tends to be large and spacious. They are still mainly fisherman and often build their houses on stilts into the sea or rivers, such as the Bajau of Kampung Mengkabong.Ethnic dances
There are many types of traditional dances in Sabah, most notably:
- Daling-daling: Danced by Bajaus and Suluks. In its original form, it was a dances which combined Arabic belly dancing and the Indian dances common in this region, complete with long artificial finger nails and golden head gear accompanied by a Bajau and Suluk song called daling-daling which is a loved story. Its main characteristic is the large hip and breast swings but nowadays it is danced with a faster tempo but less swings, call igal-igal by the Bajau from Semporna District.
- Sumazau: Kadazandusun traditional dance which performed during weddings and Kaamatan festival. The dance form is akin to a couple of birds flying together.
- Magunatip: Famously known as the Bamboo dance, requires highly skilled dancers to perform. Native dance of the Muruts, but can also be found in different forms and names in South East Asia.
- Nona Mansaya: Call Dansa amongs the Cocos Islanders in Sabah, the dance used violin as the primary instrument and the dance derived from the culture of Scottish and Javanese.
The Geography
> The total forested area in Malaysia is estimated to be just over half of the total land area, occupying 6.4 million hectares in Peninsular Malaysia, 4.4 hectares in Sabah and 9.4 million hectares in Sarawak, much of the forests are gazetted as permanent forest reserves, national and state parks, or other legally protected forests in an effort to conserve the various types of forests for future.
> Sabah, one of the states within the federation of Malaysia, is situated at the northern tip of the island of Borneo, between latitudes 4° and 7° North of the equator. It is the second largest state in Malaysia with a landmass of approximately 7.37 million hectares. Also known as 'Land Below The Wind', Sabah is free from typhoons and hurricanes.
> The climate is marine equatorial, with rainfall ranging between 1700-5100 mm per annum, being greatly influenced by the North-East Monsoon from November to Febuary and the South-West Monsoon from May to August. Sabah is predominantly hilly and can be divided into the following 4 regions :
- The western lowlands contain areas of low, flat ground and include a number of off-shore islands. These lowlands are rather densely inhabited.
- The Crocker Range runs almost parallel to the west coast, extending from the southern end of Marudu Bay in the north and following the coastline 25 kilometres inland, extending southwards along the western part of the Sarawak Border. The population density of this region is very low.
- The central uplands are lower than the Crocker Range but have complex structure. The region is thinly populated and the population mainly comprises shifting cultivators.
- The eastern lowlands containing flat ground and low lying zones and embracing the deltas.
- Lankayan Island.
- Selingan Island ( Turtle Island Park ).
- Layang-layang Island.
- Dinawan Island.
- Tiga Island.
- Sipadan Island.
- Mabul Island.
- Kapalai Island.
- Pom Pom Island.
- Mataking Island.
