Extract from my Pocket Book THE LAND OF MT. KINABALU . 2nd Edition, available as print on demand or as eBook at http://lulu.com/spotlight/alpeusstephen
Mt. Kinabalu is popularly the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at 4,095.2 metres (13,435 feet). It dominates Kinabalu National Park which was established in 1964 as one of the national parks of Malaysia.
The Park with a size of 754 square kilometres and located on the west coast of Sabah on the Island of Borneo was designated by UNESCO in December 2000 to be Malaysia's first "World Heritage Site" due to its role as one of the world's most important biological sites.
The Park is a natural paradise which is home to incredibly diverse range of flora and fauna. Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, is found here and its giant blossom can reach a diameter of over 80 cm.
The botanical wonders of the Park's Mountain consist of amazing varieties of flora and fauna because they range over four climate zones, that is, from the luxuriant dipterocarp rainforest of the lowland through tropical montane forest of oaks and rhododendrons, moving next to coniferous forests, then to alpine meadows and finally to stunted bushes of the summit zone. The mountain is famous for numerous orchid species that are rare and endemic. It is also habitat to a multitude of animal species that are endemic too.
The hundreds of square kilometres encompassed by the Mountain's surrounding slopes, from sea level up to the jagged granite edges of its many peaks (12 altogether) constitute the Kinabalu National Park.
Today the allure of Mt. Kinabalu on this Park attracts adventurous climbers from all corners of the world. The Park Headquarters is located at its southern boundary with an elevation of 5,000 feet. Visitors' accomodations, restaurants and other facilities are found here including the Park's offices.
The climb up the Mountain is one reason why numerous visitors come to the Park. In spite of its daunting view, Kinabalu is not really hard to climb if it is done for the normal two to three days. Each year thousands of visitors take the expeditive climb and somewhere along the trail of the climb, accomodations are even available, with the highest lodging at the Sayat-Sayat Hut, an elevation of 12,500 feet.
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