Holiday in Sabah

With its sprawling grounds, lush green foliage and sparkling river, Tawau Hills Park is the ideal place to get in touch with nature. Located some 24 km from Tawau town, the park is a popular spot for families and friends to enjoy a picnic or, for the more adventurous, spend a night camping under a blanket of stars. The park serves as a vital water catchment area for the major rivers in this part of Sabah, the Tawau , Merotai, Kinabatangan, Mantri and Balung rivers. Covering an area of 27,972 hectares, the Tawau Hills Park was gazetted in 1979. It is home to numerous plant and animal species. Walking down any of the many paths, visitors will notice that a wooden label identifies almost every plant. The dominant vegetation is lowland dipterocarp forest. With increasing altitude (above 1,000 m), a thick damp mossy forest takes over. Lowland orchids are also abundant; the most spectacular is the Elephant's Ear Orchid. Be sure to check out the 2-hectare Lowland Gardens, home to an astou...

The Tagal Murut are the most numerous and widespread of Sabah ’s Murutic people, the third largest community in Sabah . They are found in the interior of southeastern areas of Sabah , in the Sapulut to Pensiangan, Tenom region and close to the borders of Kalimantan and Sarawak . Like other ethnic groups in Sabah , the Tagal Murut community are mostly shifting cultivators and hunters. They are renowned for their system of bridewealth payment. Upon marriage, a man pays bridewealth (known as tinauh) for up to twenty years or throughout the life of the marriage. During an expensive and elaborate five-day marriage solemnization celebration the bride’s parents will name their desired bridewealth in writing; this is then placed in a basket (cavat) filled with uncooked rice. The cavat is sent to the groom’s family by the negotiator (angkuanan). Although the groom’s family must fulfil the requests, they can do via the angkuanan and negotiate to substitute the items to the discret...