Maliau Basin
A Near Circular Basin Ringed By A Cliff Wall, Found From The Air In 1947 When A Pilot Nearly Flew Into It, And Still Only Partly Explored · Tawau, Sabah
IN 1947 A PILOT FLYING OVER CENTRAL SABAH ALMOST PUT HIS AIRCRAFT INTO A CLIFF THAT WAS NOT ON ANY MAP. What he had found was MALIAU: a NEAR-CIRCULAR BASIN some twenty-five kilometres across, RINGED ALMOST ENTIRELY BY AN ESCARPMENT RISING TO SEVENTEEN HUNDRED METRES, draining through a single gap. Inside it is forest that NOBODY HAS EVER LOGGED, FARMED OR SETTLED - there are no indigenous communities inside the rim, which is extraordinary for Borneo - and much of it REMAINS ONLY PARTLY SURVEYED. It is called SABAH'S LOST WORLD and for once the phrase is not marketing. THE SEVEN-TIERED MALIAU FALLS is the image people know. ACCESS IS BY PERMIT AND ARRANGED TRANSFER ONLY, the trails are hard, the leeches are relentless, and you will see far less wildlife than at the Kinabatangan - because here the animals have somewhere else to be. Access is permit and arranged transfer only with hours of logging road at the end, the rim trails are a complete visit in themselves, and the leeches are the worst in Malaysia.
Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Sabah, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia
MALIAU IS ENTERED ONLY BY PERMIT AND PRE-ARRANGED TRANSFER, usually from TAWAU or KOTA KINABALU, and the final approach is HOURS OF LOGGING ROAD - THERE IS NO PUBLIC ACCESS AND NO WALK-IN. Everything runs through the MALIAU BASIN STUDIES CENTRE at the rim, which has accommodation and must be BOOKED WELL AHEAD; visitor numbers are small. TREKS INTO THE BASIN ARE MULTI-DAY, GUIDED, AND GENUINELY HARD - steep, wet, unmarked ground with camps rather than lodges, and a real fitness requirement. DAY VISITORS CAN WALK THE RIM TRAILS AND CANOPY WALKWAY without going in. IT RAINS IN EVERY MONTH. LEECHES ARE RELENTLESS AND THAT IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION. Malaria advice applies. Carry everything; there is nothing inside the rim.