Tabin Wildlife Conservation Conquest

Site Category : Wild Life Reserve Tabin is near Lahad Datu which is about 45-minutes travel by air away from Kota Kinabalu. Malayisa's largest wildlife reserve is located at Tabin.In order to attract visitors and make the public to be aware of the importance of wildlife reserves, an interesting and action-packed competition is held within the largest wildlife reserve in Malaysia.Fun filled activities including :

• Test of skills on traditional weapons
• Jungle running with obstacles
• Treasure hunting
• The unique mud man parade

This 2-day 1- night event has specially designed a race route that allows participants to discover the many facet of Tabin’s beauty and raise their awareness on environment and nature conservation. Requiring only moderate degree of physical fitness, contestants are requied to cover their bodies and faces, decorating their hairs with flowers and leaves. Several of the contestants were foreign visitors from countries like the UK, France who initially intended just to watch the events but were tempted by the promises of great funs and persuded to take part eventually. When asked they admited were glad that they participated because it was good fun. The conquest crowns the annual Tabin Mud King, Mud Queen and Mud Warrior as the best contestants..

The 20th TM Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon 2006

Site Category : Adventures/Sports The 20th (TM) Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon 2006 is open for registration now. All local and overseas high altitude racing enthusiasts are urged to register early to avoid disappointment Acclaimed as world’s toughest racing on high altitudes event, The 20th TM Mt Kinabalu International Climbathon 2006 is fixed to be held on September 30 and October 01 2006. The event categories on the first day will be the Men Veteran category and the Women Open category, while that on the second day will be the Men Open category. Please note that there will be a new restriction to be introduced this year, that is: the climbathon will cap at 150 (one hundred and fifty persons only). This is to prevent excessive damages to the fragile vegetations on both sides of mountain path leading to the summit that may incur if too many people tramping on the path at any one time are allowed. The Secretary of the organizing committee, Zachary Mobijohn, disclosed the above new rule and reiterated that late comers will be rejected once the maximum number (150) of participants is reached. This annual race, which tests one’s courage and ultimate body strength, attracted many world’s top high altitudes racers to face the challenges offered by this 4095.2 meters high Mt Kinabalu yearly. Another important reason for them to take part in this event is because it is sanctioned by the 7-series Federation for Sport at Altitude’s (FSA) Skyrunning World Championship. This happens to be the final leg of the 7-series circuit, hence the deciding and crucial race. It is learned that Mt Kinabalu is one of the few mountains, which does not require special kills and equipment to surmount, in the world. The distance for each race category is 21 km which has its starting point at the Kinabalu National Park, up the summit and return back to the finish line also at the National Park. The competitors will face challenges from the nature such as wet grounds, precarious cliffs, wooden stair-steps, bridges, steep high grounds etc. On top of that, this event is held during the rainy season each year, making it a true long torturous test for all the contestants. Therefore only the fittest and strongest willed challengers will become the final victors. The new sponsorer, Telekom Malaysia (TM), which replaces the previous long-time sponsorer, Malaysia Airline System (MAS), will donate RM30,000.00 cash prizes and RM10,000.00 worth in kinds. Those who are interested to participate please obtain the registration forms from the counters of

• Sabah Tourism Promotion Board
• Sabah Sri Tours Sdn Bhd

Or from this URL : http://www.sabahtourism.com/climbathon06/index.html For further information please contact through phone : 6088-232121 (Mr Zachary MobiJohn) Or E-mail balwant@sabahtourism.com

Sabah Tea Adventures Race (STAR)

Site Category : Adventures Sports The 4th Sabah Tea Adventures Race (STAR) organised by the Sabah Tea Plantations Sdn Bhd was a great success. It attarcted participants from the neighbouring countries like Australia,Japan,Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. As this race was held in the cool and scenic settings of the tea plantations at Kundasang on the foot hills of majestic Mount Kinabalu, family members of many competitors accompanied them here. They will explore the scenery and rainforests while their loved ones are testing their cycling skills and speed amongst the green hills. The Culture, Tourism and Environment Minister, Datuk Chong Kah Kiat, suggested that the organising committee should consider holding a mini carnival on the side, showing performances by cultural groups, putting up stalls of handicrafts, local cuisines and fruits to attract more family memebers to come with the competitors.

Sipadan Project Scrapped

Good News! The Sabah state cabinet has decided to scrap the RM4.5 milion project on the Sipadan Island which caused damages to the surrounding environment, especially the coral reefs. The authorithy concerned claims that this amount was planned to provide the barest minimum of facility for divers. If that was true the planned wash-room will be most expensive one in the whole world. Imagine, a RM4.5 millions wash-room! Guess it will be costlier than purchasing a few decompression chambers. The authorithy should understand that tourists are attracted here by our natural senery, unique multi-racial cultures and the variety of local exotic cuisines, not by man-made posh hotels and facilities. Definitely we are in no position to compete with reputable hoteliers in other parts of the world in offering high quality hotels services and facilities. We should know our limitations as well as strong points, stop wasting money on building expensive hotels and resorts, use the money wisely to improve and protect our nature and environment, in turns attract more visitors who bring in revenues to us.