Mahua Waterfalls

Category: Hill Resorts

The Mahua waterfalls is located 26 km from Tambunan,an important town to the Kadazan-Dusun community.It breeds many outstanding mommunity leaders and is the home to their current Huguan Siou (Paramount Leader) Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Tambunan is 1 hour and a half drive on an uphill road,which is winding but properly sealed and graded.It is a pass in the huge Crocker Range which is the watershed of the island with east coast on one side,and west coast on the other.Here you will discover this is a wide stretch of flat land amongst the surrounding hills,thus forming the "rice bowl" of Sabah.It is also the only gateway between the east coast and the west coast long before any access road was constructed. On the way you will pass by several small resorts which cater for small groups of visitors who want to relax in the cool mountain breeze and fresh air for the weekends. Notably is the Gunung Emas Resort which started as a refreshment stop-over for taxi and truck drivers and served meat of wild animals like foxes,squirrels,snakes,deers and wild boars during weekends.As its popularity grew,it increased the number of rooms and introduced the tree-top huts.

Near Tambunan is situated the Tambunan Rafflesia Garden which boasts of the largest number of naturally grown wild rafflesia buds.

When you leave Tambunan town and head in the direction of Ranau,you will reach a village,Patau after 15 minutes.Further down the road is the waterfalls.

Since the Mahua waterfalls is surrounded by tall rainforest trees the air is cool, temperature can be as low as 15 degree Celsius at night.Mahua falls’ breath-taking scenery is reminiscent of the famous Niagara Falls, which continuously sprays mist as the water crashes into the pool below. The environment, beautiful and serene, is definitely captivating.

The authority,according to Datuk Pairin, is going to have the access road surface properly sealed and scheduled to be completed by July.The fascilities at the site like changing rooms,toilet,hostel and canteen will be upgraded to attract more foreign visitors.There were 5022 visitors to the waterfalls last year,from countries including Canada,USA,Australia,Germany,France,UK,Norway and Brunei.

Datuk Pairin, who is the elected representative for Tambunan constituency, said the government will build more fascilities to lure more visitors to come here and have longer stay which in turns will enhance the local folks' income through sales of their agricultural products , handicrafts and traditional food.