Mount Kinabalu (Malay: Gunung Kinabalu) is a prominent mountain on the island of
Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and
is protected as Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the highest peak
in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago.
Mount Kinabalu is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographic
prominence. In 1997, a re-survey using satellite technology established its summit
(known as Low's Peak) height at 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) above sea level, which
is some 6 metres (20 ft) less than the previously thought and hitherto published
figure of 4,101 metres (13,455 ft). Mount Kinabalu includes the Kinabalu montane
alpine meadows ecoregion in the montane grasslands and scrublands biome. The mountain
and its surroundings are among the most important biological sites in the world,
with between 5000 and 6000 species of plants, 326 species of birds, and more than
100 mammalian species identified. Among this rich collection of wildlife are famous
species such as the gigantic Rafflesia plants and the orangutan. Mount Kinabalu
has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status. Low's Peak can be climbed quite
easily by a person in good physical condition and there is no need for mountaineering
equipment at any point on the main route. Other peaks along the massif, however,
require rock climbing skills.
History :-
British colonial administrator Hugh Low made the first recorded ascent of Mount
Kinabalu's summit plateau in March 1851. Low did not scale the mountain's highest
peak, however, considering it "inaccessible to any but winged animals". In April
and July 1858, Low was accompanied on two further ascents by Spenser St. John, the
British Consul in Brunei. The highest point of Mount Kinabalu was finally reached
in 1888 by zoologist John Whitehead. British botanist Lilian Gibbs became the first
woman and the first botanist to summit Mount Kinabalu in February 1910. Botanist
E. J. H. Corner led two important expeditions of the Royal Society of Great Britain
to the mountain in 1961 and 1964. Kinabalu National Park was established in 1964.
The park was designated a natural World Heritage Site in 2000.
Climbing route :-
Climbers must be accompanied by accredited guides at all times due to national park
regulations. There are two main starting points for the climb: the Timpohon Gate
(located 5.5 km from Kinabalu Park Headquarters, at an altitude of 1,866 metres
(6,122 ft)), and the Mesilau Nature Resort. The latter starting point is slightly
higher in elevation, but crosses a ridge, adding about two kilometres to the ascent
and making the total elevation gain slightly higher. The two trails meet about two
kilometres before Laban Rata. Accommodation is available inside the park or outside
near the headquarters. Sabah Parks has privatised Mount Kinabalu activities to an
organisation called Sutera Sanctuary Lodges (also known as Sutera Harbour). The
mountain may be climbed on a single day trip, or hikers may (usually) stay one night
at Laban Rata Resthouse at 3,270 metres (10,730 ft) to complete the climb in 2 days,
finishing the ascent and descending on the second day. The majority of climbers
begin the ascent on day one of a two-day hike from Timpohon gate at 1,866 metres
(6,122 ft), reaching this location either by minibus or by walking, and then walk
to Laban Rata. Most people accomplish this part of the climb in 3 to 6 hours. Since
there are no roads, the supplies for the Laban Rata Resthouse are carried by porters,
who bring up to 35 kilograms of supplies on their backs. Hot food and beverages
are available at Laban Rata. Most rooms have no hot water in the bathrooms and whilst
the dining area is heated, most rooms are not. The last 2 kilometres (6,600 ft),
from the Laban Rata Resthouse at 3,270 metres (10,730 ft) to Low's Peak (summit)
at 4,095.2 metres (13,436 ft), takes between 2 and 4 hours. The last part of the
climb is on naked granite rock. Given the high altitude, some people may suffer
from altitude sickness and should return immediately to the bottom of the mountain,
as breathing and any further movement becomes increasingly difficult. Staying overnight
at the lodges before the climb and climbing at a lower rate of ascend appear to
reduce the likelihood of altitude sickness.
Biology :-
Significantly, Mount Kinabalu along with other upland areas of the Crocker Range
is well-known worldwide for its tremendous botanical and biological species biodiversity
with plants of Himalayan, Australasian, and Indomalayan origin. A recent botanical
survey of the mountain estimated a staggering 5,000 to 6,000 plant species (excluding
mosses and liverworts but including ferns), which is more than all of Europe and
North America (excluding tropical regions of Mexico) combined. It is therefore one
of the world's most important biological sites.
Flora :-
The flora covers the mountain in zones of different types of habitat as one climbs
up, beginning with a lowland belt of fig trees and insectivorous pitcher plants.
Then between 2,600 to 3,200 m (8,530 to 10,499 ft) is a layer of short trees such
the conifer Dacrydium gibbsiae and dwarf shrubs, mosses, lichens, liverworts, and
ferns. Finally many of the world's richest variety of orchids are found on the high
rockier slopes. These plants have high levels of endemism (i.e. species which are
found only within Kinabalu Park and are not found anywhere else in the world). The
orchids are the best-known example with over 800 species including some of the highly-valued
Paphiopedilum slipper orchids, but there are also over 600 species of ferns (more
than the whole of Africa's 500 species) of which 50 are found nowhere else, and
the richest collection in the world for the Nepenthes pitcher plants (five of the
thirteen are found nowhere else on earth) which reach spectacular proportions (the
largest-pitchered in the world being the endemic Nepenthes rajah). The parasitic
Rafflesia plant, which has the largest single flower in the world, is also found
in Kinabalu (particularly Rafflesia keithii whose flower grows to 94 centimetres
(37 in) in diameter), though it should be noted that blooms of the flower are rare
and difficult to find. Meanwhile another Rafflesia species, Rafflesia tengku-adlinii,
can be found on the neighbouring Mount Trus Madi and the nearby Maliau Basin.It’s
incredible biodiversity in plant life is due to a combination of several unique
factors: its setting in one of the richest plant regions of the world (the tropical
biogeographical region known as western Malesia which comprises the island of Sumatra,
the Malay Peninsula, and the island of Borneo), the fact that the mountain covers
a wide climatic range from near sea level to freezing ground conditions near the
summit, the jagged terrain and diversity of rocks and soils, the high levels of
rainfall (averaging about 2,700 millimetres (110 in) a year at park HQ), and the
climatic instability caused by periods of glaciation and catastrophic droughts which
result in evolution and speciation. This diversity is greatest in the lowland regions
(consisting of lowland dipterocarp forests, so called because the tree family Dipterocarpaceae
are dominant). However, most of Kinabalu's endemic species are found in the mountain
forests, particularly on ultramafic soils (i.e. soils which are low in phosphates
and high in iron and metals poisonous to many plants; this high toxic content gave
rise to the development of distinctive plant species found nowhere else).
Fauna :-
The variety of plant life is also habitat for a great variety of birds and animals.
There are some 326 species of birds in Kinabalu Park, including the spectacular
Rhinoceros Hornbill, Mountain Serpent-eagle, Dulit Frogmouth, Eyebrowed Jungle Flycatcher,
and Bare-headed Laughingthrush. Twenty-four birds are mainly found on the mountain
and one, the Bornean Spiderhunter, is a pure endemic. The mountain is home to some
100 mammalian species mostly living high in the trees, including one of the four
great apes, the orangutan (though sightings of these are uncommon; estimates of
its numbers in the park range from 25 to 120). Other mammals include three kinds
of deer, the Malayan Weasel (Mustela nudipes), Oriental Small-clawed Otter (Aonyx
cinerea), and Leopard Cat (Felis bengalensis). Endemic mammals include the Black
Shrew (Suncus ater) and Bornean Ferret-badger (Melogale everetti). Endemic annelids
number less than a dozen known species but include the Kinabalu giant red leech
that preys on various earthworms, including the Kinabalu giant earthworm. The steep
mountainsides with poor soil are not suitable for farming or for the timber industry
so the habitats and animal life of Kinabalu remain largely intact, with about a
third of the original habitat now degraded. Kinabalu Park was established in 1964
and the nearby mountains were protected as the Crocker Range National Park in 1984.
However even national park status does not guarantee full protection, as logging
permits were granted on Trus Madi in 1984.
Geology :-
Mount Kinabalu is essentially a massive pluton formed from granodiorite which is
intrusive into sedimentary and ultrabasic rocks, and forms the central part, or
core, of the Kinabalu massif. The granodiorite is intrusive into strongly folded
strata, probably of Eocene to Miocene age, and associated ultrabasic and basic igneous
rocks. It was pushed up from the earth's crust as molten rock millions of years
ago. In geological terms, it is a very young mountain as the granodiorite cooled
and hardened only about 10 million years ago. The present landform is considered
to be a mid-Pliocene peneplain, arched and deeply dissected, through which the Kinabalu
granodiorite body has risen in isostatic adjustment. It is still pushing up at the
rate of 5 mm per annum. During the Pleistocene Epoch of about 100,000 years ago,
the massive mountain was covered by huge sheets of ice and glaciers which flowed
down its slopes, scouring its surface in the process and creating the 1,800-metre
(5,900 ft) deep Low's Gully (named after Hugh Low) on its north side. Its granite
composition and the glacial formative processes are readily apparent when viewing
its craggy rocky peaks.