Sandakan Attracts Tourists with its History and Natural Heritage
EARLY morning flights from Kota Kinabalu to Sabah’s east coast town of Sandakan are usually full with many of the passengers comprising tourists.
If they are lucky, they will have a breathtaking aerial view of Mount Kinabalu and the highlands surrounding it.
That is just a taste of things to come because the Lower Kinabatangan region is the gateway to some of Sabah’s renowned natural attractions, including the proboscis monkey, Bornean pygmy elephants and the orang utan.
Sepilok, about 30km from Sandakan town, is where the well-known orang utan rehabilitation centre is located.
Here, the primates can be seen in their natural environment, a forest reserve.
Sepilok is also home to the sun bear conservation centre as well as the rainforest discovery centre where visitors can literally walk between jungle treetops.
For the more adventurous, an hour’s boat ride from Sandakan town to the Sulu Sea are three islands — Pulau Selinga, Pulau Bakungan Kecil and Pulau Gulisan — that collectively make up Sabah’s turtle islands.
The turtles are said to land almost every night to lay their eggs on these islands.
In fact, Malaysia’s first turtle hatchery was set up at Pulau Selingan in 1966.
As the first administrative centre of North Borneo (the former name for Sabah),
Sandakan has a number of historical landmarks, some dating back to the late 1800s.
Among them are Masjid Jamek and the Sam Sing Kung temple in the downtown area as well as the St Michael All Angels church nearby.
Another historical landmark is the house where author Agnes Newton Keith lived prior to World War 2.
Keith wrote about her experiences in her book, Land Below the Wind, that has since become a tagline for Sabah.
Sandakan Kapitan Cina or community leader James Leong has witnessed the transformation of his town over the years.
“Whatever the changes, Sandakan will always have that small-town feel. Here, everyone knows each other.”
Source: TheStar
