maliau basin

Maliau Basin "Lost World of Sabah" The Lost World is only 200km from Tawau The "Lost World of Sabah" – Maliau Basin is a mysterious forest enclosure that has remained pristine and uninhabited by humans. For those adventurous enough to experience a rarely visited destinations then there’s no better place on earth..... the Maliau Basin

The interesting places in Tawau are all about getting closer to mother nature. The places are for people to get away from their busy lives. Nothing is more relaxing than being far away from the city. Maliau Basin has some of the most beautiful and picturesque waterfalls in Malaysia. Maliau is Located in the south central part of Sabah which is approximately 200km from Tawau and Keningau district (40km north of Kalimantan border). This Basin is almost circular in shape and surrounded by a formidable escarpment of extremely steep slopes of up to 1,500m in height. The Maliau Basin Conservation Area sprawl across 588.4 sq km or 58,840 hectares encompasses the entire Maliau Basin plus additional 198.4 sq km of forested land to the east and north of the rim including the fabled Lake Linumunsut. The saucer shape basin measure a range of 25km in diameter and form through sedimentary inclination beds of sandstone and mudstone. The highest point found here is Mount Lotung (over 1,600m in elevation). Generally known as a basin, Maliau represents a single water catchment and is drained by a set of radiating tributaries of the Maliau River through a gorge out of the southeast of the basin into Kuamut River which in turn feeds into Sabah‘s longest river – the Kinabatangan. Discovery on Maliau Basin was only made in 1947 but successful trip into the surrounding areas only occurred after almost 40 years later. Accommodation facilities are kept in certain areas to avoid having to clear vegetation. Water and bathing facilities are kept in the nearby streams and rivers, electricity is not available. Maliau is a refuge haven for rare and endangered animals such as Sumatran Rhino, Proboscis monkey and the Asian Family genre. So far a total of 69 mammals and at least 231 species plus over 25 species of amphibians have been identified and at least one species that’s completely new to science call Thelphusula sp. Crab has been been identified too. About 500 species of flora have been identified including 6 species of pitcher plants and 80 species of orchids.