Kota Kinabulu Holiday Reviews

In the Nature Reserve at the Shangri-la Rasi Ria there is an hour long walk you can take with the resident horticulturist. He was very knowledgeable and explained various medicinal properties of some of the plant we were seeing.One plant is being studied for its benefits in healing HIV. The native people in Saba have used many of these plants for centuries. They relieve such things as stomach ailments , skin conditions, infections and headache. Some have powerful pain relieving properties. Along with the medicinal plants we saw wonderful tropical rainforest plants as well .Among my favorites are the huge tree ferns and the giant alocasia It is renowned for having among largest undivided leaves of any land plant, with blades reaching up to 4 meters in length and 2.5 meters wide. The leaves are green with distinctive white waxy reverses. A recent botanical survey of Borneo estimated a staggering 5,000 to 6,000 plant species 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. Among these plants are high levels of endemism (i.e. species which are found only here and are not found anywhere else in the world).

This is a great town which we chose not to explore too much as the hotel was so great. But a good place to stop if you are going to the rain forest.

We didn't do much during our stay here, it was all about relaxing so we stayed close to the pool. It was never a problem to get a bed next to the pool. We ate by the pool at lunch and probably the only complaint we have is that the pool area wait staff were rude and very slow - at one point we ordered two glasses of champagne only to wait for 35 minutes - we eventually went to the bar ourselves - there was no apology and no other people waiting. There was also some confusion over happy hours and what was and was not included.

We visited the Orang-utans twice, they were amazing it was wonderful to get so close to them, make sure you visit if you stay, during our second visit we were talking to the keeper and were able to see them very closely. You can stay on the viewing platform for about an hour, most people leavel after about 40 minutes - if you stay until the end you will get better photo's.

We had no problems with sandflies like others have, we walked on the beach everyday and families sunbathed and played without any apparent problems.

The weather was very hot duirng our stay, by the end of the week we were desperate for a storm but one didn't arrive.

The location was beautiful and there were loads of things to do. The prices were reasonable and the food in the restaurants was very delicious. I cannot wait for our return trip there.

I really enjoyed my 3 days Whale Shark Dive trip with Downbelow. Actually this is my second times joining the dive trip. My first dive trip was during October 2008 for my first experince dive in KK. The reason why I'm still choosing them again is because they really offer a 5 star service for their dive centre such as, well maintain dive equipments and dive boats, friendly staff, good safety briefing of the dive sites, and also good meals! I really feel comfortable to dive with them. Oh yeah, forget to mention to you that Richard and their gang are very knowledgeable of the marine life! Especially, Richard he will share his photography skills experience with you! Basically, everyone from the dive centre is great! You will never get bored to dive with them or doing your surface interval!

Beaches-lovely but lots of jelly fish. Cost of food and drink in hotel resort on par with UK. Out of hotel - cheaper.

The town of Kota Kinabalu itself isn't that special. The market is nice for a mooch round but there's not much else to it.