More from our anniversary celebration at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Our last day in Kota Kinabalu was spent hopping the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP). Our first destination was Sapi Island.

Sapi Island is located beside Gaya Island. In fact, during low tide, you can cross a sand bar to reach Pulau Gaya. Momow and I noticed that the beaches in TARP and in Tanjung Aru had fine white sand, almost like Boracay’s. The water is pretty clear too. We tried the jungle trek and snorkeling, as well as had our lunch in Pulau Sapi.

More from our anniversary celebration at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Our last day in Kota Kinabalu was spent hopping the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP).

TARP is made up of 5 islands, namely Mamutik, Sulug, Manukan, Gaya & Sapi. These names relate to each of the island’s history. The largest island, Gaya meant “big.” Manukan meant “fish,” while Mamutik related to “shell collection.” Pulau Sapi meant “Cow Island” or related to the sound of a mowing buffalo. Pulau Sulug is commemorative of the ancestry of the Sulu peoples of Sabah. TARP was gazetted as Sabah’s second national park.

We opted to go to Pulau Sapi and Pulau Mamutik. But some of our french boat mates were headed to Pulau Gaya, so we had to drop them off first. Here’s the dock at Pulau Gaya. 

More from our anniversary celebration at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

For this trip, we stayed at a hotel a stone’s throw away from Tanjung Aru Beach, which boasts of the most beautiful sunset in the whole of KK. But given our hectic itinerary, I only had one afternoon available to take a picture of the sunset. Our city tour took us longer than we expected, and by the time we got to Tanjung Aru beach, I had already missed the sunset by 5-10 minutes. Still, we got to catch a bit of the golden colors.

The sand at Tanjung Aru beach is pretty white and fine, ALMOST comparable to our very own Boracay! But I didn’t see a lot of people taking a dip in the waters.

More from our anniversary celebration at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Signal Hill (Bukit Bendara) is one of the highest points in KK city proper, so they built an observation deck which is one of the best spots to get a good view of Kota Kinabalu city. You can take a taxi to the observation deck, or you can try the jungle trek where you scale the side of Signal Hill.

More of our DIY (no teksi) city tour of Kota Kinabalu during our anniversary celebration at KK, Malaysia. Across Gaya Street is the Atkinson Clock Tower, a popular landmark in KK. Just our luck, when we went there, the tower was being renovated!

The signage near the tower said: The Atkinson Clock Tower is one of the oldest buildings in Kota Kinabalu (formerly Jesselton). Completed in 1905 after two years of construction work, it was built to commemorate the city’s first district officer, Francis Gorge Atkinson, who died at the age of 28 from “Borneo Fever.”

Built with public donations and of merbau timber, the tower has been repaired several times by the city council. It was refurbished in 1959 to celebrate the city’s diamond jubilee. It is said that the original clock, a double-face clock that was a gift from his mother to Atkinson, was replaced in 1964. The tower once served as a lighthouse to guide sailors, when it was nearer the coast. It was designated a heritage site in 1998.