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If you are in Kota Kinabalu (KK) town and have half a day’s time to kill, why not consider island hopping at Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) Islands? Just 5 minutes walking distance from Gaya Street or max 20 minutes if you stay around Kampung Ayer or Sinsuran, head north towards Jalan Haji Saman until you see Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal (next to Customs building). 


As you arrive, get your ticket from the first building on your right. Decide which island you want to go – Gaya, Manukan, Sapi or Mamutik (they have catalogue with pictures of island at the counter). Island hopping with choice of 2 or 3 islands are possible. We paid for single island, Manukan - cost us RM17.00 per person. Do factor in another RM6.00 per person for terminal fee, payable at counter 2. Return time is also flexible – just ask staff at the counter for pick up time and make advance arrangement.

Here, ticket to Labuan island is also available. Journey to Labuan takes 2.5 hours and please refer below for ticket fare and departure time.

To Manukan island, there were eight of us in the boat, the journey took merely 15 minutes. The boatman dropped us at the wooden jetty, off the boat we were greeted by friendly fishes and clear aquamarine water.


After paying RM3.00 per person for marine conservation fee, we walked around the island. Manukan, being the 2nd largest island after Gaya Island is not that huge either, it is only about 0.5 square kilometers. 


However, for beach lovers and amateur swimmers, this place is a heaven as the water is shallow and waves are not that strong – perfect for snorkeling.  Snorkeling gears, floating board and life jacket can be rented here. There are also beach life guards manning the coastline.

What caught our attention is these 4 feet tall machine that looks like a scooter with a mushroom-like helmet and oxygen tanks and balloon attached to it.

It turned out to be ‘Scuba–Doo’, a scuba-diving equipment for rental. SCUBA is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. For half an hour, rental fee is RM180 per person. An underwater diver can handle one or two SCUBA at one time and these scooters can go to as low as 5 meters from water surface.

As we didn’t bring our swimming suits, we couldn’t try any water activities. Instead, we went for 1500 meters jungle-trekking. According to the sign, there is a sunset point at the end of the trek, so we decided to check out this place.

The trail is easy as it is well-laid with bricks with mostly ascending at the beginning. Do, however watch out for forest lizards, we encountered no less than 20 of these lizards throughout our trekking, with the largest one being 2 meters long! Other than that, the scenery is worth our time. Check out these pictures (below) yourself!


Oh yeah, have I mentioned that they have a resort here too – for those who are keen to overnight here. However, it is rather pricey. For Malaysian citizen, rate starts from RM1966 for a room of two persons. For further details, check out at Sutera Sanctuary Lodges.   

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written by Ryan , June 18, 2009

Very informative. Me and my partner will be heading to KK from the Philippines for our annual international travel end of July. This will help a lot. Are the prices updated? How much is a beer in one of the resorts?

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written by Grace , June 21, 2009

Ryan, Sorry for late reply as I was away. The price shown here is updated as of March 2009. For the beer in Manukan Island, the cost is more expensive than what we can get in KK. Unlike Labuan, Manukan is not a duty-free island.

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