Among other things it also contains the granite massif of Mt. Kinabalu at 4,095.2 metres, which is South East Asia's greatest challenge to climbers and its the highest peak in South East Asia.

Having an altitude which varies from 152 metres to 3952 metres above sea level, the vast size of the park enables the preservation of large areas of tropical lowland forest and wildlife, as well as the alpine-like associations of the summit zone.

Here in the Kinabalu Park, preserved for posterity is one of the worlds most unique ecological systems having beauty, splendor and charm to delight any category of visitors from the tired businessman in need of a rest to the restless mountaineer and the nature lover who is eager to study and enjoy  natural treasures.

The Weather here is temperate in nature, and with its refreshing and beautiful environment, the Kinabalu Park with all its inherent attractions is certainly a must for visitors to the state.

Its History: An ordinance of 1962 established the Sabah Park Trustees with the purpose of conserving the scenic, scientific and historic heritage of Sabah for the benefit and enjoyment of its people. The obvious first choice for inclusion in a park system was Mt. Kinabalu, and the Kinabalu Park was gazetted in 1964. This followed over a century of interest in the mountain by naturalist, collectors and adventurers, after the first recorded ascent made in 1851 by Sir Hugh Low, a government officer from Labuan Island. Since the Park's formation, its popularity has increased rapidly, and it attracts many visitors from overseas as well as local people.

Geology: Kinabalu was born only 1.5 million years ago; when a mass of granite rock that had been cooling and hardening under the surface of several million years began to rise and break through the overlying crusts of softer rocks. Erosion by heavy rains and later, by ice and glaciers shaped the new mountain. Kinabalu itself is still rising-one estimate 5mm per year and the landslides on its slopes and rock debris beneath its peaks are evidence of the still-continuing erosion.

Together with the summit pinnacles, the other major feature of Kinabalu's massif is the awe-inspiring chasm of Low's Gully, falling almost 912 metres from the summit plateau. Mt. Kinabalu is not volcanic and the gully is not the remains of a crater. Rather it represents a weak zone in the structure of  the mountain, a fault system that has been a focus for the eroding forces of ice and water.

The powerful forces of Mother Nature for 1.5 million years in which the geological and ecological system evolved today has resulted in a scenic location of remarkable beauty complete with a hot spring which today has been turned into a health spa. Besides this, the slow and gradual evolution has also resulted in a fauna and flora, most of which is unique and found no where else in the world. Such as the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world and the Nepenthes (pitcher plant) and more than 1,000 species of orchids.

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