Guas Nabalu Homestay

This off beaten trail believed to be the 1st trail used by climbers in the past to climb the famous Mt. Kinabalu before the current trail was set up. This trail have some of the most amazing trekking trails with breath taking views of MountKinabalu and a unique mix of flora and fauna. The trek takes you through forest interspersed by grassy fields, rice paddies, small fruit farms and jungle shelters. There will be steep climbing both uphill and down, hot open trails and great shady sections making the trek both challenging and very satisfying. You will pass huge dipterocarp trees and strangler figs, dripping with lianas, orchids, pitcher plants and wild jungle fruits.

The end point of this ancient gateway is called Minitinduk George. The topside of the George is about 100m from its base. The legend said that, a very long time ago people could leap across the George because it was narrow enough. As time goes by, its side widen due to erosion but local people think otherwise. There's a story why it is widen according to old local folks. I will tell this story in my next entry (perhaps!). In the local dialect, minitinduk means "two chicken's beaks meeting". Lets have a look at some of Minitinduk George photos.

A "V" shape Minitinduk George, the ancient gateway from distance.

Base of Minitinduk George.

This photo was taken on top of the George itself.

Lets learn some of the history of the Minitinduk itself now. In 1851, Sir Hugh Low ascended Mt. Kinabalu and until recently, the trail he and his native entourage took was a holy grail. Even though he didn't reach the summit, the highest peak was named after him by another British, Sir John Whitehead whom actually was the first European to set foot on the summit, in 1888. The first woman to set foot on Low's Peak was Lillian Gibbs in 1910.

The trail today that tourist take to reach the summit is not nearly the same. It was founded in 1924 by R.F. Evan and Sarel. The trail starts from the Tinompok Ridge through the Timpohon Pass but no one was sure where exactly the original or ancient trail to mountain was. After months of research conducted by 3 Sabah Society members, going through journals written by the early explorers, there were mention of the geographical features along their journeys.

1.Start from a village called Kiau

2.Along cascading river

3.An overhanging rock

4.Passing through a gorge

5.A tall cascading waterfall

6.A much larger overhanging rock

7.Mountain swamp

The 3 Society members who traced and walked on the ancient trail of the early explorers are; (You can read their adventure in the book, co written by them, titled "The Hugh Low Trail").

1.Dr. ChinShui Hiung

2.Dr. RaviMandalam
3.Christopher Chin

This ancient trail, coincidentally, meets the present trail at the 3rd Shelter called Lowii. There is another trail leading to the mountain, connected at the last shelter, Paka. This trail walks along the Kiau Spur and was first traced in 1995 by an expedition led by the Outbound School. Below is the ancient trail according to them.

From Kiau to summit.

OK, that's some of the history info that I got from Internet. Personally, I think that it's a very interesting story and has a huge potential to be explored. Tourists love history and nature and we, Guas Nabalu Homestay will bring this to them. Here are some more photos along the way to Minitinduk George, the ancient gateway.