SAPI ISLAND: Longest in the World! (Part 2)

One of the major attraction at Sapi Island is its longest Zip Line in the world! It is also called Coral Flyer or Sky Fox. It is 235 meter long with its starting point at the bigger neighboring island, Gaya. It cut across the sea in between and takes about 20 seconds to glide from one point to the other. It is scary but safe. My grand-daughter age 8 tried it and she enjoyed the ride.  By the way, the Gaya, Sapi, Manukan, Mamutik and Sulug islands are all gazetted under the North Borneo (Sabah) National Park.

Another attraction when arriving at the island is watching the coral fish waiting for visitors to feed them bread or chicken feeds. Thousands will swarm around you if you bring them snacks.I have seen even clown fish abandoned the safety of their dwelling within the poisonous anemone to join up waiting for food. I think the park rangers on this island did discourage tourists from feeding the fish, but since it is part of the attraction, they just let it be.

The water around the island is crystal clear and is an excellent site for scuba diving. Some parts of the island, we can still see the living corals, but many others are already dead and dying. The menace are pollution from Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) and worst of all fish bombing activities from the refugees settlement nearby. The hill on this small island is also a wonderful place to hike. It is covered with small size tropical jungle and there are a lot of wild creatures especially monitor lizard.

The first English romance-thriller from Borneo
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SAPI ISLAND: Island Paradise of Borneo (Part 1)

Sandy part of the island

Sapi means "cow". The reason why this island is called Sapi Island is because from far the island really looked like a cow head! But this island, among the other chain of islands, is indeed beautiful. It is only 15 minutes boat ride from Jesselton Point or Sutera Harbor Resort. Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) is the capital of North Borneo (Sabah). Half of the island is covered with white sandy beach, while the other half is rocky.

And rocky part of the island

The size of Sapi Island is only 25 acres (roughly 10 hectares). Approaching the island, from the distant, the island looked small. Before disembarking on the island, visitors are tempted to think that we can walk around the whole island in 10 minutes or less. Far from it! I think it takes 2 hours or more to cover the entire island on foot. So there is much to see on this island, even though it is small.

From Pulau Sapi, we can see the biggest island off the Jesselton coast, that is Gaya Island. It is roughly towards the north of Sapi. In the south, like the picture above, we can see Manukan and Mamutik. What we can't see from Sapi is Sulug Island and the Sepanggar Island.

But before going for the islands hopping, we would have to start from here; Jesselton Point. I like this place because it gives a historical perspective what was Jesselton all about. Here is where visitors can buy their tickets for the island trips.

The first romance-thriller from Borneo
AVAILABLE AT AMAZON OR BARNES & NOBLE
Search also THE EURASIANS by Don Peter ebook