Where is Sabah?
Borneo is the world’s third largest island and is located at the geographic centre of maritime south-east Asia. Politically the island is divided among three countries. By far the largest area of the landmass is Indonesian territory known as Kalimantan whilst by comparison Brunei takes up only about 1% of the total area of Borneo. The remainder is Malaysian territory and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak form what is known as East Malaysia.
Geographically Sabah occupies the northern part of Borneo island and has a population of some 3.8 million and in terms of size, is a little smaller than Scotland in area. Sabah is five degrees north of the Equator and is hence tropical. Accordingly It’s warm all year round without exception and in KK and other areas that are at sea level the average daytime temperature is around 27C – 32C. By comparison the Kinabalu National Park is around 1500 metres above sea level and is of course cooler with an average daytime temperature of 20C – 25C falling to around 16C – 18C at night whilst at the summit of Mount Kinabalu it may be just 4C – 5C.
Being tropical there is always a possibility that it could rain on any day and January through April is often the period with the least rainfall and if you’re intending to climb Mount Kinabalu October – December are the wetter months.
Putting Sabah on the map, with the red marker showing the capital Kota Kinabalu. As you can see Kuala Lumpa and Singapore are two of the ideal options for stopovers en route to Sabah.
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