So I went to Batu Punggul as part of the bucketlist challenge that I put up for myself last year. I had always wanted to come to this place for as long as I could remember, having heard a lot about it from my friends at school especially when I was in my secondary school at SMK Pekan Keningau where quite a majority of students came from the area where this magnificent limestone pillar is located.
I joined a group of strangers, comprised a majority of ladies from Kota Marudu – probably one of the loudest groups that I had ever joined in in a trip. I gotta say they did annoy me in the beginning but then I managed to make peace with myself and decided to just join along. They turned out to be fun to be with when I gave myself a chance to accept the way how they were, instead of expecting them to be how I wanted them to be. Heh.
This nature wonder is located in Sapulut, one of the remotest places in Sabah. Or at least it used to be, but the opening of the main road connecting the district of Keningau (or rather Nabawan) and Tawau had provided quite a much more improvised access to this place compared to how it was before. Yet you need to stay overnight at a village quite near to it so that you can make it early to a boat ride that will take you right to the foot of the pillar. The boat ride itself was already very much part of the fun.
Batu Punggul is probably not the tallest of pillars, but it requires you to climb almost vertically at most parts of the trail. It is more of a rock climbing than a hike. Accidents are so likely to happen, so it requires a great level of focus and concentration to say the least. This is where the local guides are of a good use – even mandatory. Most of them are local youngsters and still attending school.
I don’t remember how long it took for us to reach the top from the bottom, but it should have been less than two hours. It wasn’t the toughest, but I remember thinking it definitely wasn’t for those who are afraid of heights.
The view from atop was magnificent, just as I had imagined it would be. It is surrounded by greenery. The limestones had definitely protected the area from extensive deforestation activities in the past, because it is located in a patch of (almost) intact forest surrounded by palm oil plantations. The sound of nature as I called it was amazing. I think the fact that it was a part of a small patch of forest that was still intact made it such an attractive sanctuary for what there was left of once a massive area of virgin forest.
I spent almost an hour or so at the top of the pillar, doing a lot of cam-whoring of course and enjoying a simple meal provided by the tour guide team as part of the package. Going down was not an easy task either. A simple mis-step could lead to a fatal occurrence and the risk was very much there. I was told that fatal accidents did occur in the past too.
Batu Punggul was great, but a place called Gua Tinahas that we went to later had surprised me so much, not only because it was such a beautiful cave but also the fact that I never heard of it ever before had left me wonder if the tourism industry in Sabah had really done enough to promote it. For one the cave is massive. A simple search on Google would lead you to Gua Gomantong in Kinabatangan as the biggest cave in Sabah but I am pretty sure Gua Tinahas is bigger. The cave chamber required a little bit of hike within itself and I am sure I was not wrong if I said it is quite comparable to those renowned caves in Mulu of Sarawak.
The highlight of the cave is probably the gong rocks that gives out the sound of a gong when it is struck with a wooden mallet or something. The rocks are conveniently located near to the exit, so striking it is like your gracious way of checking yourself out of the cave complex. Somehow, I felt like there was much more to explore of the cave but of course I’d save them probably for another trip. I just wish relevant industries could do more to promote it, because seriously, it really deserves the recognition and people especially Sabahans deserve to know what more is there in store for them to feel blessed about in this beautiful land of Sabah.