Kinabatangan River

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Kinabatangan River
Boating down Kinabatangan River
View of the river.
Orographie-Sabah-Kinabatangan.png
The river source and tributaries in dark blue colour.
Native nameSungai Kinabatangan  (Malay)
Location
Country Malaysia
State Sabah
DivisionSandakan Division
Precise locationNortheastern Borneo
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationFrom mountains in Tongod District
Mouth 
 • location
At Kinabatangan District into Sulu Sea
 • coordinates
5°37′34.1″N 118°34′21.4″E / 5.626139°N 118.572611°E / 5.626139; 118.572611Coordinates: 5°37′34.1″N 118°34′21.4″E / 5.626139°N 118.572611°E / 5.626139; 118.572611
 • elevation
Sea level
Length560 km (350 mi)[1]
Basin size16,800 km2 (6,487 sq mi)[2][3]
Basin features
River systemCrocker Range[4] and Maliau Basin[5]

The Kinabatangan River (Malay: Sungai Kinabatangan) is a river in Sandakan Division, northeastern Sabah of Malaysia. It is the second longest river in Malaysia with a length of 560 km (350 mi) from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its outlet at the Sulu Sea, east of Sandakan.[n 1] The area is known for its high-biodiversity habitats including its limestone caves at Gomantong hill, dryland dipterocarp forests, riverine forest, freshwater swamp forest, oxbow lakes and salty mangrove swamps near the coast.

Etymology and history[]

With the early Chinese traders settlement around the river mouth area,[7][8] the name "Kina Batañgan" has been used by indigenous people with the word "Kina" itself is a reference by indigenous Dusun for the Chinese people.[9][10] The Orang Sungai traditionally lived along the river banks and of mixed ancestry including Dusun, Suluk, Bugis, Bajau as well the Chinese.[5] The earliest Chinese traders settlement on the banks of Kinabatangan River has been established since the 7th century where they trade in edible-nest swiftlet, beeswax, rattan and ivory.[5][8][9] In the 15th century, a sister of the Chinese Kinabatangan settlement leader married with the Sultan of Brunei.[5][11][12] During the era of British North Borneo, the river serves as the route for goods and timber exports, navigable for steam launches as well for smaller boats.[13] William Burgess Pryer did attempt to establish a market at one location called Domingol in the river coast but the plan did not flourish.[14]

Geology and ecology[]

The river area including Labang and Kuamut are form since the Early and Middle Miocene period while large parts of its river system from the Maliau Basin is form during the Early and Late Miocene.[15][16] Towards the river mouth, the area is made of Middle Miocene chaotic deposits.[16] The ecology of the upper reaches of the river has been severely disrupted by excessive logging and clearing of land for plantations although the original lowland forests and mangrove swamps near the coast have largely survived, provide sanctuary for a population of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) and contain some of Borneo's highest concentrations of wildlife.[17] In many villages along the river, the demand for freshwater fish always high where the livehood of the villagers greatly depend on the income from their catches.[18] Each year, the lashing rains of the northeast monsoon cause the river to swell rapidly.[3] Unable to disgorge into the sea quickly enough, the river frequently overflows its banks and spreads across the flat land of its lower reaches, creating a huge floodplain.[5]

Conservation efforts[]

In 1997, 270 km2 (104 sq mi) of the lower Kinabatangan floodplain were declared a protected area.[19] Much of the deeper river area are protected under the Lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary, a 28,000 hectares (69,190 acres) reserve established in 1999 which provides a variety of habitats for flora especially freshwater swamp forest, mangrove, palms and bamboo as well fauna such as hose's langur, proboscis monkey, orangutan, pig-tailed macaque, gibbon, slow loris, elephant and rhinoceros.[5] In 2001, the lower Kinabatangan floodplain was upgraded into bird sanctuary area through the efforts of non-governmental organisation (NGOs).[19] Following media attention after a decapitated elephant's head was found floating down the river in 2006, the protected area been gazetted as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary through the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment of 1997 under the purview of the Sabah Wildlife Department in 2009.[19][20]

Since the modern era in the early 1950s until 1987, the lower Kinabatangan area has been subjected to commercial logging activities and more than 60,000 hectares (148,263 acres) of its lowland rainforest has been developed into cocoa and palm oil plantations.[3] This resulted in severe pollution to the river which have greatly affected the life of villagers who depended their livelihood on the river and attracting the attention of Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment Department of the government of Sabah.[21] In 2011, Nestlé launch a reforestation project of the riparian along the Kinabatangan River in Sukau to create a landscape where people, nature and agriculture activities can co-exist harmoniously in their need for water.[22] Most nature tourism is the Kinabatangan River area is concentrated around Sukau since it is accessible by road and offering comfortable accommodation to visitors prepared to pay for well-managed tours.[23]

Accessibility[]

The only bridge crossing the river is located at Federal Route Jkr-ft13.svg, about 108 km (67 mi) from Sandakan. A 350 m (1,150 ft) bridge linking Sukau with Litang and Tommanggong was planned but cancelled in April 2017 after opposition from conservationists including David Attenborough due to potential adverse effect on the local pygmy elephant population.[24][25] The river can be visited all year round, though it is often flooded during the wettest part of the year in December and January. From April to October during the main flowering and fruiting season, the climate is generally fairly dry and a good time to spot many birds and animals. During the northeast monsoon from November to March, there are often heavy showers during the afternoons which usually extended until December and January. Through the rainy season, it is possible to negotiate many of the river channels leading into the oxbow lakes, where there is a greater concentration of wildlife.[26]

  • The river in 1984.

  • A signboard on a road bridge passing the river.

  • The river seen from far.

  • Vegetation along the river.

  • Bornean clouded leopard along the lower part of the river.

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Kinabatangan River with 560 km (350 mi) length is the second longest river in Malaysia after the 563 km (350 mi) Rajang River in neighbouring Sarawak.[1][6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Awang Azfar Awang Ali Bahar (2004). "Frequency Analysis of Riverflow in Sabah and Sarawak" (PDF). Civil Engineering Programme: 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Universiti Teknologi Petronas.
  2. ^ "National Register of River Basins [List of River Basin Management Units (RBMU) – Sabah]" (PDF). Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia. 2003. p. 34. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Sahana Harun; Ramzah Dambul; Harun Abdullah; Maryati Mohamed (2014). "Spatial and seasonal variations in surface water quality of the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment, Sabah, Malaysia" (PDF). Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation: 118. ISSN 1823-3902. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
  4. ^ Tamara Thiessen (2008). Bradt Travel Guide – Borneo. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-84162-252-1.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Fanny Lai; Bjorn Olesen (16 August 2016). Visual Celebration of Borneo's Wildlife. Tuttle Publishing. p. 409−419. ISBN 978-1-4629-1907-9.
  6. ^ "Sarawak's Rajang River Delta". NASA Earth Observatory. 2016. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. ^ David Levinson (1993). Encyclopedia of World Cultures. G.K. Hall. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-8168-8840-5.
  8. ^ a b Melvin Ember; Carol R. Ember (1999). Cultures of the world: selections from the ten-volume encyclopedia of world cultures. Macmillan Library Reference. p. 244. ISBN 9780028653679.
  9. ^ a b Sir Spenser St. John (1863). Life in the Forests of the Far East. Smith, Elder and Company. p. 327.
  10. ^ Kam Hing Lee; Chee Beng Tan (2000). The Chinese in Malaysia. Oxford University Press. p. 383. ISBN 978-983-56-0056-2.
  11. ^ Robert Nicholl (1995). From Buckfast to Borneo: Essays Presented to Father Robert Nicholl on the 85th Anniversary of His Birth, 27 March 1995. University of Hull. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-85958-836-2.
  12. ^ "Sultan-Sultan Brunei" [Sultans of Brunei] (in Malay). Government of Brunei. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  13. ^ David Sunderland (5 July 2017). British Economic Development in South East Asia, 1880–1939. Taylor & Francis. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-351-57306-1.
  14. ^ Henry Ling Roth (2012). The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 209. ISBN 978-3-86403-425-1.
  15. ^ Allagu Balaguru; Gary Nichols; Robert Hall (2003). "The origin of the 'circular basins' of Sabah, Malaysia" (PDF). Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Royal Holloway University of London: 337. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Geological Society of Malaysia.
  16. ^ a b Allagu Balaguru; Gary Nichols; Robert Hall (2003). "Tertiary stratigraphy and basin evolution of southern Sabah: implications for the tectono-stratigraphic evolution of Sabah, Malaysia" (PDF). Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia, Royal Holloway University of London: 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Geological Society of Malaysia.
  17. ^ Michelle Nordkvist (2003). "Anthropogenic disturbance along the Kinabatangan River in Borneo, Malaysia and the distribution and abundance of the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)" (PDF). The Tropical Ecology Minor Field Study Working Group, Committee of Tropical Ecology. ISSN 1653-5634. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Uppsala University.
  18. ^ Uwe Tietze; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2007). Credit and Microfinance Needs in Inland Capture Fisheries Development and Conservation in Asia. Food & Agriculture Org. p. 131. ISBN 978-92-5-105756-8.
  19. ^ a b c "Borneo's Kinabatangan [The River of Life]" (PDF). Anima Mundi. 2017. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  20. ^ "Box 2. Kinabatangan – Corridor of Life (a case study)" (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019 – via Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources, Malaysia.
  21. ^ Kamar Nor Aini Kamarul Zaman (24 September 2007). "Kinabatangan River Needs Rescue From Pollution". Bernama. Malaysian Palm Oil Board. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  22. ^ "Nestlé brings RiLeaf to the Kinabatangan River" (Press release). Nestlé. 26 September 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  23. ^ Charlotte J. Fletcher (2009). "Conservation, livelihoods and the role of tourism: a case study of Sukau village in the Lower Kinabatangan District, Sabah, Malaysia". hdl:10182/1339. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  24. ^ John C. Cannon (3 May 2017). "Over the bridge: The battle for the future of the Kinabatangan". Mongabay. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  25. ^ Jeremy Hance (21 April 2017). "David Attenborough's 'Guardian headline' halts Borneo bridge". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  26. ^ Billy Kon; King Li Lee (2004). Borneo's Tropical Eden: Sabah. Simply Green. p. 122. ISBN 978-981-05-1412-9.

Further reading[]

  • "Kompendium (Data dan Maklumat Asas JPS)" [Compendium (DID Basic Data and Information)] (PDF) (in Malay). Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia. 2018: 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links[]

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