Malaysia - DESTINATIONS & HOTELS

Turtle Island National Park

Another of the many wildlife highlights in Sabah is a trip to Turtle Island National Park to watch cumbersome greenback and hawksbill turtles crawl to shore to lay their eggs, truly one of nature’s greatest sights! Far from being just a tourist destination the main aim of Turtle Island National Park is to protect and preserve the breeding ground of these magnificent but endangered animals, tourism revenue just helps towards the cost of the project. On most evenings scores of turtles clumsily haul themselves on to the soft island sands, laboriously dig a hole in the sand and lay their eggs. This can be witnessed at close quarters with a park guide making sure they turtle is stressed as little as possible. The park implements a stringent policy of only allowing a limited number of visitors to see one landing per night and independent spotting on the beaches is strictly prohibited. No torches or flash photography are allowed. The island is also great for snorkelling with a variety of fish and coral, especially on the western side, that will easily pass a few hours whilst waiting for dusk and the main event of the turtle landings. The island is approximately one hour by speedboat from Sandakan.