Sabah - Borneo - page 127

PERMITS, FEES & GUIDES
A park fee, climbing permit, insurance and a guide fee are mandatory if you intend to
climb Mt Kinabalu. All permits and guides must be arranged at the Sabah Parks office (
7am-7pm) , which is directly next door to the Sutera Sanctuary Lodges office, immedi-
ately on your right after you pass through the main gate of the park. Pay all fees at park
HQ before you climb and don't ponder an 'unofficial' climb as permits (laminated cards
worn on a string necklace) are scrupulously checked at two points you cannot avoid
passing on the way up the mountain.
Virtually every tour operator in KK can hook you up with a trip to the mountain; solo
travellers are often charged around RM1400. It's possible, and a little cheaper, to do it on
your own - but plan ahead. Packages are obviously easier if pricey, so if you find one that
sounds enticing, go for it.
All visitors entering the park are required to pay a park entrance fee: RM15 for adults
and RM10 for children under 18 (Malaysians pay RM3 and RM1, respectively). A climb-
ing permit costs RM100/RM40 for adults/children, while Malaysian nationals pay RM30/
RM12. Climbing insurance costs a flat rate of RM7 per person. Guide fees for the summit
trek cost RM100. Climbers ascending Kinabalu along the Mesilau Trail will pay an extra
RM10 (small group) or RM20 (large group) for their guide. Your guide will be assigned to
you on the morning you begin your hike. If you ask, the park staff will try to attach indi-
vidual travellers to a group so that guide fees can be shared. Couples can expect to be giv-
en their own guide. Guides are mostly Kadazan from a village nearby and many of them
have travelled to the summit several hundred times. Try to ask for a guide who speaks
English - he or she (usually he) might point out a few interesting specimens of plant life.
The path up the mountain is pretty straightforward, and the guides walk behind the slow-
est member of the group, so think of them as safety supervisors rather than trailblazers.
All this does not include at least RM415 for room-and-board on the mountain at Laban
Rata. With said lodging, plus buses or taxis to the park, you're looking at spending over
RM800 for the common two-day, one-night trip to the mountain. That said, you can do a
one-day hike if you show up at the park entrance when it opens (7am) and are judged
physically fit by a ranger. This allows you to cut the cost of lodging, but there are two
catches. First, when we say you need to be fit, we mean fit . A friend - one of those an-
noyingly healthy mountaineers who probably sleepwalks up the Alps - couldn't walk up-
stairs for two days after managing the one-day hike. Second, and more worryingly, there
are rumours the park will discontinue allowing one-day hikes in the future.
Optional extra fees include a taxi ride from the park office to the Timpohon Gate
(RM16.50 per vehicle, one-way, four-person maximum), a climbing certificate (RM10)
and a porter (RM102 per trip to the summit or RM84 to Laban Rata) who can be hired to
carry a maximum load of 10kg.