The Poring
Hot Springs ranger station lying 40 kilometers (25 miles)
from Kinabalu Park HQ
in the humid lowlands is a complete contrast to
the cool environment of Kinabalu Park HQ. The sealed road to Poring
leads past the cabbage and flower farms of Kundasang and beyond to the
town of Ranau and the lowlands.
From the road just beyond Kundasang,
magnificent vistas can be had on a clear day of the mountain's eastern
summit and long eastern ridge. The bare scar of the recently closed
Mamut Copper Mine can be seen on th eastern flank of the mountain and
once past Ranau the mine's huge sludge pond becomes visible in the
distance.
The road leads past the sludge pond
before turning in towards the
mountain again and to Poring itself, which can be recognised by the
ever increasing number of local gift stalls that have been set up just
outside the entrance gate. A speciality here is the variety of
beautiful rock souvenirs ranging from jade-green malachite and golden
pyrites through purply-gold iridescent peacock-ore to stark black and
white granite.
The headquarters of the Poring Hot
Springs ranger station, at an
elevation of 550 meters (1,800 feet), lies on the Park boundry at the
edge of Mamut river. Offices, visitor chalets and hostels are situated
here as well as the Orchid Conservation Centre and the fenced
5 acre
tropical garden nearby containing an animal rehabilitation centre. The
main attractions here are the hot and cool pools in a forest clearing
on the other side of Mamut river.
Within 1 1/4 hectre (3 acre)
area
there are 5 hot springs with temperature ranging from 49º to
60º C (120º to 140º F). The steamy sulphur
water is
channeled into several tiled pools and tubs. These have replaced the
priginal wooden ones installed by the Japanese during wartime
occupation.
Soaking in a hot
water bath is an ideal way to recurperate
from an ardous mountain climb. After a cool dip in the swimming pool
you should feel completely refreshed. Most people who visit Poring come
just for the day - over 150,000 a year, to enjoy the hot waters.
Other attractions across the river are
a small butterfly enclosure, a
forest trail system, a Canopy walkway and picnic area. The chalets and
hostels can accommodate 90 persons per night and all have self-catering
facilities. You can book a place to stay from Sutera
Sanctuary Lodges.
There are also stalls serving local food just outside the entrance
gate, and a restaurant at the hot pools clearing, serving both western
and oriental food.
really, this is sad, I've included this in my itinerary but I'm reading not so good reviews about this place
Baharudin Ahmad Kota Kinabalu
Posted at 2:14pm on Saturday, December 16th, 2006
too much rennovation, more touristic value instead of nature being promoted, quite dissapointment after a 3 hours journey, conservation should be more consider instead of profit...
Other attractions across the river are
a small butterfly enclosure, a
forest trail system, a Canopy walkway and picnic area. The chalets and
hostels can accommodate 90 persons per night and all have self-catering
facilities. You can book a place to stay from 
