If you want to have a vacation to take a stroll along the white sandy beaches and watch the spectacular sunset in Malaysia. I strongly recommended the Pulau Mantanani. Pulau Mantanani is considered as the best island in Kota Kinabalu, the Mantanani Islands form a small group of three islands off the north-west coast of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, opposite the town of Kota Belud, in northern Borneo. You can ride a speedboat to these islands and it is approximately 55 minutes from the mainland Kuala Abai Jetty.
We will spend our time here about 3 days 2 nights. We departed from Kuala Abai Jetty at 9 am and reached there by 10 am. We are so excited to take a look at our best accommodation at Sutera Mantanani. The Mantanani Island package provided by the resort were including snorkelling with equipment, full board meals, and transportation to different small islands from Mantanani resort.
Day 1 Snorkelling and Volleyball
After checked-in, we enjoyed the buffet lunch prepared by them and wearing the snorkelling mask, life jacket and swimming suit for snorkelling at 2 pm.
The Pulau Mantanani Kota Belud island was peaceful with less than a hundred people. The water is clear and clean like glass. After a short rest on the island, you will be back on a boat to go snorkelling. We had 2 chances of snorkelling, which is also appropriate for people who do not know how to swim.
The snorkelling adventure was the very first time for me and my friends. You don’t have to worry about you don’t know how to swim because the life jacket is safe enough and we will have 3 instructors with us together. Each speedboat will have around 20 people and we will have around 1 hour to enjoy diving in the crystal clear waters and see countless species of fish and other sea life as we floated in the water around the Pulau Mantanani.
After a day of snorkelling, what could be a better way to pass a sunshiny afternoon than playing volleyball on the beach of Mantanani? We went back to our Mantanani Resort and played a friendly game of volleyball or you can have a tour of the fishing village and watch the spectacular sunset at sunset point!
What if you have a BBQ buffet? One of the meals included in Mantanani Island special package is barbeque dinner! Next, we walked around the sea beaches at night and enjoyed the cool breezes and serene environment. Visit our website for more info!
Day 2 Fishing Village Visiting and River Cruise Journey
The next day, we woke up earlier for island trekking and see what life is like for locals in the fishing village after taking lunch. We got a chance to another area for snorkelling and went on a Kawa River Cruise and enjoyed its spectacular scenery. We took a boat ride and experienced Mangrove ecology. We were so excited to see proboscis monkey, common kingfisher, long-tail macaques, and monitor lizard. Our dinner was a delicious Malay cuisine buffet!
It was so great to enjoy dinner with sunset together. After that, you can have a river cruise journey to watch stunning fireflies by the river. To remind you, you have to bring insect repellent, sunscreen (waterproof) and enough drinking water when you are going to river cruise. The staff will help guard your belongings, but please be advised not to bring any valuables, or cash more than MYR50 because there is nothing to buy during this tour.
Day 3 Kota Kinabalu
On the last day, we had a morning walk and photo taking along the island. We can’t agree more that Pulau Mantanani Kota Belud was the best instagramable island for you to take more memorable photos. Overall we had a really great time on this best island in KK.
One of the things to do in kk is to get some souvenirs from Sabah, especially shopping at Kota Kinabalu Handicraft Market. Thus, we visited Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, had some time to visit it in the daytime before we go to the airport. I suggest you can climb Mount Kinabalu, one of the things to do in KK. This mountain is the most famous attraction in Sabah which is a sacred mountain located on the outskirts of the Kota Kinabalu.