Kota-Kinabalu, South-East Asia's Highest Peak.

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With its summit above 4000 meters, Mount Kinabalu towers above South East Asia and attracts tens of thousands of hikers every year.

Located in the northern-Borneo Malaysian province of Sabah, Mount Kinabalu suffers from the hot and humid weather typical to all islands so close to the equator. While this weather is the reason behind the awesome scenery with lush jungles, beautiful birds, cool animals and weird insects, it also implies that enthusiasts attempting the trek are quite literally flipping the coin and are exposed to the risk of making the hard climb... to see nothing!

The best season to go is between January and May. As this mountain is hiked by many enthusiasts every year -and is a good running business for Sabah - it is compulsory to have both a guide and a permit. Making the trip in one day is both physically challenging, and a bit of a waste as it does not allow for the best clear view which is usually best seen in the morning. As such, most treks are done in 2 days, and booking a bunk-bed in the accommodation is both compulsory and ridiculously expensive. If you do not have much time to spend there, I would recommend that you book the trek well in advance to be sure to have a permit (We used the services of info@borneopackages.com, they also arrange transport from KK city center). The trek is expensive and be prepared to pay in excess of 300SGD for the 2 days.

The trek itself is not particularly difficult and is very enjoyable. The first part (until the accommodation) is basically lush jungle with a very well maintained up-slope path to follow. The accommodation place is very good and a well deserved buffet awaits the weary climbers. The rooms are small with bunk beds but very good and functional. The trek for the summit starts at 2 am with headlights on, a good breakfast in the belly. This last part is rather steep with bare rock to climb. Ropes are strategically placed to help in the climb, and the view which gradually unfolds when the clouds retract is truly stunning.

At this point, I'd like to share a personal experience related to climbing in October, in the middle of the monsoon season... If rain is too heavy, the guides will forbid any hiker from attempting the climb. The poor fellows must have a hard time every time convincing angered hikers who, having made it so far, and having paid so much, are willing to take the risk and make it to the summit without the guides. As it turned out for us, it did rain all night, and the guides did prevent people from going up. However, later on in the morning (around 6am) the rain stopped, and there was a possibility to make it if we climbed fast enough. So we risked it and started the climb - with the consent of the guide- 2 hours of non-stop hike and a few hundred meters from the summit, the wind turned, thick clouds encircled us, and before we knew it, we were drenched under a very heavy downpour. At this point, the guide told us to hurry to "retreat" back down to the camp. The rain was so heavy that not only the bear rock (which you have to climb with the rope) became slippery, but torrents of rainwater formed up within minutes, and it wasn't long before the way down was blocked by torrents of water violently gushing down the slope. These conditions made for a terrific experience, the rush of adrenaline and all, and all things considered, balanced the disappointment of not seeing the summit!