Stilt village of Filipino immigrants at Pulau GayaStilt village of Filipino immigrants at Pulau Gaya
photo sourcehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pulau_Gaya_immigrant_dwellings.jpg
authorshipThien Zie Yung
photo licensing

Pulau Gaya (GPS: 6.01799, 116.02984) is the biggest island in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park in Sabah. The name cames from a Bajau word "Gayo", which means big. It is also the closest of the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park to Kota Kinabalu. The island covers an area of 15 square kilometers, and its hills reach a height of 300 meters or about 1000 feet.

Covered with dense tropical jungle, Pulau Gaya has been a forest reserve since 1923. The island is well developed in terms of tourism and environmental development. It has a luxurious 5-star resort, the Gayana Eco Resort (tel: 088 301131, www.gayana-resort.com) which is also the site for the Marine Ecology Research Centre, which aims to create and enhance appreciation of the marine ecology.

The side of Pulau Gaya facing Kota Kinabalu hosts a growing stilt village of Filipino illegal immigrants, making that part of the island a high-crime frontierland. Police Bay is probably the best swimming beach on Pulau Gaya. It is a 400-meter stretch of white sand that slopes gently into the crystal clear water.

Getting there

Ferry services is provided by Gayana Eco Resort. There are daily runs from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm. The journey takes about 1.5 to 2 hours and costs RM15.

Pulau Gaya is on the Map of Kota Kinabalu

Back to Discover Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; list of Islands in Sabah and Islands in Malaysia

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Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.
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