Kinabalu National Park (1 Viewer)

[Kate_hugs]

Hi all, just a quick one! Visiting kinabalu Park next week, would rubber boots be advisable or would normal walking boots be OK? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[halftwo]

Hi, Kate,

I've only ever worn my hiking sandals there.
Boots in the tropics? Almost never.
No leeches there that I recall. No problems with anything else.
Wonderful place.

 

[Nohatch]

I wore my standard hiking boots there; no problems and you can cover quite some elevation. Beautiful park, enjoy!

 

[Steve Babbs]

Hi all, just a quick one! Visiting kinabalu Park next week, would rubber boots be advisable or would normal walking boots be OK? Thanks in advance for any advice!

I wore trainers.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Just for the future, Kinabalu can get very, heavy rain.

We were lucky in 2000 when we climbed to the top but in the week previous, we had a lot of rain.

 

[Jim M.]

Was there in July several years ago--regular hiking shoes were fine. But trails can be slippery, but not mucky.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Hi, Kate,

I've only ever worn my hiking sandals there.
Boots in the tropics? Almost never.
No leeches there that I recall. No problems with anything else.
Wonderful place.

There are definitely leeches there.

And the trails can turn into small streams if you go hiking in the rain. They can get VERY slippery and very muddy. Good footwear is critical.

 

[Jim M.]

There are definitely leeches there.

And the trails can turn into small streams if you go hiking in the rain. They can get VERY slippery and very muddy. Good footwear is critical.

No one in our group was bitten by a leech over several days. But I don't doubt there are some there at lower elevations. Don't recall any significant mud. But almost any place can be muddy if you hike during heavy rain. We never had to.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

No one in our group was bitten by a leech over several days. But I don't doubt there are some there at lower elevations. Don't recall any significant mud. But almost any place can be muddy if you hike during heavy rain. We never had to.

I did, despite our tour guide saying that "sometimes the rain is so heavy you can't go birding". Right after that we went into the forest during a tropical downpour. I wound up double-spraining my knee in a "stream bed" and had to be carried off the mountain on a stretcher. When I got to the ER, a huge leech (engorged on my blood) fell off my knee.

 

[Kate_hugs]

We had no rain at all on our visit in the end but there were still some slightly muddy parts of some paths. My normal hiking boots were absolutely fine. Didn't see any leeches but as I said it was pretty dry.