Batu Punggul

Batu Punggul is a limestone tower standing roughly two hundred metres above the forest floor in the deep interior of Sabah, near the Kalimantan border, and it is one of the harder places in Malaysia to reach: road to Sapulut, then hours in a longboat up a river with rapids, then a walk. The Murut people of the area hold it as a place of consequence, with an origin story in which a longhouse and the people in it were turned to stone, and the caves in its base contain burial jars. Climbing it is done by hauling on roots and vines up the near-vertical face with no fixed protection, and people have died doing it; many visitors go and do not climb. The forest around is intact and the trip is normally organised through Murut homestays at Sapulut.

What you actually see

• A 200-metre limestone tower - rising sheer out of interior forest.
• Burial caves at the base - jars placed in the openings under the rock.
• A river approach - longboat up the Punggul through rapids from Sapulut.
• Murut homestays - the communities who organise and guide the trip.

When to go

March to September; the river is unpredictable. Three days.

Honest expectations

The climb is unprotected, near vertical on roots, and has killed people - there is no shame in staying at the bottom. Access takes days and needs a guide. Facilities are village homestays, not resorts.

Nearby

Sapulut is the base; Keningau and the Crocker Range are west.