Pulau Tiga National Park

Pulau Tiga was formed in 1897 when an eruption of mud volcanoes pushed the island above the sea, and the process has not stopped: several vents on the island still bubble cold grey mud continuously, and visitors sit in them, which is the standard thing to do here. The island is still slowly growing and changing shape. It was gazetted as a park in 1978, is forested, and holds megapodes - birds that bury their eggs in mounds of rotting vegetation and let the heat incubate them - along with monitor lizards and a large snake population on the neighbouring Pulau Kalampunian Damit, known as Snake Island, where sea kraits come ashore to rest and mate in numbers. In 2000 the first season of the American television series Survivor was filmed here, which is how most foreign visitors have heard of it.

What you actually see

• Active mud volcanoes - cold grey vents still bubbling, sat in by visitors.
• An island born in 1897 - pushed up by eruption and still growing.
• Megapodes - birds incubating eggs in mounds of rotting vegetation.
• Snake Island next door - sea kraits coming ashore in numbers on Kalampunian Damit.

When to go

February to October. Two days.

Honest expectations

Boats stop in rough weather and the monsoon. Accommodation on the island is limited and basic. Sea kraits are venomous - Snake Island visits are guided and hands off. The mud is cold, not warm.

Nearby

Kuala Penyu is the mainland jetty; Kota Kinabalu is north-east.