Bohey Dulang Tour Overview
A bohey dulang tour takes you to one of Sabah's most scenic volcanic crater viewpoints within Tun Sakaran Marine Park. The island hike to the summit reveals turquoise lagoons framed by forested slopes—a signature panorama of the Semporna archipelago. Most bohey dulang tour packages combine the trek with snorkeling stops at nearby coral reefs, allowing you to explore both the terrestrial and marine ecosystems that define this protected area.
Bohey Dulang rises 353 metres from the Celebes Sea, the eroded cone of a submerged volcano that last erupted during the Pleistocene.
The island anchors Tun Sakaran Marine Park, a 350-square-kilometre conservation zone gazetted in 2004 to protect eight islands, two atolls, and the ancestral waters of the Bajau Laut, sea nomads who have lived in stilt villages above the reef for centuries. The park's name honours Tun Sakaran Dandai, a Bajau leader who became Sabah's first state governor; his legacy is visible in the marine patrol stations and community-managed no-take zones that now ring the archipelago.
The Bohey Dulang trail begins at sea level among mangrove fringes and climbs 600 wooden steps and earthen switchbacks through coastal scrub. The path was built in 2009 by park rangers and Bajau guides, who still maintain the rope rails and log watchtowers. Halfway up, the forest opens to views of Bodgaya Island, where the Bajau village of Kampung Selakan clings to a sandbar; further south, the silhouette of Sibuan Island marks the park's outer boundary. The summit viewpoint reveals the island's secret: a collapsed caldera now flooded by the sea, forming a lagoon ringed by four jagged crater walls. The turquoise water inside contrasts with the deep indigo of the open ocean, a colour gradient caused by the shallow reef flat and the 30-metre drop just beyond the rim.
A Bohey Dulang island tour typically departs Semporna jetty at dawn, stopping first at Mantabuan or Sibuan for snorkelling above staghorn coral gardens and schooling fusiliers. The hike itself takes 40 minutes up and 30 down; the park requires a climbing permit, issued at the ranger station on arrival. Guides carry VHF radios linked to the marine operations centre in Semporna, a safety protocol introduced after a 2014 incident when a group was stranded by sudden squalls. The descent leads directly to a white-sand beach on the island's leeward shore, where boats anchor for lunch and a final snorkel among giant clams and hawksbill turtles. The Bohey Dulang day tour model has become a blueprint for low-impact ecotourism in Sabah, balancing daily visitor numbers with reef recovery cycles monitored by satellite and monthly coral transects.
7 hr 30 min
