Bohey Dulang's 353-metre summit stands as the dormant throat of a Pleistocene-era volcano, its crater now flooded by the Celebes Sea to form a landlocked lagoon ringed by vertical limestone cliffs.
Established in 2004, Tun Sakaran Marine Park encompasses 350 square kilometers of coral gardens, seagrass meadows, and eight islands, with Bohey Dulang serving as its geographic and visual anchor. The island's Bajau Laut fishing communities, descendants of seafaring peoples who lived entirely on boats until the mid-20th century, still occupy stilt villages along the park's periphery, their traditional knowledge guiding modern marine conservation efforts.
The Bohey Dulang day tour attracts hikers and snorkelers seeking landscapes that collapse terrestrial and marine ecosystems into a single panorama. From the summit, visitors survey the park's entire archipelago: Bodgaya Island's white-sand spits, Selakan's mangrove fringes, and Sibuan's turtle nesting beaches arrange themselves across water that shifts from jade to cobalt depending on depth and sediment. The climb itself follows a 600-step timber staircase installed in 2012, replacing the rope-and-root scramble that once deterred all but the most determined trekkers. Early-morning ascents allow hikers to photograph the lagoon before midday glare flattens its color gradations.
Beneath the surface, the park's coral reefs support over 250 fish species, including schools of barracuda, surgeonfish, and occasional whale sharks during the northeast monsoon. Sea turtles—green and hawksbill—graze on seagrass beds between dives, their feeding patterns studied by Sabah Parks researchers stationed on Bodgaya. The bohey dulang day tour tours combine summit access with snorkeling circuits, allowing visitors to document both aerial and submerged perspectives of the same reef system within a single itinerary.
Conservation fees collected at the park entrance fund anti-dynamite fishing patrols and turtle hatchery programs, addressing threats that reduced coral cover by 40 percent between 1990 and 2010. Recent recovery initiatives, including coral transplantation projects and seasonal fishing bans, have stabilized reef health metrics, though climate-driven bleaching events remain a persistent concern. The park's dual mandate—protecting marine biodiversity while accommodating 80,000 annual visitors—requires balancing tourism infrastructure with ecosystem limits, a tension visible in the regulated daily visitor quotas and mandatory guide requirements for island access.
7 hr 30 min
