Sabah Bah – Highland Excursion (Desa Cattle Dairy Farm, Poring Hot Spring, Tagal Sg. Moroli, Sabah Tea)

Yes! We are still here in Kundasang. Still! To be frank, there’s too much to explore here! One thing that we are asking for now is just to bare with us for a few minutes would you? One of the many beautiful places that we not gonna missed is definitely the Desa Cattle Dairy Farm as well as some other places which goes further up to Ranau such as Poring Hot Spring, Tagal Sg. Morali and not to forget the Sabah Tea Plantation. We guess, 2 days here ain’t enough to cover all this beautiful area.

Desa Cattle Dairy Farm
This is definitely the highlight of the day. I told FF and stressed a few times that I will not board the flight without visiting this place! New Zealand is just too far from KL and a trip to this Moo Moo Land here in Sabah would be just fine for me. Desa Cattle Dairy Farm is located just 15 to 20 minutes away from the Kundasang main junction. If you are wondering how was the road condition heading to this place, it is mostly paved but towards the end, you will then experienced a gravel road which is well maintained. Fret not, a standard car could actually afford this condition. Nothing to be worried about.

The road to Desa Cattle Dairy Farm

To visit the farm, plan your journey and just make sure of the visiting hour which it is open daily from 8am to 5pm with an entry fees of RM5 for an adult and RM4 for kids. We knew that we’ve reached the farm when we saw a group of Holstein-Freisian cows typically black and white in colour imported all the way from New Zealand, munching on a green grass with the beautiful landscape of Mount Kinabalu. There are also Saanen Goats Breed reknown from the high quality of milk. To no surprised, we then realized the reason why this place is called the ‘New Zealand of Sabah’.

We get to know that visitor are always welcome to buy Desa fresh milk and many other dairy products such as yogurt, ice cream, various flavours of pudding and many others. But just bear in mind that the queue can be wayyy too long! We couldn’t denied that the have one of the best ice cream, fresh milk and pudding here. We love everything that we had and we wanted to go for a second round, but there were sold out very fast.We were made to know that visitors could actually experience and see how cows being milked, how milk is processed and packing activities (at certain time and day) besides enjoying the weather and the beautiful view. There are other activities such as feeding the calves with bottled milk and feeding the goats with grass. This make it as an ideal destination for the whole family.This farm offers one of the most amazing scenery. Hence, before leaving, let’s take a shot of the majestic landscape of the farm with Mount Kinabalu.Poring Hot Spring
Next in the list is the Poring Hot Spring. For those who are driving here, it is accessible via Ranau Road as it is located just in average of 20km from Ranau and 40km away from Mount Kinabalu. Hot spring is not the only attraction here. There is so many others thing that we can do here too. A conservation fees of RM3.00 were charge to the visitors.

The crossing bridge towards the Hot Spring areaAs we didn’t plan to get wet, we then opt for one of the pool there to dip our feet. The hotness level? Oh my! Couldn’t defined! It was super duper hot. I spent my time there with my mum as FF and my sister are making their way to the canopy walkway. After almost 30 minutes, it feels soothing as the feet becomes fresh and clean enough. Oh ya, there are dozens of bath tubs around the area and the standard bath tubs could actually accommodate at least 2 adults. And there are also indoor / enclosed bath tubs for those who are modest or wanting some privacy.

The Hot Spring outdoor poolMeanwhile, FF and my sis is making their way to explore the Poring Canopy Walkway. The best part is that they experienced a bird’s eye view of the rainforest from about 30 to 40 metres height.Tagal Sg. Moroli
Tagal Sg. Morali is a unique place located at Kg. Luanti, Ranau. In the local Kadazan Dusun dialect, ‘tagal’ actually means ‘no fishing’ and the main reason of ‘tagal’ is to preserve the ecosystem and environment to benefit future generation. Basically, we had experienced this before years back in Kuala Medang, Kuala Lipis Pahang. But,this is proven the best place ever as they actually won the Malaysia River Care Awards under the supervision of Fisheries Department of Sabah.  We were told by the villagers that the species are called as ‘Ikan Pelian’ or Malaysian Mahseer and these fishes are trained to perform the healing messages. Sounds weird huh? But that’s the truth! Believe it or not?Sabah Tea
On our way back from all these places that we have visited, we then saw a signage showing the direction to the Sabah Tea Garden which was never in our itinerary. FF convinced us that a short visit won’t do any harm. So here we are! This plantation doesn’t make any different from the one in the Peninsular (referring to Cameron Highland) except that this is the only organic tea farm in Borneo and one of the few in the world. Yes, in the world! They do provide a whole range of accommodation from a long house, a campsite or even a cosy cottage or bungalow.

We didn’t spend soo much time here but we did had our quick-lunch and a sip of a fresh iced tea! Phewww! Oh ya, we bought a full bags of tea for our families and friends back home.Kundasang Town
Before heading back to Kota Kinabalu town, we roamed around by the Kundasang town roadside just to see the fresh fruits, vegetables and even flowers collected within the highland area. Nahhh, we didn’t buy anything eventhough there are way too cheap!With all the places that we have been (which includes our previous entry too), that basically sums up our highland excursion away from the Kota Kinabalu town where all the places are surrounded by pristine rainforests, beautiful surroundings and a cool mountain air. We still remembered that we were shivering all night long! And all this places gave us totally a new experienced!Simply us,
Zara AB & FF
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