YTL to open resorts in Pulau Gaya and Pulau Tiga

Adding to its collection of five hotels and six resorts located across Asia, YTL Hotels, a Malaysian conglomerate, announced plans to expand its current portfolio to include the MUSE in Saint-Tropez, France, and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, China.

The MUSE, opening June 2010, sits in the gorgeous sun-drenched Provencal landscape on Ramatuelle ‘Route des Plages’, mere minutes away from the Place des Lices. This intimate retreat will feature 14 elegant suites, all with gardens and of which 9 have private pool. Incorporating the very best of France from custom-made furniture designed by Henryot especially for the MUSE, to the fabrics selected from the Parisian house Pierre Frey.

Other new developments include Pulau Gaya and Pulau Tiga in Borneo. A deluxe rainforest family resort looking out to Mount Kinabalu, Pulau Gaya is surrounded by pristine white sand beaches, sheltered coral reefs and protected mangroves. Just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, this adventure packed resort will integrate elements of traditional Sabahan (native of Sabah) architecture and feature 132 spacious stand alone hill and sea-front villas and a unique spa village.

About 48 kilometers south of Kota Kinabalu lies Pulau Tiga. Famed for its volcanic mud pools, exotic wildlife, coral reefs and protected marine life, Pulau Tiga is a haven for nature, adventure and water enthusiasts. This intimate hideaway will feature 65 sea-front luxury one and two bedroom villas, each with private plunge pools. Both resorts in Borneo will open 2011.

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Sabah won’t cull its wildlife

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s wildlife such as the Borneo elephant will never be culled despite the increase in the cases of human-wildlife conflict in the state, said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

He said Sabah has sufficient forests to provide adequate habitat for the animals.

He, however, acknowledged that the existing forest habitat for these animals were too fragmented and corridors connecting these areas needed to be planned.

“We have enough forest reserves to accommodate these animals and for them to multiply. It is now a question of allowing them movement between these areas,” he told The Star yesterday amid a warning that human-wildlife conflicts were on the increase.

Masidi said one of the main obstacles to these “wildlife corridors” connecting the fragmented forests was that much of the land needed was now privately-owned and had to be acquired through various private initiatives such as the Borneo Conservation Trust.

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Shrinking habitat threat to Bornean elephants in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: The prevailing human-elephant conflict is expected to increase in the next five to 10 years due to shrinking habitats.

Although the state retains some 50 per cent of its permanent forest cover and is the second largest in the country, the lack of natural wildlife habitats is causing more human conflict with the Bornean elephants whose population has been estimated at less than 1,500.

The forests are broken up by agriculture without corridors linking them.

And, unless this conflict is addressed and private companies make real efforts to reforest corridors, Sabah may reach a stage of having to put down these gentle creatures.

State wildlife director Laurentius Ambu said: “Even if serious efforts on forest corridors are made, we still have to manage human elephant conflict in the interim and there is an urgent need to set up a rapid response rescue and translocation (RRRT) team to deal with this issue,”

He said they are currently working with the private sector to establish the RRRT team.

However, he said the setting up of such a team is extremely costly.

“Rescuing and translocating a single elephant can cost up to RM100,000 or more,” Laurentius disclosed.

Just recently, a young male elephant had to be removed from the east coast and sent to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park for its own safety.

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AirAsia urged to continue Tawau-Singapore sector

TAWAU: The decision by AirAsia to discontinue its direct flight from Tawau to Singapore end of this month has made many passengers here unhappy.Tawau member of parliament Datuk Chua Soon Bui said the low-cost airline would lose its credibility if it continued to cancel its routes with prepaid bookings until the second half of the year.

Chua said she had received many complaints from the public who were not dissatisfied with the cancellation of the Tawau-Singapore route as they had already bought their tickets.

AirAsia launched the direct flight at the beginning of September last year.

Chua said AirAsia had not given any reason for discontinuing the flight but she hoped the airline could work closely with the Sabah Tourism Ministry and the tourism industry players to relaunch it.

A former senior reporter, Thong Lee Fun, said the least AirAsia could do was to reduce the number of weekly flights rather than stopping them altogether.

Another alternative is to re-route passengers through Kota Kinabalu at no extra cost.

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Gritty five complete Mount Kinabalu trek

KOTA KINABALU: Five Sabah women completed an arduous four-day trek up Mount Kinabalu, successfully retracing the steps of English botanist Lilian Suzette Gibbs, the first woman to scale the mountain a century ago.

The Sabah Society expedition team led by Vicky Ng, along with team members Tengku Puteri Soraya Tengku Zainal Adlin, Rina Jamieson, Catherine Chu and Jane Chong, reached the 1,096m Low’s Peak at 2.30pm yesterday.

Sabah Society honorary secretary Maimie Scott said she received a text message from Rina at 4pm stating that the team had reached the summit.

“I’m sure they must be ecstatic but tired. It is indeed quite an achievement,” said Maimie, who was monitoring the expedition’s progress from Kundasang, at the mountain’s foothills.

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