Located at Sepanggar, Sabah, Butik Botak is a moderate hiking trail that is well known. It goes by many names such as Bukit Gundul, Bukit Gentisan and Bukit Bonduk (which is the name located on Google Maps). They all bring the meaning of ‘Bald Hill.’
We started our hike at 0500. We used the entrance near the tunnels. We had to make a U-turn to get to the other side. There’s no streetlights on this road, thus we couldn’t see the starting point until we were at the parking lot! Naturally, as the craziest people to be at 5AM on a Sunday, we were the pioneer hikers of that day.
There is no lights there obviously, so we brought our own headlamps. Very useful! I recommend to download a trail map beforehand. We had some trouble finding the starting point from the entrance. Later, we discovered we just had to follow the sticks that were marking the trail!
The trail is fairly easy. The track is frequently used. It is roughly 1.5km to the peak! Your biggest struggle may be the endurance or the steepness at certain parts. It’s nothing that is too difficult for a determined person to handle! As the track is made of clay, please do not try to hike after a night of rainfall as it will be too slippery.
Sabah is well known for it’s amazing sky. The atmosphere at dawn was peaceful.
And here we have the culprit of this hill’s name! There are markings along the trail every 250m. The summit can be seen from about 1250m. You’re near the top!
The last stretch is mostly uphill, so push through you’re nearly there! The scenery is grassy and looking down at KK you’ll see bright orange lights and lost of mist surrounding the town!
At 6AM we reached! The view is absolutely worth all the sweat and near-tears. The sun rises near Mount Kinabalu. This hill overlooks the port! The view is excellent. At the top you will find other trails leading to various locations! Feel free to try them. They go as far as 8km.
It was nice to have the hill to ourselves for a few minutes until other hikers started showing up after 6.
The trail down was much easier! Relaxing. I slipped and slid down the remaining 4 feet of one slope! My family and I burst into laughs. Visibility was obviously much better! And the sun was not too harsh. We passed A LOT hikers on our way down. We were grateful that we went early.
Bukit Botak was a great workout! Will definitely go again 🙂
travelcamera 