The Klias Peninsula is located in the district of Beaufort, approximately 125 km southwest of Kota Kinabalu. It takes about 90 minutes to travel from Kota Kinabalu to Klias. The Klias Peninsula is a large coastal wetland covering 130,000 hectares. It acts as a flood plain for the Padas River and possesses a network of river channels. A significant area of mangroves and peat swamp forest is protected as part of the Klias Forest Reserve.
Habitats include mangroves near the coast plus riverine and swamp forest further inland. The Klias Wetlands is home to a sizeable population of proboscis monkeys. Other wildlife includes estuarine crocodiles, otters, long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, silver-leaf monkeys and a diverse range of birds, including hornbills.
Klias is usually visited as a day trip form Kota Kinabalu that includes a wildlife watching river cruise through the Wetlands. The highlight if these cruises is seeing groups of proboscis monkeys gather at the riverside early in the evening. Approximately 800 proboscis monkeys inhabit the rivers and creeks of the wetlands. The density of proboscis monkeys at Klias is high so you will see numerous groups on a boat cruise.
If you are interested in visiting the wetlands see our Klias River Safari in the Kota Kinabalu tours section.
