It is an ultra-prominence peak with 13,435 feet (4,095 meters) of prominence, making it the 20th most prominent mountain in the world. Mount Kinabalu is the centerpiece of Kinabalu National Park and also the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. This 754-square-kilometer park, established in 1964 as Malaysia’s first national park offers outstanding universal values and is considered as one of the most distinctive and important ecological areas in the world. It is inhabited by a variety of habitats ranging from tropical lowland groups and highlands and also designated as the Centre of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia.
Kinabalu Park was gazetted as the first State Park in Sabah in 1964 and declared Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 2000.