Mount Santubong

Mount Santubong (Malay: Gunung Santubong) is a mountain in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is located about 35 km north of the state capital Kuching.

Mount Santubong
Mt. Santubong from Santubong Bridge
Highest point
Elevation810.2 m (2,658 ft)
Prominence810 m (2,660 ft)
Coordinates01°44′N 110°20′E
Geography
Mount Santubong is located in Malaysia
Mount Santubong
Mount Santubong
Location in Malaysia
LocationKuching District, Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia
Geology
Mountain typeInselberg
Climbing
First ascentUnknown
Easiest routeHike

Biological importance

In 1855 a British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace who was staying at Santubong while collecting specimens in Sarawak, wrote a paper while called "Sarawak Law" which can be considered as a precursor to the biological theory of evolution.

Ascent

Mount Santubong lies within a gazetted national park[1] of the same name. Entry to the park is now via the temporary Sarawak Forestry Corporation park headquarter entrance. The issue of custodian of park entry has now been put to rest by the relevant authorities [2]

Part of the arduous ascent

History
Mount Santubong in the 1850s by Harriette McDougall

Mount Santubong's name is derived from indigenous Dyak Iban means coffin. Investigators have made ascents of the steep mountain to find places of archaeological interest. Around its foot are old Hindu occupation which are hundreds of years old which have been investigated by the Sarawak Museum . It was also the home of the early Sarawak Malays until they were driven up to Kuching in about the 1850s owing to continual attacks from the powerful Saribas Dayaks.

View from the mountain top

The mountain is assumed to have been thrown straight up from the sea following some volcanic eruption probably millions of years ago. For a long time it interested those in search of gold but without success. There used to be an old theory that all the gold in the First Division of Sarawak lies in a straight line between Bau and Santubong which proved correct.

It is thought that the volcanic eruption which threw Mount Santubong up out of the sea, also threw up the earth and scattered the gold deposits in the area which explains why no large deposits have yet been found.

However, there is a certain amount of gold in the mountain since fishermen in the past used to depend for their livelihood during the landas season, when the sea was too rough for fishing, by panning gold in the small mountain streams from which they could expect to gain an average of twenty dollars a month.[3]

  • The legend of Mount Santubong is the subject of a song, Puteri Santubong, which was composed and originally sang by Haji Madzhi Johari in 1974-1975. The song became popular after former Information Minister, the late Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat proposed that folk songs from all the states be compiled and broadcast almost every day through Radio Televisyen Malaysia radio and television channels.[4]

References
  1. "SARAWAK FORESTRY :: Sarawak National Park - National Parks and Reserves ::". Archived from the original on 2009-07-20.
  2. "Dept demolishes business premises, facilities built illegally on govt land". 4 December 2014.
  3. Chater, W. J. (1969). Sarawak Long Ago. ISBN 983-62-3981-2.
  4. "40 years after it was composed, "Puteri Santubong' continues to be popular". BERNAMA. 11 January 2019.

Further reading
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