The island of Lankayan and its two neighbouring sisters Billean and Tegaipil have been declared in the year 2000 to be part of a protected area (the Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area, or SIMCA for short), in what is already proving to be an extraordinary landmark in eco-tourism.

Destructive practices as cyanide-fishing, reef bombing and trawling once put in practice by local and Philippine fishermen are no more allowed in the surrounding waters, turtle eggs are regularly collected from nests dug in the sand and safely hatched for reintroduction in the wild, and many other conservation programmes are being - and will be in the future - vigorously implemented by its managing company Reef Guardian, working in strict accordance with the Sabah Wildlife Department.

As a travel destination, the place - a tiny dot in the Sulu Sea about one-and-a-half hours by speedboat from the coastal town of Sandakan in Malaysian Sabah, on the island of Borneo - offers a fascinating cross between the Maldivian style of holiday so very appreciated by the Europeans (a gorgeous, picture-perfect little island, boasting endless pure white sandy beaches and a lovely, garden-like jungle interior covering) and the no-holds barred, exhilarating diving one has come to expect from Sabah’s dive sites (unsurpassed macro life, undescribed new species waiting to be discovered, big fish action, enormous biodiversity, spectacular wrecks).

Add to the mixture an exquisitely styled, upper-class resort, elegant and comfortable twin-sharing seafront chalets with private and well-appointed bathrooms, an open-air restaurant offering great food and a spectacular verandah with more than forty juvenile blacktip sharks permanently patrolling the sand bottom just a few feet below, and you’ll see why Lankayan is quite a sensation. Here’s a private paradise-like island where even non-divers (at last!) can enjoy the perfect holiday, relaxing on the beach or snorkelling in the crystal-clear shallow waters of the lagoon, while sea eagles fly over, their piercing screech tearing the sky in the distance, and the jungle-shrouded mountains of Sabah tower on the horizon, bathed in golden glorious sunsets.

 

An informal, friendly, casual atmosphere adds to the pleasant feeling of “away-from-it-all” relaxation: everything is so well spaced out and cleverly planned you might sometime think you’re all alone by yourself on the island. Then, of course, there’s the diving: at shallow to medium depths, always enjoyable, never risky or fatiguing.

The dive center is well equipped and ideally situated at the end of the pier, while the island staff are - if possible - even more cheerful and willing to help than in the rest of Sabah, a country remarkable for its extraordinary tradition of hospitality.

Small species - many absolutely fascinating and quite a few still undescribed by science - here reign supreme: resplendent gobies, unbelievably colourful nudibranchs, dwarf cuttlefish, fluorescent fire urchins with attendant crabs and lobsters dot the sand and coral bottom of each and everyone of the thirty-plus dive spots Lankayan offers at the moment.

The list of rare species regularly observed here includes robust and ornate ghost pipefish, frogfish, mandarinfish, blue-ringed octopus, mimic octopus and giant jawfish.

All, of course, are quite challenging to spot and photograph, which adds immeasurably to the fun of getting a good “trophy”! Larger sightings along the reef include lots of harmless bamboo sharks, blue-spotted rays, yellowtail and chevron barracudas, huge shoals of scads and robust fusiliers, giant bumphead parrotfish, a large variety of scorpionfish and absolutely the largest, most confident and most impressive lobsters these authors have ever seen anywhere in the rest of the world.

Despite the often disappointing underwater visibility, chance encounters with bigger fish are not uncommon: very large adult blacktip sharks are commonly met in several of Lankayan’s outer dive sites, whale sharks patrol in season the open water between the island and the mainland, while giant guitarfish – locally known as malu-malu - are a rarer sighting.

A fascinating array of spectacular species is moreover offered by the two wrecks in the vicinity of Lankayan: the imposing remains of a huge Chinese wooden fishing vessel sunk on purpose, now home to giant groupers, giant marbled stingrays, frogfish, scorpionfish, lionfish and huge shoals of pelagics, and what is left of an historically significant armed barge belonging to the “Mosquito Fleet”, serving with the Japanese and sunk during World War II.

One word of advice: due to its close proximity to the coast of Sabah with its attendant run-off from big rivers and oil palm plantations, underwater visibility at Lankayan is usually far from perfect, even if there are unpredictable exceptions.

While this is of no consequence at all for macro photographers and videographers, it may prove quite frustrating for wide angle lovers and big fish addicts, especially since it quite common encountering large animals during the course of a single dive (our record is five leopard sharks, one huge mangrove stingray and a roving pack of five adult blacktip sharks in one day!).

Lankayan is a macro life paradise with few comparisons but no destination for wide angle photographers, and divers must think of it more in terms of a successful conservation story than as a gin-clear water destination. As a tropical island destination for honeymooners, snorkellers, diving families and macro researchers it has however no equals: holidays on Lankayan are also usually combined with short stays at Sepilok for an unforgettable jungle experience observing the Orang-utans.