Maliau Basin

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Known as the "Lost World of Sabah" for good reason — a roughly circular, bowl-shaped basin ringed by steep escarpments up to 1,675m high, so isolated that its interior wasn't properly surveyed until the 1980s. The rim acts as a natural barrier that has kept the forest inside almost entirely free of human disturbance, logging or hunting pressure. Reaching the waterfalls and camps inside requires a multi-day trek, which is exactly why species density and endemism remain so high — this is one of the few places left where a clouded leopard sighting doesn't feel like a fluke.