Lahad Datu is the capital of the Lahad Datu District in the Tawau Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 27,887 in 2010. The town is surrounded by stretches of cocoa and palm oil plantations. It is also an important timber exporting port. The town has an airport for domestic flights. A settlement is believed to have existed here in the 15th century, as excavations have unearthed Ming dynasty Chinese ceramics. Just east of Lahad Datu is the village of Tunku, a notorious base for pirates and slave traders in the 19th century. Based on a Jawi manuscript in the Ida'an language dated 1408 A.D, it is believed to be the first site in northern Borneo where Islam was first introduced. The Jawi manuscript gives an account of an Ida'an man named Abdullah in Darvel Bay who embraced Islam. Lahad Datu also has several palm oil refineries. The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) is located near the Lahad Datu Port and received its first vessel on 1 March 2013. It consists of 1,150 acres (5 km2) of land developed (with a centralised bulking facility and a jetty, currently under construction, which will have a draft of 20 metres, making it one of the few deep sea ports in the world) specifically for palm oil downstream industries. To date, 18 companies have bought land in POIC with eight companies involved in the production of palm biodiesel. POIC is a wholly state-owned company under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development. Its chairman is the current minister, Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin and the chief executive officer is Mr.Wong Yu Chin (ASDK, BSK). Lahad Datu is linked to other towns and districts via Federal Route 13, a part of larger Pan-Borneo Highway network in the east coast of Sabah. Works of constructing a new bypass road on Sandakan-Tawau route has been commenced on mid-2016, to relieve the traffic congestion on the town itself. Lahad Datu is served by many different methods of transportation. Taxis, buses and minibusses are abundant and provide connectivity around the town and other districts such as Sandakan and Tawau. Lahad Datu Port is a container port administered by Sabah Port Sdn. Bhd. MASwings, a regional airline and subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines (MAB) provides five direct flights daily to and from Kota Kinabalu, the state’s capital.

Airports in Lahad Datu

1. Lahad Datu Airport

Lahad Datu Airport is an airport located in the southeastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah. The airport, which is situated approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) from downtown Lahad Datu, serves the town of Lahad Datu and its neighboring districts such as Kinabatangan, FELDA Sahabat and Kunak. The airport can accommodate aircraft as large as the ATR72 and the terminal building can handle up to 100,000 passengers annually. In 2016, the airport handled 140,077 passengers and 3,713 aircraft movements.

How to Get Cheap Flights to Lahad Datu?

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When is the Best Time to Fly to Lahad Datu?

From January to May the climate is passable, but still okay. The temperature rises to 33 degree Celsius and, in May, 27 days of rain are expected. In June, the climate is the worst possible. The temperature rises to 33 degree Celsius and it rains about 207mm each month. Between July and September, the climate is just okay. At lunchtime, it is 33 degree Celsius in average. Between October and November, the climate is the worst possible. In December the climate is correct. At lunchtime, it is 32 degree Celsius on average and you can expect to have 183mm of rainfall during this period.

What are the Top 3 Things to Do in Lahad Datu?

1. Tabin Wildlife Reserve – The Tabin Wildlife Reserve is a nature preserve in Sabah, Malaysia. It was created in 1984 to preserve Sabah’s disappearing wild animals. Occupying a large part of the peninsula forming the northern headland of Darvel Bay, it is located 48 kilometres east of Lahad Datu. Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR or Tabin) comprises a rectangular area of approximately 122539 ha. In the centre of the Dent Peninsula, north-east of Lahad Datu town, south of the lower reaches of the Segama River and north of the Silabukan Protection Forest Reserve. It can be reached via sealed and gravel roads from Lahad Datu in about 40 minutes. The reserve is covered with lowland dipterocarp forest.

2. Danum Valley Conservation Area – Danum Valley Conservation Area is a 438 square kilometres tract of relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp forest in Sabah, Malaysia. It has an extensive diversity of tropical flora and fauna, including such species as the rare East Sumatran rhinoceros, Bornean orangutans, gibbons, mousedeer, clouded leopards and over 270 bird species. Activities offered are jungle treks, river swimming, bird watching, night jungle tours and excursions to nearby logging sites and timber mills. The area holds unique status in the sense that before it became a conservation area, there were no human settlements within the area, meaning that hunting, logging and other human interference was non-existent making the area almost unique. Yayasan Sabah manages it for conservation, research, education, and habitat restoration training purposes. There have been proposals to nominate the site as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

3. Mount Silam – Mount Silam is a mountain located in the Old Village of Lahad Datu, Sabah . Mount Silam has an altitude of 884 meters. It is the third tallest mountain in Lahad Datu. There are many unique and interesting plants and animals here in the tropical rain forest. The 698 acres of Sapagaya Forest Reserve is at the foot of this mountain and is a place of refuge for unique local animals and animals in Sabah. Mount Silam is classified as the Ultramafic Mountains. Generally, the soil in the ultramafic environment is reddish brown and is formed by the ultrabasic rock. Its soil contains heavy metals density such as magnesium, iron, nickel, chromium and cobalt, but lack of plant substances such as nitrogen, photosphere and potassium. The ultramafic substrates are “poisonous” in plants, so the plants here are very different from plants in other places. This makes the forest of Mount Silam very special. There are 374 species of trees in four different types of forests at different altitudes in this Silam mountain, with each having its own unique features. There are many plants such as grass, flowers and trees. that are endemic species in Sabah and Borneo. The mossy forest is usually only available at an altitude of 2000M to 2700M above sea level, but in Mount Silam, it is available at the height of 770M. This is said to be due to the Silam Mount experience Massenerhebung, a natural phenomenon in which the plant zones differ “compressed” on small and isolated mountains.