Mud Pool that traps 3 elephants

Besides hot spring and oil, Sabah also has pond that releases mud. One of the mud pools is located inside the Binaung Oil Palm plantation of Sime Darby in Kunak. After a long drive on the gravel road, we arrived the location of this 15-Meter diameter mud pool. They say its size is gradually growing.

See the observation platform at the right? They say it was used to be in the middle of the pool, but it was pushed to the edge by the mud. The mud pool is quite active and we could hear the loud burping sound when the “mud bubbles” (as big as soccer ball) rises to the surface. The “buuluun.. guluun..” sound is like people fart in the water and multiple that volume by 50 times. Hope you get it.

This mud volcano is not as big as the Lapid mud volcano in Tabin, but it has an interesting feature. Though this mud pool is about 180 Meters above sea level, it seems to have “linkage” to the sea. You know there are many Indonesia workers work for oil palm plantation, and some of them travel by sea back to Sulawesi. They found out if the mud pool is calm, the sea is calm, if the mud pool is very active with big bubbles, then the sea is rough. Before the workers sail home, they would come here to check the “bubbling” for marine forecast, and delay their trip if necessary.

Most bubbling happens near the middle of the pool. The activity brings out the earth materials which is rich of minerals. They say the mud is good for the skin. Some tourists take the mud home to use it as facial mask.

This mud pool can be promoted as an attraction of Kunak. It’ll attract even more tourists, if they could organize mud wrestling of sexy bikini girls. The locals may join the mud fight, why not as the mud is good for the skin.

This mud pool can offer mental therapy to the patient of depression too. The loud burping sound and bursting moment of the big mud bubbles are quite an entertaining show. I won’t feel bored sitting here and watch and listen to the bubbling all day long. It’s kind of… “cleanse” my mind. Below are some photos of mud bubbles…

Above: the “1Malaysia” bubble by Najib.

Above: the “1Malaysia” bubbles burst and vanish like fart, when Deputy PM said MALAY FIRST, not Malaysians.

Wow, this one looks like susu (milk). But how come one D-cup and one G-cup?

Hope you are not bored. May be I should play some sound effects. *bulunn… gurunn.. boooon…*

*guluunn… borrrvuun…*

*BUUuuRuu…*

Okay, no more. Thanks for watching. Are you feeling better now?

The power of mud. This lady is actually 80 years old.

The wild animals have a habit called “salt lick”. Salt is an important diet for their bodies, but salt is very scarce in the forest. If they find a spot that has salty material, they will go there regularly to eat the minerals. Mud pool is such place. There were at least three cases of elephant trapped in this mud pool and needed help from human to pull them out. This may be the same elephant who is crazy for salt lick or facial mask?

Anyway, be careful if you come near to the mud pool for a salt lick. The outer edge of the mud pool is dry and looks like hard surface. But it is still soft and wet under the dry surface. If you step into the mud, due to vacuum effect, the sucking power is very strong and you may have problem to pull your leg out of the mud. They may not find you until you turned into fossil million years later.

Photos taken in Kunak, Sabah Malaysia