Kinabatangan

The Kinabatangan crosses northern Borneo from the interior highlands to the Sulu Sea. Near its mouth the river winds through a broad floodplain of freshwater swamps and mangroves, a landscape inhabited by communities whose lives followed its waterways. The name has been linked to the word #italic Kina#!, used locally for Chinese people, recalling the traders who reached the river from overseas.

The forest and caves of the basin supplied goods sought by merchants. Edible swiftlet nests, beeswax, rattan and ivory passed down the river for exchange, linking the Kinabatangan with markets across the sea. The great Gomantong caves were a particularly important source of birds' nests, harvested from their high walls and valued in distant markets, especially in China, far beyond the island of Borneo.