Kota Kinabalu: A record number of more than 1,500 participants including foreign entries with 530 heavily modified off-road vehicles set off for the 31st Borneo Safari on Sunday.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who officiated the flag off ceremony in front of Sabah Tourism building here accompanied by Tourism, Cultural and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew, is also the first Chief Minister to do so in the event’s history since it started in 1991.The annual event is organised by Sabah Four Wheel Drive Association and its president Faez Nordin said they were surprised by the record entries that surpassed last year’s 480 vehicles and 1,300 participants.
“The participants this year apart from Sabah and other states across Malaysia, we also have international participants from Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, New Zealand, Brunei, Thailand, Philippines, the United Kingdom, Australia and India,” he said. “The third route will see a special group of 80 vehicles comprising around 180 participants, mostly from the media convoy group venturing into the restricted TrusMadi Forest Reserve after branching out from the main convoy before day one campsite at Kampung Sook.“This is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for journalists, local and international to experience one of the unexplored jungles in Sabah where there are thousands different species of flora and fauna.