Practical Info for Hiking the MempeningTrail – What you should know
What is it?
No surprise, the Mempening Trail is one of several hiking trails in Mt. Kinabalu National Park, (aka Taman Kinabalu) in Malaysian Borneo.
Where is the Mempening Trail ?
Mt. Kinabalu National Park is on the western side of Malaysian Borneo, about 2 hours’ drive from Kota Kinabalu, where *most* international flights arrive. Mt. Kinabalu is famous for being the highest peak in SE Asia, and many people come specifically to hike to Low’s Peak, the summit, at 4,095 metres (13,435 ft).
If you’re super adventurous, you may want to try it! You can also do the via ferrata – iron rings, ladders and chains- if you’re super daring.
Note: Before we get into the details, know that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, and that if you click, we may earn a small commission, with no cost to you!
How to Get to Mt. Kinabalu?
If you’re like most visitors, depending on your budget and time, you’ll either take a bus or Grab (taxi service like Uber, which isn’t available in Malaysia) from Kota Kinabalu.
Because we weren’t returning to KK, we took a Grab, which ended up being pretty pricy, around $100. We could have actually booked a day tour like this one and just not gotten back on the bus going back! lol
Just Kidding. Kinda.
There is actually bus service from KK to the park. It’s a bit tricky to book, and the departure terminals aren’t so convenient, being out of Kota Kinabalu’s main core. It’s why we used Grab.
Entrance Fees & Access to the Mempening Trail
While the trail itself is free, you do have to pay a fee to access Mt. Kinabalu National Park. As of July 2025, that fee was 50MYR for foreigners, roughly $12USD.
General Mempening Trail Info
According to the map (below) and info sheet we got from the park office, the trail is 2516 meters long, and should take roughly 120 minutes to complete. Mempening Trail is highlighted in yellow.
It goes on to say “this is a relatively easy trail and there is little climbing unless hikers opt to take detours to Bukit Tupai or Bukit Burung. Hikers can break the journey by joining the Silau-Silau Trail as it exits near the Liwagu Restaurant or extend it by joining the Liwagu Trail or Bundu Tuhan View Trail.”
For reference, “Bukit” in Malay is used to describe a hill or high ground, but something less than a mountain. Bundu means wild area.
The problem with the description offered by the park is that on the date of our hike (and likely well prior and probably well after), the Liwagu trail is closed. You can see we’ve clumsily added red Xs at the trailhead and intersections. If you’re planning to hike in Kinabalu National Park, ask at the office what’s open, just to be sure!! We were VERY bummed that we couldn’t do Liwagu; Mempening wasn’t even on our list.
In our case, we did continue on the Silau-Silau Trail, (highlighted in blue) up to the Botanical Garden.
How Difficult is the Mempening Trail ?
We’d give it an Easy to Moderately Challenging grade. We hiked from the trailhead on Power Station Road (just below a very nice, UNESCO viewpoint that isn’t on the map. Silly Malaysians.), so the grade is mostly downhill. Our Moderate rating comes from the fact that the trail is really deeply eroded in many places, with deep/tall steps (think 24 inches). If you’re hiking UP the trail, the small but steady elevation gain (~620ft) coupled with these steps would make it a bit of a workout. Especially on the knees.
Are there specific dangers on the Mempening Trail ?
The Mempening Trail is a proper jungle hike.
That is, it’s muddy, rooty, tree-y, and slippery. I slipped on moss & mud-covered rocks & roots several times, fell once. There are some points on the path which are narrow (maybe 18 inches wide) due to erosion. There are of course venomous snakes and spiders in the jungle. We didn’t really have an insect issue, but we did slather on repellant beforehand.
Our biggest hazard however, is the spiky vines and palms. In particular on the Mempening Trail, there is a section with a LOT of these very nasty obstacles.
Mind your head & appendages. My hat and shirt got caught numerous times; fortunately neither of us got really pricked, but you do need to pay attention.
Our Experience on the Mempening Trail:
When did we visit Mt. Kinabalu National Park ?
As part of a 2-week Malaysia adventure, we hiked the Mempening Trail on July 19, 2025, during what is supposed to be Borneo’s dry season. During our stay, it was not. It was also incredibly windy the first couple days, with sustained 30+ mph winds and 40+ mph gusts in town.
This may have had something to do with…
What Wildlife did we see on the Mempening Trail?
The park’s website has a list, and this sign up at the gate to the Mt. Kinabalu hike shows even more:
Sadly, we saw a fat lotta nothing: a couple insects & butterflies, a very small salamander, and a small black snake. We understand the park has some very rare birds, (and saw several birders/shutterbugs at various places in the park) though we saw only a couple birds, fleetingly, until we got to the Botanical Garden.
What’s the traffic like? How busy is it?
Not only did we not see many animals, we didn’t see any other humans. We had the trail all to ourselves for an hour and a half.
Here’s a short video of some of what you can expect:
TLDR; How do we rate the Mempening Trail ?
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
We enjoyed our time on the Mempening Trail in Mt. Kinabalu National Park. It’s got varied surfaces, from mud and muck to constructed walkways, and just about everything in between: rock, root, soft, leaf-covered stable soil.
There isn’t really any “payoff”; that is, a stunning viewpoint, geological feature, or wildlife.
As we said above, we did it downhill, so it wasn’t much of a challenge from an exertion standpoint; do it uphill for a bit of a workout.
If you’re looking for a proper jungle experience, this is a pretty good choice, especially if you haven’t really hiked in that environment before.
Honestly, some of what you see in the video is actually from the Silau-Silau trail, which runs next to the river; together, it’s probably a 4-star hike. And the Botanical Garden, while small, is a must for orchid-lovers.