Mari Mari Backpackers Lodge (Mantanani Island)

Mari Mari Backpackers Lodge (Mantanani Island) - Kota Belud, Sabah

- January 06, 2019

Mari Mari Backpackers Lodge is located in Big Mantanani Island approximately 40 minutes speedboat ride from Mari Mari Mantanani Jetty when the sea is calm or more than an hour ride if the sea is rough. The jetty is located in Kampung Kuala Abai, approximately 1 hour 45 minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu Airport.

There's 3 types of "sulap" style hut - sulap with common bathroom, sulap with attached bathroom and sulap with attached bathroom & sea view balcony. We stayed in a sulap with common bathroom that comes with 3 single beds, wall fan and one socket point. You are advised to bring your own personal toiletries as they only provide bath towel and 2 in 1 shower gel & shampoo which are attached to the common bathroom wall.

All toilets are equipped with hot water shower but electricity only available from 7pm to 6am everyday. Basically, there's no electricity supply in the daytime. Even though there's electricity supply at night, there's possibility of electricity disruption. So, be well prepared. It actually happened to me while I was taking my shower! Luckily I had my hand phone with me else I'll be taking my shower in the dark.

Our 2 days 1 night package of RM 250/pax includes return scheduled speedboat transfer to and from Mari Mari Mantanani Jetty, 1 snorkeling session (free rental of mask and fin) and buffet breakfast. We reached Mari Mari Mantanani Jetty around 9am, parked our car in a designated parking area and waited for the rest of the guests. Unfortunately due to low tide, the speedboat was unable to approach the jetty. So the staff drove us to a nearby jetty and the speedboat depart at 9.30am sharp. The sea was rough that day and we had a very bumpy ride. My heart almost dropped down my leg each time the speedboat jumped over the waves. There's a baby on board and poor little fella been crying the entire ride.

Finally after 1 hour and 15 minutes, we reached Mantanani Island and I'm glad that we're all in one piece. The friendly staff handed us a welcome drink and gave us a short briefing about the Island. They accept cash or credit card for payment and their counter is located inside Mari Mari Cafe. The cafe is just next to the "sulap" open from 8am to 9pm with free flow of coffee and tea. The lodge did not provide any free drinking water but you can purchase it at the cafe for RM 1/bottle by bringing your own water bottle or you can purchase drinking water from a nearby mini market located inside the village (RM 2 for 1.5l of water)

We had our lunch and dinner at Mari Mari Cafe. On our first day I had Mantanani fried rice for lunch and spaghetti for dinner. You can choose either chicken (RM 21), seafood (RM 23) or vegetarian (RM 13). After lunch, we went for our free 1 hour snorkeling session and there's only 4 of us inside the boat. The sea is clear with coral reefs. We should have brought some bread crumbs to feed the fish.

I always love sunset and the view was amazing. At night, we walked along the beach and saw 5 meteors within an hour. We were hoping to see some blue tears (a form of sea algae living on the seabed that glows in blue) but unfortunately we saw none. Basically, there's nothing much you can do at night as the whole area was dimly lit. Well... just relax and enjoy mother nature...

The next day, electricity went off at 6.20am and for the first time in years I have to take cold shower in the morning. Simple buffet breakfast has been served from 8am to 9.30am. We're allowed to extend our stay until our departure time since there's not many guests on that day. We had our lunch at Mari Mari Cafe before we depart on speedboat at 3pm. Overall food taste average.

We're the only guest leaving the island and the sea was so rough that I thought I'll never see daylight again. The journey was so bad that I'm almost drenched and for the first time I felt seasick. However, our captain was amazing. We thanked him for his good job and glad that we arrived safely at Mari Mari Mantanani Jetty.

Activities:

a) Snorkeling: 1 session - RM 50/pax
b) Snorkeling: 2 session - RM 100/pax

c) Diving: Leisure dive - RM 180 (non Malaysian) / RM 150 (Malaysian)

d) Sunset cruise: RM 50/pax minimum 5 pax

e) Gear rental: Mask and fin - RM 30/day

f) Return transfer to small island: RM 20/pax

Check in - Upon arrival at Mari Mari Backpackers Lodge
Check out - 9.30am

Departure time - between 2.30pm to 3pm

Electricity - 7pm to 6am

Price - RM 250/pax (including return scheduled speedboat transfer to and from Mari Mari Mantanani Jetty, 1 snorkeling session (free rental of mask and fin) and breakfast