KL Tower International BASE Jump Merdeka Circuit 2006
Menara Tun Mustapha
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
- Location:
- Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
- Building:
- Menara Tun Mustapha
- Building Height:
- 122 meters (400 feet)
- Jump Height:
- 108 meters (354 feet)
The city Kota Kinabalu is located in the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. East Malaysia is the northern part of the island of Borneo. It is a 2.5 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur.
Sabah was the starting location for KL Tower International BASE Jump Merdeka Circuit 2006.
All BASE jumpers arrived in Kota Kinabalu by 10th August.
We stayed at Le Méridien Hotel which is located in the centre of Kota Kinabalu. BASE jumpers all had very nice deluxe sea view rooms.
On the morning of 11th August participants met as a group for the first time and we were all taken the Menara Tun Mustapha for a briefing and inspection of the building. The building is located about 5km northeast of the city centre of Kota Kinabalu.
Upon arriving at the building we were treated to a traditional ritual ceremony performed by the Bobohizan who are the High Priests. All the jumpers were given a spiritual blessing to protect us from harm so that we would be able to jump safely.
BASE jumpers were given a briefing about the event and the building, then registration was finalized.
We then had a charity visit to the Bukit Harapan Orphanage.
In the afternoon participants made their first jumps from the building.
The day finished with a welcoming dinner at Kg. Nelayan restaurant hosted by the Sabah Tourism Board. At the dinner jumpers got to experience the local food and a cultural show show cased the ethnic dances in sabah. It was a great experience. Jumpers were invited to join the sumazau dance, the sumpit blow and the bamboo shoot dance.
The 12th August was the official launch of the event in Sabah. For the launch jumpers were transported from our hotel to Menara Tun Mustapha on the back of motor bikes with a police escort. Thanks to the Sabah Big Bikers club. It was an exciting start with the police riding ahead to stop traffic and escorting us through all the red lights.
On arrival at Menara Tun Mustapha we circled the building on the bikes before stopping at our destination. We were greeted by YAB Datuk Musa Hj. Aman, Chief Minister of Sabah and treated to a display of local culture.
Next it was the jumpers turn to put on a display.
After the jumps we had a group photo with all the VIPs. A donation was made to our local selected charity, the Bukit Harapan Orphanage.
Our packing area was a large area conditioned room that was right next to the building and our landing area.
Jumping continued for the rest of the day and the following day.
Weather conditions during out time in Kota Kinabalu were reasonable but it did often change during the day. We had some rain and some wind but conditions were jumpable most of the time.
KL Tower International Jump 2017
After 2.5 days of jumping, 180 jumps had been completed by 15 jumpers. Our technical director managed to complete 41 jumps during this time.
It was now time for 2 days of rest and relaxation.
On 14th August, jumpers experienced local activities such as white water rafting.
On 15th August our event organisers Gary Cunningham and Aziz Ahmad departed to Kuching, Sarawak to perform some trial jumps off Menara Pelita and assess it's suitability for future events.
The rest of the jumpers went snorkelling and scuba diving.
On 16th August, all participants flew to Alor Setar, Kedah for our next building on the tour.
Thanks to Chris Lammert, Yayasan Sabah and the Sabah Tourism Board for the huge effort that they put into helping to organise the event in Sabah.
