With the early Chinese traders settlement around the river mouth area, the name "Kina Batañgan" has been used by indigenous people with the word "Kina" itself is a reference by indigenous Dusun for the Chinese people. The Orang Sungai traditionally lived along the river banks and of mixed ancestry including Dusun, Suluk, Bugis, Bajau as well the Chinese. The earliest Chinese traders settlement on the banks of Kinabatangan River has been established since the 7th century where they trade in edible-nest swiftlet, beeswax, rattan and ivory. In the 15th century, a sister of the Chinese Kinabatangan settlement leader married with the Sultan of Brunei. During the era of British North Borneo, the river serves as the route for goods and timber exports, navigable for steam launches as well for smaller boats. William Burgess Pryer did attempt to establish a market at one location called Domingol in the river coast but the plan did not flourish.
Geology and ecology
The river area including Labang and Kuamut are form since the Early and Middle Miocene period while large parts of its river system from the Maliau Basin is form during the Early and Late Miocene. Towards the river mouth, the area is made of Middle Miocene chaotic deposits. The ecology of the upper reaches of the river has been severely disrupted by excessive logging and clearing of land for plantations although the original lowland forests and mangrove swamps near the coast have largely survived, provide sanctuary for a population of saltwater crocodiles and contain some of Borneo's highest concentrations of wildlife. In many villages along the river, the demand for freshwater fish always high where the livehood of the villagers greatly depend on the income from their catches. Each year, the lashing rains of the northeast monsoon cause the river to swell rapidly. Unable to disgorge into the sea quickly enough, the river frequently overflows its banks and spreads across the flat land of its lower reaches, creating a huge floodplain.
Conservation efforts
In 1997, of the lower Kinabatangan floodplain were declared a protected area. Much of the deeper river area are protected under the Lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary, a reserve established in 1999 which provides a variety of habitats for flora especially freshwater swamp forest, mangrove, palms and bamboo as well fauna such as hose's langur, proboscis monkey, orangutan, pig-tailed macaque, gibbon, slow loris, elephant and rhinoceros. In 2001, the lower Kinabatangan floodplain was upgraded into bird sanctuary area through the efforts of non-governmental organisation. Following media attention after a decapitated elephant's head was found floating down the river in 2006, the protected area been gazetted as the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary through the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment of 1997 under the purview of the Sabah Wildlife Department in 2009. Since the modern era in the early 1950s until 1987, the lower Kinabatangan area has been subjected to commercial logging activities and more than of its lowland rainforest has been developed into cocoa and palm oil plantations. This resulted in severe pollution to the river which have greatly affected the life of villagers who depended their livelihood on the river and attracting the attention of Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment Department of the government of Sabah. In 2011, Nestlé launch a reforestation project of the riparian along the Kinabatangan River in Sukau to create a landscape where people, nature and agriculture activities can co-exist harmoniously in their need for water. Most nature tourism is the Kinabatangan River area is concentrated around Sukau since it is accessible by road and offering comfortable accommodation to visitors prepared to pay for well-managed tours.
Accessibility
The only bridge crossing the river is located at Federal Route, about from Sandakan. A bridge linking Sukau with Litang and Tommanggong was planned but cancelled in April 2017 after opposition from conservationists including David Attenborough due to potential adverse effect on the localpygmy elephant population. The river can be visited all year round, though it is often flooded during the wettest part of the year in December and January. From April to October during the main flowering and fruiting season, the climate is generally fairly dry and a good time to spot many birds and animals. During the northeast monsoon from November to March, there are often heavy showers during the afternoons which usually extended until December and January. Through the rainy season, it is possible to negotiate many of the river channels leading into the oxbow lakes, where there is a greater concentration of wildlife.
