Gaya Island Resort
Overwater villas drawing on Bajau stilt-village tradition within a marine park
About the Property
Perched on the forested shores of Gaya Island within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, this award-winning eco-resort weaves Kadazan-Dusun and Bajau indigenous design motifs throughout its water-village-inspired architecture. Though not a historic building, the resort serves as a living showcase of Sabah's maritime heritage, with hand-crafted longhouse-style villas elevated above the jungle canopy and the South China Sea. Its commitment to reef conservation and indigenous craft programmes gives guests genuine cultural immersion in Borneo's living heritage.
Original Purpose
Eco Resort
Highlights
History Timeline
British North Borneo Company receives its royal charter, bringing colonial administration to the Sabah region; Gaya Island is long inhabited by Bajau Laut sea nomads who construct stilt villages on its sheltered shores.
Mat Salleh, a Suluk resistance leader, burns down a British trading post on Gaya Island during an uprising against colonial taxation, making the island a landmark site in the history of Sabah resistance.
Malayan independence is achieved on 31 August; North Borneo remains under British colonial administration until 1963, when Sabah joins the federation of Malaysia and the waters around Gaya Island become Malaysian territory.
The Malaysian government establishes Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park encompassing Gaya Island and four neighbouring islands, protecting the exceptional coral reef and rainforest ecosystems of Sabah coastal waters.
Gaya Island Resort opens on the forested shores of the marine park, with water-village-inspired architecture drawing on Kadazan-Dusun and Bajau indigenous design traditions and a strong commitment to reef conservation.
The resort receives the Green Globe certification for its marine conservation and community engagement programmes, including coral nursery work that has restored over 3,000 coral fragments to the reef around Gaya Island.