The Green Connection in Kota Kinabalu Sabah

Located at Mile 2.5 off Jalan Tuaran (near Wisma Wanita and St. Johns’ Ambulance), this place is home to more than 1,200 species ranging from the smallest of insects to slimy snakes and unique marine life including sharks. This place is also known as the Green Connection Aquarium or KK Aquarium by some locals.

Green Connection Aquarium Kota Kinabalu

Update 2017 – The place is back to normal with a revamp and cleaned up.


Update 2014 – Due to some funding issues, the Green Connection in KK is poorly managed and quite run down and we recommend that you give this place a miss. Unless you really want to go, it is entirely up to you. We will let you know if there are new updates to this place. This original review was done in 2010.

Update: Aug 2011 – I recently re-visited this place and found that many of the attractions here have not been managed well due to a lack of funding. However, school children were still seen doing a field trip here. If you do visit and notice this, please do let me know by leaving a comment here.

The drive from KK town was a quick ten minutes and on arrival, we were greeted by the technical director and his team.

He also told me that the main purpose of the center was for education and conservation, stressing that children were the primary target in educating them from a young age.

Update: Professor Steve Oakley is no longer with the Green Connection.

Dimly lit as to resemble how it would feel like in an actual cave and even with stalagmites hanging down from the ceiling minus the actual cave smell. 

There was even one aquarium tank which showed life under the paddy (Padi) fields with actual paddy plants and fish underneath it.

I was pretty much impressed with the creativity involved to educate the guests here. Direct sunlight on to the open aquarium displayed how beautiful the coral life was below the jetty.

For confidence boosting, a safety tape was also placed on one of the pythons and you could get up, close and personal with them. All the snakes on public display were raised from eggs and have been handled daily. The snakes are used in rotation so that they do not get excessive handling from visitors.

I looked closely at one of the pythons and they were simply amazing reptiles. A blue and green tint was seen when the handler moved the snake in the sunlight. Something I never got a chance to see before. More at the reptile section, there were enclosures with an alligator, common monitor lizard and other various Sabah snakes.

While most of us have seen an oil rig, many do not know what is under it. So, this was a first for me and it was very educational.

A number of sea snakes were wriggling around in this tank which was the center of attraction with the visiting children on that day. I believe that the sea snakes are not easy to keep in captivity. 

Carefully recreated to house the local Otters here, you can witness life below the cliffs with actual flora and fauna specially designed for the Green Connection. 

Smaller sharks are also seen in the tank where a guide would explain in detail about these beautiful marine creatures.

There were four Black Tip Sharks, a fairly large shovel nose shark, a couple of trigger fish and various other fishes dominated the Green Connection Aquarium here.

Among the other critters seen here were the rare Coconut Hermit Crab, King Crab, Smaller Sharks and Starfishes.At the end, a hand washing area is provided with towels.

The Green Connection Aquarium is a Conservation and Environmental Education project from Aquatica Aquarium and Discovery Centre Sdn. Bhd. I personally recommend this place to anyone visiting Sabah Borneo. Thank you again to Grace and Sabah Tourism for making this visit here possible.

Green Connection Goals

• To become a major tourist attraction for Sabah Borneo. 
• To keep aquatic life in the best possible conditions. 
• To show aquatic life in realistic, attractive displays which satisfy both aesthetic and environmental requirements. To develop discovery centre exhibits which stimulate and make learning fun. 
• To include a wide range of discovery centre interactive exhibits which cover all aspects of ocean science: oceanography, biology, chemistry, physics, maths, technology & engineering
• To make visits enjoyable and memorable by entertaining and encouraging curiosity. 
• To provide support materials for educators which compliment and develop the concepts taught in schools and further education.
• To promote an interest environmental conservation and awareness in all visitors. 
• To develop a cadre of young Malaysians who care about the environment and are concerned with the threats facing aquatic life.
• To support Government and Non Government Organisations in their efforts to conserve, species, habitats and ecosystems.
• To support the dive and Ecotourism industry by encouraging visitors to become involved and visit the natural world destinations available in Sabah Borneo.

• Taxi there – One can easily take a taxi there as most of the taxis in Kota Kinabalu know of this place. It costs about RM10-15 (US$3.00-4.70) one way.
• Bus – Get a bus that heads towards Tuaran, Innanam, Mengatal, Telipok and stop at KM2 of Jalan Tuaran or Wisma Wanita (Women’s Centre)
• Driving – If you  are self driving, just follow the main Tuaran Road.