ABOVE: An aerial view of Tanjung Aru beach, a public park in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This park is host to some magnificent large fig trees.
Ficus microcarpa, the most common fig tree at Tg Aru beach. Numerous fine examples grow within the park, both as stand alone banyan figs with stilt roots and as epiphytes or hemi-epiphytes in the casuarina forest along the beach.
Ficus benjamina , the Weeping Fig (Local name: Waringin) grows wild in the forests of Borneo and ornamental imported varieties are also often cultivated in towns and parks. Waringin are common at Tg Aru beach. This particular individual was growing next to the mini golf course at the Shangri-la Tg Aru Resort.
Ficus lyrata. An ornamental fig originating in West Africa frequently planted for landscaping in Borneo. There are several small trees growing on Third Beach next to the airport runway.
The Malay name Tanjung Aru translates into Cape of the Casuarina trees . The whole 3 km shore of Tg Aru beach is lined with a belt of shady Casuarina equisetifolia trees with needle like leaves that sigh in the afternoon breeze. The Aru trees provide welcome shade to the many human visitors and nesting holes for many rare birds including Pied Hornbills, Blue-naped Parrots and Rollers.
Tanjung Aru beach faces the west. Every evening at sundown hundreds of tourists from mainland China visit the beach to enjoy the sunset. As the sun sinks into the South China Sea, the glowing sky silhouettes the islands of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. Pulau Sulug on the left, Pulau Mamutik backed by Pulau Manukan on the right.