Sandakan Memorial Park
Sandakan Memorial Park
4.5
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4.5
789 reviews
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SavageE
Montreal, Canada67 contributions
Dec 2019
There isn't much to see in Sandakan so we went for 1 1/2 hour to do a walk in what is actually a city park with very little remains of what was once a prisoner camp. If you are interested by the history of WWII, u might find it interesting though there is not a lot to see. We enjoyed it because we didn't know about this part of the 3war and how Borneo was touched by the events. It's a nice enough walk and you can download an app for an audio tour that is well made but the visit is definitely not a must on a visit to Sandakan. Instead go to Sepilok to enjoy the nature and animals.
It was freewheel we went and the app is also free.
It was freewheel we went and the app is also free.
Written 13 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Budakampung
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia193 contributions
Oct 2022
Nice park (Sibuga Forest Reserve) and historical site that tell about the moving story of the WWII P.O.W. and the death march route from Sandakan-Ranau. There is a small interpretive centre that displayed the history of the Australian and British POWs. Do make a full circle of the trail/walk to see some of the remnant from the camp along the walkway.
Written 2 October 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
aero_dude
Sydney, Australia113 contributions
Aug 2023 • Solo
I did a DIY day trip to Sandakan from KK and it was definitely worth the experience. I had an amazing time thanks to Anzar +60178217605. He picked me up from the airport and I was able to visit all the sights in Sandakan that I wanted to visit. He offered a reasonable price and was there waiting once I finished the tours I did. I was able to visit the Rainforest Discovery Centre where I saw orangutans in the jungle, went to Sepilok for the orangutan feeding, saw the probiscis monkeys in Labuk bay, saw the sun bears, visited the ANZAC memorial. The memorial was a hidden gem and was cool to pay my respects in. We went to town and had lunch at Sim Sim seafood. We even visited a mall for some last minute souvenir shopping just before my flight. I’m glad I found Anzar online and would highly recommend his services. He is a local and so knows the place very well. Enjoy this beautiful place!
Written 4 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Andy F
Devizes, UK1,397 contributions
Feb 2024 • Friends
This park is built on/ near where hundreds of BRitish and Aussie troops were kept by the Japanese to build the nearby airstrip. There are no graves here, just a black obelisk that pays tribute to those who died here or on the death marches. There's a 20-minute looping path through the trees and back to a serene. It's a nice place, but there's little to actually see.
Written 2 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MinaLim_KUL
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia742 contributions
Oct 2023 • Couples
Wasn’t expecting much but turned out to be mind blowing! The lives of POWs loss was just so unnecessary. The 265km forced-march started from this camp (now a park), and ended in Ranau. Which is literally our next stop (literally the next day!)
Got my hands on a copy of the book where the historians documented as much of the POWs personal accounts (the surviving 6 of the 2,500) as well as accounts from interrogations of the Japanese war criminals.
MUST visit!! If you’re in a rush like us, we simply had a quick 45mins stop over on our way to Sandakan Airport.
Got my hands on a copy of the book where the historians documented as much of the POWs personal accounts (the surviving 6 of the 2,500) as well as accounts from interrogations of the Japanese war criminals.
MUST visit!! If you’re in a rush like us, we simply had a quick 45mins stop over on our way to Sandakan Airport.
Written 17 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
joan t
Doncaster, UK486 contributions
Mar 2024 • Couples
Worth a visit - Mr Farhan as per previous reviews arranged for us. What's app +60 1125322699. Would recommend if in Sandakan. Wouldn't go out of my way to visit unless I had a personal historical interest
Written 19 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Henry M
66 contributions
Jan 2023 • Couples
We spent a good hour learning about the experience of Australian soldiers as prisoners of war at Sandakan and walking around. It is a beautiful park with a moving and informative pavilion, full of signs and a video recounting stories. I highly recommend all Australians visiting Sandakan go to the park to remember all those who fought and died here.
Written 11 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
infomalaysia
Malaysia231 contributions
Sandakan War Memorial or Sandakan Memorial Park is located in the outskirts of Sandakan, Sabah Borneo. The site is just next to the actual POW (Prisoners of War) camp which was set up during the World War Two Japanese Occupation from 1942 to 1945 which witnessed the death of 2400 Australian and British POW held by the Japanese here. This war memorial was officially opened on the 15th February 1999 and the memorial park is dedicated to the men who lost their lives in the Borneo Death Marches during the Second World War.
In 1942, 2700 British and Australian soldiers were transported from Singapore to Sandakan and set to work building an airstrip. By early 1945 many had died, but the surviving 1800 Australians and 600 British troops were force-marched to Ranau by the Japanese, where they were to start work on a new project.
Just six soldiers, all Australian, survived the 240-kilometre march through mud and jungle in which two of the six escaped into the jungle during the second march in June 1945. Assisted by local people, they were eventually picked by Allied units. The other four escaped from Ranau in July and again, with the help of local people, were fed and hidden from the Japanese until the end of the War. A total of 2,428 Australians and British POWs died at Sandakan, Ranau or on the Death Marches.
Finally, an official Anzac Day Ceremony is held here every year in memory of the Australian, British and New Zealanders who suffered and died in this area. Please check with your local travel agents if you are interested in this. Also, to commemorate those who died and suffered the terrible atrocities, relatives and friends in Australia have initiated August 15 as the Sandakan Memorial Day.
Address for Sandakan War Memorial Park:
Sandakan Memorial Park
Mile 8, Jalan Labuk Utara,
Taman Rimba, Sandakan,
Sabah Malaysia
Contact information:
Sandakan Municipal Council
Contact Person : Catherin Chua
Telephone : [--], [--], [--]
Fax : [--], [--]
Opening hours: 9am to 5pm Daily
Entrance Fee: Free
Getting to the Sandakan War Memorial Park:
* Taxi from town - About RM30 (US$8.80) both ways including waiting time. Takes about 15 minutes drive there and do negotiate.
* Self Drive - Rent a car and get directions there.
* By Bus - Take a "Batu 8" bus to the Esso petrol station at the airport roundabout, then walk along Jalan Rimba for five to ten minutes until you see the park.
* Optionally you can arrange for a tour here with one of the local tour companies in Sandakan town.
The full writeup of this is available on my travel site as there was too much information to add here, pictures, videos and more details.
David
In 1942, 2700 British and Australian soldiers were transported from Singapore to Sandakan and set to work building an airstrip. By early 1945 many had died, but the surviving 1800 Australians and 600 British troops were force-marched to Ranau by the Japanese, where they were to start work on a new project.
Just six soldiers, all Australian, survived the 240-kilometre march through mud and jungle in which two of the six escaped into the jungle during the second march in June 1945. Assisted by local people, they were eventually picked by Allied units. The other four escaped from Ranau in July and again, with the help of local people, were fed and hidden from the Japanese until the end of the War. A total of 2,428 Australians and British POWs died at Sandakan, Ranau or on the Death Marches.
Finally, an official Anzac Day Ceremony is held here every year in memory of the Australian, British and New Zealanders who suffered and died in this area. Please check with your local travel agents if you are interested in this. Also, to commemorate those who died and suffered the terrible atrocities, relatives and friends in Australia have initiated August 15 as the Sandakan Memorial Day.
Address for Sandakan War Memorial Park:
Sandakan Memorial Park
Mile 8, Jalan Labuk Utara,
Taman Rimba, Sandakan,
Sabah Malaysia
Contact information:
Sandakan Municipal Council
Contact Person : Catherin Chua
Telephone : [--], [--], [--]
Fax : [--], [--]
Opening hours: 9am to 5pm Daily
Entrance Fee: Free
Getting to the Sandakan War Memorial Park:
* Taxi from town - About RM30 (US$8.80) both ways including waiting time. Takes about 15 minutes drive there and do negotiate.
* Self Drive - Rent a car and get directions there.
* By Bus - Take a "Batu 8" bus to the Esso petrol station at the airport roundabout, then walk along Jalan Rimba for five to ten minutes until you see the park.
* Optionally you can arrange for a tour here with one of the local tour companies in Sandakan town.
The full writeup of this is available on my travel site as there was too much information to add here, pictures, videos and more details.
David
Written 3 March 2010
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LAWRIET
The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, UK151 contributions
On holiday in Kota Kinabula , Borneo,September 2000, a day trip to Sandakan and the Orang Utan Sanctuary was included in the 'package'. Having concluded the visit, our small party of 8 were asked whether we would like to see the Sandakan war memorial as there was an hour or so to fill before our scheduled hotel lunch.
'Why not' was the consensus.
What I saw , learned and 'felt' in the next hour will live with me forever.The site had been been superbly prepared and the informatiom and photographs presented in such a manner that one could easily imagine the scene 60 years previously. The cinema has given us images of Japenese POW camp activities - The Bridge over the River Quai,Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - but witnessing the restored buildings & the punishment hut in the intensity of the mid day sun brought home the realities that had happened on this very site. Few words were spoken by any of our group during our visit and in the coach back to Sandakan, none at all.
Our day trip had promised what was indeed a wonderful time with the Orang Utans, witnessing their return to nature after mistreatment by humans, but the abiding memory is of the horrors inflicted on humans by humans in the past.
Memorable in every way possible.
'Why not' was the consensus.
What I saw , learned and 'felt' in the next hour will live with me forever.The site had been been superbly prepared and the informatiom and photographs presented in such a manner that one could easily imagine the scene 60 years previously. The cinema has given us images of Japenese POW camp activities - The Bridge over the River Quai,Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence - but witnessing the restored buildings & the punishment hut in the intensity of the mid day sun brought home the realities that had happened on this very site. Few words were spoken by any of our group during our visit and in the coach back to Sandakan, none at all.
Our day trip had promised what was indeed a wonderful time with the Orang Utans, witnessing their return to nature after mistreatment by humans, but the abiding memory is of the horrors inflicted on humans by humans in the past.
Memorable in every way possible.
Written 24 October 2008
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
cuttlefish
Southampton84 contributions
During the second World War Australian and British soldiers were held in a prison camp at Sandakan. As the end of the war approached the Japanese decided to move the prisoners
to the West coast. The first Sandakan Death March began in January 1945 with 470 prisoners. The toll was horrendous and with less than half of the prisoners still alive the Japanese halted the march in Ranau, 260 kilometres west of Sandakan. Despite the high death toll the Japanese started a second march on 29th May 945 with 536 prisoners. This march lasted 26 days and only 183 prisoners reached Ranau. Incredibly a further 75 prisoners were forced to make a third march on 9th June 1945 – none of whom made it further than 50 kilometres from Sandakan! Most of those that survived to Ranau died there and by the end
of the war, of those who set off on the ‘Death Marches’ only 6 Australians were alive. Two escaped into the jungle on the second march and four from Ranau in July. Out of nearly 2400 POW at Sandakan these men were the only survivors. Those who did not die on the marches or at Ranau died in Sandakan.
The Sandakan Memorial Park is adjacent to the original prisoner of war camp. On entry into the park one sees the most beautiful lily pond seen anywhere. The pond is a mass of white and red lilies. There is a walk way round the park, which has been left as natural jungle and is incredibly quiet. A few pieces of machinery are dotted around and in the centre a memorial. The main building houses information about the marches, the camp and the horrendous conditions that the POW endured. It is only due to the 6 survivors that eye witnesses were available for the war crimes trials after the war ended. All others had been systematically starved or beaten to death.
A sombre and reflective place. It takes about an hor to an hour and a half to walk round the memorial grounds and visit the memorial centre. Beautifully designed and worth a visit. Get a taxi from Sandakan and arrange for the driver to collect you a few hours later.
to the West coast. The first Sandakan Death March began in January 1945 with 470 prisoners. The toll was horrendous and with less than half of the prisoners still alive the Japanese halted the march in Ranau, 260 kilometres west of Sandakan. Despite the high death toll the Japanese started a second march on 29th May 945 with 536 prisoners. This march lasted 26 days and only 183 prisoners reached Ranau. Incredibly a further 75 prisoners were forced to make a third march on 9th June 1945 – none of whom made it further than 50 kilometres from Sandakan! Most of those that survived to Ranau died there and by the end
of the war, of those who set off on the ‘Death Marches’ only 6 Australians were alive. Two escaped into the jungle on the second march and four from Ranau in July. Out of nearly 2400 POW at Sandakan these men were the only survivors. Those who did not die on the marches or at Ranau died in Sandakan.
The Sandakan Memorial Park is adjacent to the original prisoner of war camp. On entry into the park one sees the most beautiful lily pond seen anywhere. The pond is a mass of white and red lilies. There is a walk way round the park, which has been left as natural jungle and is incredibly quiet. A few pieces of machinery are dotted around and in the centre a memorial. The main building houses information about the marches, the camp and the horrendous conditions that the POW endured. It is only due to the 6 survivors that eye witnesses were available for the war crimes trials after the war ended. All others had been systematically starved or beaten to death.
A sombre and reflective place. It takes about an hor to an hour and a half to walk round the memorial grounds and visit the memorial centre. Beautifully designed and worth a visit. Get a taxi from Sandakan and arrange for the driver to collect you a few hours later.
Written 7 September 2008
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Can I leave a bag at the cafe while I tour. On my way to the airport.
Written 29 June 2017
to be honest i don't recall seeing a cafe, there is a visitor centre which had someone in, wouldn't really like to say if they will look after your bag though. Have you tried emailing them
Written 29 June 2017
We used the same taxi driver for all our trips and left all of our luggage in the vehicle with him. He was happy to wait and take us to the airport.
Written 30 June 2017
In first para., Please amend Opening Word That to "They".
In second para Please amend word eaters, to "Theatres"
Thanks
Sincerely
Cecil Wagstaff
Written 29 February 2016
Approximately how much should it cost in a taxi from the airport to the Memorial Park, and how much from the Memorial Park to Sepilok? Also, is it easy to get a taxi once at the Park?
Written 31 January 2015
Honestly can't remember the exact cost but it was not expensive. We hired a taxi for the day and they took us everywhere we asked and suggested other places too. The drivers were always friendly and more than happy to enter places with us to act as a guide.Would definitely recommend hiring for the day - just fix your amount before heading off
Written 20 May 2016
Approximately how much should it cost in a taxi from the airport to the Memorial Park, and how much from the Memorial Park to Sepilok? Also, is it easy to get a taxi once at the Park?
Written 31 January 2015
We did a day tour and the visit to the Sandakan Memorial Park was the last stop for the day. Well worth a visit. Great information about what happened there. Very sad! The park is located or surrounded by a suburbs of flats and accommodation. You wouldn't expect a park to be in the middle but then this is the exact spot so peoples homes sprung up around the Memorial park. It is fenced off and people manning the information centre are very friendly and the place is funded by the Australian Government. I don't think you would be able to catch a taxi from the park but the best option would be to catch a taxi there and have the driver wait for you as its on a busy street. I would make the trip to Sepilok a separate one.
Written 1 February 2015
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