Kinabalu Park was established in 1964 and covers an area of 750 square kilometers (300 square miles).  Two expeditions to explore the mountain and its flora in 1961 and 1964 were led by Professor John Corner, on behalf of the Royal Society of London, which led to the formation of Kinabalu Park.

The Park is situated in the East Malaysian state of Sabah (British North Borneo before 1963) and stretches through the entire west coast of Sabah.  Its highest peak is Mount Kinabalu standing at 4101 meters (13,455 feet) visible from the South China Sea.  Being the world youngest granite pluton, it continues to rise 5mm/year.

The lowest elevation in Kinabalu Park is at Poring Hot Springs (550 meters/1,805 feet), which lies near the Park southern boundary. Therefore temperatures decrease from 25?C hot and humid at Poring to a cool and crisp 4蚓at Mount Kinabalu summit. The climatic changes provide a diverse range of habitats for thousands of plant species.

Due to the high altitude, clouds are trapped in many parts of the Park and heavy rainfall occurs for several months of the year from October to January while February to May are generally the driest months. A common climatic feature of the Park, are bright early mornings, followed by clouds mid-morning which obscure the mountains by mid-day.

Mount Kinabalu is the tallest Malaysian mountain. The next two highest peaks being Mount Trus Madi (8,666 feet) and Mount Tambuyukon (8,462 feet) located 50 kilometers south and 20 kilometers north of Mt Kinabalu respectively. A total of six unique major topographical features occur with Kinabalu Park. These include peaks and plateaus, gullies, rivers, streams and waterfalls, hot springs, caves (Paka Caves and the tumbled bats cave at Poring) and granite slabs, a characteristic of the slopes of the summit.

Mount Kinabalu comprises an oval-shaped granite dome which resulted 1.5 million years ago by volcanic, tectonic and geological processes. Rapid uplift followed by glacial erosion during the Ice Age contributed to the smooth rock surface, which is well graded and paved at the summit. Low's Gully is the most spectacular feature of the mountain spliting it into two peak forming the Western and Eastern Summit Plateau.