Jambatan Gantung Tamparuli

The distance from Tamparuli town to Kota Kinabalu city is approximately 36 kilometers

The Tamparuli Suspension Bridge length is 200-Metre-long. 

“Jambatan Tamparuli” (jambatan means bridge) folk song written by Justin Lusah in 1977 made the Tamparuli Suspension Bridge famous. 

 It’s also known as the Lover’s Bridge because of a heartbroken love story.

According to local stories, the bridge for vehicles was actually built by British engineers after the war (around the 1950s).

The structure of the bridge construction is constantly collapsing. At the same time this engineer has also fallen in love with a local girl. However, he became more disappointed because not only did his bridge collapse, but his heart was also broken when he found out that his lover was cheat on him. 

One day he met a local shaman and asked about his bridge problem. He was told that the spirit of the river wanted the sacrifice of a girl.

This engineer decides to trick his lover and make her a sacrifice — in return for cheat on him. 

His lover is buried in the first pillar of this bridge. However, just like Mahsuri's story, the woman swore that this bridge would continue to collapse until the engineer's blood was drained in the river.

This British engineer finally killed himself in this river.

So if you hear someone call it Lovers River, this is one of the reasons.