Bako National Park

Being the dithering person that I am I left it too late to arrange for a stay at the Bako National Park. This was after I  had decided on going to the RWMF. As mentioned previously I am by nature not an outdoorsy person, computer bound and sedentary I wanted to be a new leaf! So it was after having met countless Borneo travellers (not from Borneo but travelled Sarawak and Sabah) extolling the wonder of Bako I had to go see for myself what charms this place held.

Now the only National Park I'd ever been to was Kinabalu NP, so I had one place for comparison. The difference between Bako and Kinabalu are the namely the types of forests you can see,the climate and wildlife. In Kinabalu NP, you can see different bird species and montane forests with tall looming trees whose worth is big enough to buy twenty two Proton Sagas (Malaysian cars).Ooh and there's nothing like being in the cool air suitable for farming vegetables, strawberries and  imported milk cows! In Bako NP, you have a different topography, and a lot of humidity! Some trekkers I was playing Uno with one late night mentioned how they never knew they could sweat as much as they did in Bako! Anyways in Bako, you could see some semi wild bearded pigs and monkeys! Wetland forest and oddly enough, a lot of pitcher plants.

It's really easy to get to Bako NP. If you know your way around the Waterfront, go behind the Chinese Museum and wait at the bus stop. There isn't an actual bus stop but there's a bus box marked on the road shoulder so that is where you can get picked up with the red bus #1. You'd be facing the Main Bazaar shop houses. Countless minibuses will stop and try to pick you up for fares, I'm sure we would have got there earlier but I was stubborn and wanted to take the Red bus for Rm3.50

Yay we arrived after an hour!

Taking the boat from the jetty, across the River is Bako village

The boat to the National Park, it is RM47 per boat but can be shared by a maximum of 5 passengers.

Trail map

Bako National Park,definitely one of the places to visit when in Kuching. It is fully booked during the summer months*, my friends and I were the only Malaysians there and everyone else was a foreigner. I was lucky enough that my friends had the foresight to book the whole dorm room months ago.When placing your reservation, a whole dorm room (4 beds) is only RM40, or you could reserve by per bed at RM15 each night. If the place is fully booked, you can also opt to camp there at RM5 a night, sadly they do not rent camping gear. However one can easily day trip here, although you'd be press for time to do the more challenging hikes.

Bako NP is a great place for families, so children age six and above can come and do some of the trails as well. Sometimes near the lodging areas there will be a pit viper lurking around, but you normally don't notice them as you wont be getting off the boardwalk to take a closer look at the bushes!

The welcome gibbon! Spotted him before I had even registered at the HQ and dropped my bags into the room

The jetty, and the beginning of the trail.

The actual starting point, 5 minutes away from the jetty

All the trails I did were challenging for me (yes I need to exercise more!), however my friends were active marathon runners so they did all the trails easily and were kind enough to stop and wait for me, but the scenery made it bearable for them :D

The Pandan Besar and Pandan Kecil, shares the same trail in the beginning before splitting up at a junction. Pandan Besar has a great viewpoint and on the way back to do the Pandan Kecil,you can see a bird's eye view of the sea stack. Once you make it down to Pandan Kecil's beach however, the sea stack is obscured by the cliffs. You can almost have the entire beach to yourself if you come in a non peak season.

A view from the Pandan Besar trail

Can you see the smiling rock?

The sea stack , mascot of Bako park

So happy to head back to HQ by boat

The second day we went the opposite direction, and did three trails in the morning,Tanjung Delima, Ulu Assam and Tanjung Sapi. Delima was more of a warm up trail and leads out to the mangrove swamp. At low tide you could walk along the beach from the end of Delima back to HQ without hiking. Ulu Assam has a viewpoint at the end but was extremely long and challenging, the last 700m was rather steep. Tanjung Sapi, we did it within half an hour, as it is mostly steep stairs going up to the top of sandstone cliffs for a view of the entire beach of the Bako park and HQ.

On the last day, we did the Teluk Paku trail, shorter than the Pandan trails, but at the end, a really amazing beach and cove. Early in the morning there were hardly any people besides some bookworms but closer to noon when more day trippers arrive this is the trail that most of them do. We passed 6 different groups on our way up to do the Pandan trails again.

Did you know Bako is #1 out of the top 20 places to see in the Lonely Planet Borneo guide?

Let's see,why is it #1 :
1. Awesome beaches!
2. Close encounters with the proboscis monkeys (not close enough to touch but you can stalk them
from the beach to watch their activity)
3. Crazy amazing trails
4. Incredible sunsets
5. Amazing views of the Santubong mountain.

But I'll let my pictures do the talking!

Bearded pig, a family of a mama pig and 3 piglets,they're a usual sight  at HQ

Flying lemur spotted close to our hostel and right at the end of our night trek

A mother and her baby at the jetty shelter,she was quite far away and I wanted to  open my bag to take out my water,instantly she was within range ready to rummage through my bag, I ran out of the shelter!

Beginning of Ulu Assam, and Delima trail,this is part of the night trek as well.

The night before we were told to switch of our torches to see them glow in the dark.

Mystical morning moment

Now you see me

and then you don't!

From the jetty, a little further from the landing point shown above

Pitcher plants on the sandstone trail of Pandan Besar/Kecil

 * Malaysia is a tropical country,so it's basically summer everyday of the year but the European/American summer time is of course peak season,so if you plan to visit during summertime June-August,book months ahead to get your accommodation or permits for climbing, diving etc.