Bako National Park

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Sarah and I had decided we wanted to go to Bako National Park together for some trek time. After visiting the orangutans yesterday, we were supposed to go and enquire about booking accommodation to stay there but the office was closed.

So in the morning, we went with fingers crossed there was space for us. Joined by Jimmy from New Zealand, we managed to grab the last chalet with 3 beds. Lucky for us! We all had to get some last minute things before catching the local bus, including a towel, mozzie spray and the use of an ATM. Sarah and I lost Jimmy in the mall, so we thought rather than searching for him, we would meet him at the bus stop. Logical thought right? However, only having 5 minutes to go and catch the bus, we got on and left - with no Jimmy in sight.

Arriving at the dock to board the boat over to the park, there Jimmy stood waiting. He had got a taxi. We cruised down the river, checked in and had lunch. Many cheeky monkeys were hanging around waiting for peoples leftover lunches and we caught sight of them jumping onto tables and steeling empty coke cans etc.

A rule of trekking was that you have to be back at base to sign in by 6pm. We only had few hours before this so decided to do one of the shorter treks 'Paku trail'. As we were leaving the HQ, we were lucky enough to see some proboscis monkeys swinging their way through the trees. The trail was still tough going, up and down boulders, ladders and different terrains leading us to a small beach. As the sun was going down and it started to become a little cooler, the surrounding trees started rustling and many monkeys appeared. Strolling across the leafy areas of the beach, there was a mother a tiny baby amongst other cheeky ones. We were surrounded!

In the evening, we paid a little extra to do a night trail with others and a guide. We saw much wildlife that we possibly wouldn't see during the daytime such as; stick insects, snakes asleep wrapped round trees, a scorpion inside a tree and sleeping swallows, to name a few.

After breakfast the next morning, we set off for our second trek. This one was further and we ended up on the top off a cliff overlooking another beach, in which we also walked down a path to get onto. It was a hot sunny day so we went for a swim in the sea. Lazily, we made a joint decision to catch a taxi boat back to HQ to then make our way back to our hostels.

Two decisions I made this evening, one to fly to Kota Kinabalu the next day and secondly, to join my friends Hayley and Dani in Sri Lanka on the 28th September, so I booked my flight to KK and applied for my ETA for Sri Lanka.

A group of 7 of us ate at the Top Spot Food Court, a must for seafood lovers and when you choose a number of dishes and divide it by how many people, it turns out to be a cheap and fantastic meal.

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