Blogs from Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia

I had the misfortune to visit Bako on a rainy day. As in, it rained all day. I left Kuching on the second bus and arrived an hour later. After buying a poncho to keep dry, three other people and I were herded into a boat. Of course, we somehow were assigned the boat with no cover. We were told to choose a return time, and hoping for better weather later in the day, we opted for 4pm. You can't change your boat time and you can't change your boating group. We weathered the icy speed boat ride with our heads down. Upon arrival at the dock, we made a beeline for the cafeteria to get tea and warm up. Finally, around noon, the rains seemed to be letting up, so we set out for one ... read more

There are very few places on Earth that are free of the heavy hand of human life, we are able to infiltrate even the most wild of places. Bako National Park is one of the places that has managed to resist the expansion of civilisation. If you become lucky enough to land on its wild shores you may find a roof over your head and may even find a cafeteria but do not expect comfort and don’t bother bringing your soap. Unreachable by land the only way in is via boat. This has enabled wildlife to rule and it is hard not to respect this fact when you arrive. Wildlife remains wild and unlike other National Parks they will dictate what you see, when you see it and how comfortable they want your stay to be ... read more

Der Bako Nationalpark liegt auf einer Halbinsel direkt am Meer. Gesäumt von Mangrovenwäldern und erodierten Felsen, steilen Klippen und dazwischen liegenden wunderschönen Sandstränden befindet sich ein Stück Urwald. Mit dem Boot angekommen geht es auf Entdeckungstour. Ich habe gerade die ersten zwanzig Meter Dschungel erobert, da stehe ich in einer Wasserwand. Es läuft und tropft, die Kleidung klebt am Körper. Der Schweiß strömt einfach nur so aus mir heraus. Es ist wie baden gehen, ohne ins Wasser zu springen. Gut, dass ich mir eine Flasche Wasser mehr mitgenommen habe. Den Wasservorhang vor dem Gesicht zu Seite wischend gewöhnen sich meine Augen an das schummrige Licht und sehen sich um Baumstämme windende Lianen, riesige und klitzekleine Blätter, eine grünes undurchdringbares Wirrwarr. Irgendwo dort hinein führt ein kleiner, mit Wurzeldickicht gepflasterter Weg. In de... read more

Three days in Bako National Park Just returned from another excellent trip into the Borneo jungle. This time we were in Bako National Park, right in the south of Sarawak. We stayed in the basic hostel accommodation provided by the park, it was great to get back to a hot shower this afternoon! Bako is a stunning place, with a number of picturesque beaches, good hiking trails, forest with limestone cliffs. It's popular as a day trip location so the early and later parts of the day a wonderfully quiet. We saw lots of proboscis monkeys, some up quite close, as well as silver leaf monkeys, a flying lemur, numerous birds and a few snakes, plus more butterflies and stick insects. The day walks are all well marked, some of them with some steep climbs, all ... read more

After arriving at the airport in Kuching, we were strolling along the waterfront, thats the promenade along the dirty brown river here. It was just an relaxed afternoon, with a bit of sightseeing, unfortunally most of the little shops were closed. The next day we had very bad weather, but decided then still to go to Bako, an National-Park. In between two heavy showers we sat on an open boat with only a sunroof and got only a little wet... Already on the way from the reception to our bungalow we could spot 3 Vipers. An experience my mum wouldn´t mind, if she had missed it ;-) On the way to a lookoutpoint we could already spot some "Nasenaffen"! On the Nightwalk we saw a black scorpion, Treefrogs, a view big ugly Insects like Crickets (Heuschrecken), ... read more