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Published: February 25th 2007
This weekend we organised an overnight stay at Bako National Park along with two other volunteers - Heather & Sarah, with the intention of hopefully seeing the Proboscis monkey. To get to Bako you have to take a short boat ride down the river in the South China Sea. The ride was very beautiful with small Malay village houses dotted along the banks and the majestic mountains in the distance covered with a layer of mist at the peaks. Once you arrive you have to jump out of the boat and wade through the unbelievably warm waters to the beach.
After checking into to our basic (but cheap!) wooden lodge and a brief lunch (more noodles), we decided to head out on a short trek to see if we spot the elusive Proboscis monkey. We walked for about 45 minutes along the trail through the lush rainforest over tangled roots, up and down boulders and along boardwalks before finally arriving at a small secluded beach. We paddled in the South China sea which is extremely warm & inviting. The beach was idyllic, with beautiful surrounding trees and lush vegetation.
Then we made our way back through steep dense rainforest.
Then suddenly we heard rustling in the trees above and noticed three Proboscis monkeys, which we studied for a good ten minutes. It is extremely fortunate to gain sightings of this rare species. Then as we headed back towards our chalet where we had a small confrontation with the macaques - they can be quite aggressive when they want food. The views across the waters in the evening was spectacular, Ellie trampled down to the shoreline to try and catch sunset.
In the evening we went on a night trek. We discovered a flying squirrel, a Talibut, a snake, stick insect and some wild boar. However the highlight was the tiny fireflies, who look like twinkling fairy lights in the night sky - they are beautiful. However after we only saw a frog, due to the heavy downpour that promptly took place, resulting in us all becoming drenched before returning back to our chalet! We are used to the frequent showers now - but we will soon be approaching the dry season. We were completely drenched and had to leave our clothes out to dry on the veranda. The lodge itself was quite dirty - so showering was not
a particularly pleasant activity!
On Sunday we had been advised to make an early start as the Proboscis monkeys feed in the mangroves at low tide, so we awoke at 7am and headed to the boardwalks. Unfortunately we had just missed them so waited until after 8am before heading back for breakfast (nature doesn't work to a time schedule). At 11am we headed back on another short trek to see some 'pitcher' plants. This time we were lucky, very lucky! Not only did we see the fascinating Proboscis monkeys up close, but also the Silverleaf monkeys and those troublesome macaques (again). We watched them for around 20 minutes from the boardwalk before heading onwards for another trek for an hour to the top of the hill. Here we discovered many Pitcher plants hanging off trees, all open and waiting for the next insect to fall in for lunch - carnivorous plants!
After another rewarding day at Bako we headed back across the warm waters in our little boat and then by taxi back to the wildlife centre.
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Proboscis Monkey
