(Bacony)-Bako National Park

7-August-2010

After an early morning walk, van ride, and boat trip we waded ashore at Bako National Park and paid our entrance fees. Still feeling marginally awake we watched with awe as a herd of Borneoan bearded pigs advanced on the park headquarters and proceeded to munch on coconuts and other plant material within feet of us tourists. After numerous encounters with wild pigs in the field back home, both Rachel and I were not too interested in getting to know the temperament of these Borneo-endemic swine. These guys and gals were big (some of them must have weighed well over 300 pounds), and they pretty much look like "normal" wild pigs with goatees. This was our introduction to Bako, Sarawak's first national park, perched on a peninsula that juts out into the South China Sea.

As we were observing the pigs, movement in the trees signaled monkey's overhead. Gazing upward we expected to see the common, long-tailed macaques. Surprise! Advancing overhead was a troop of proboscis monkeys. Proboscis monkeys are truly spectacular animals. Endangered and restricted to a limited number of locations on Borneo, they are easily recognized by their enlarged noses. The proboscis males of this species can get quite large, such that they look like they are wearing large sausages attached to their faces. We watched and took photographs as these gentle herbivores munched on leaves and swung around in the trees above. All of this and we were still just steps away from the park headquarters.

We began our long day hike with our friends and traveling-companions, Lauren and Elliot, along the Lintang and Telor Paku trails eager to explore more of Bako's natural wonders. Hiking first on Telor Paku we emerged from sandstone cliffs onto one of the most idyllic beaches we have ever visited. We were tempted to spend the entire day in this spectacular setting of clean sand ringed by dense cycad-rich hillsides and bordered by picturesque sandstone formations. The one main deterrent to a lazy day on the beach was the presence of saltwater crocodiles in Sarawak's coastal waters-yikes!

Continuing our hike on the Lintang Trail we climbed a moderate-sized hill and emerged into a Mars-esque landscape of exposed pock-marked sandstone filled with water from the previous night's rain and stunted vegetation. We soon realized that we were in Bako's heralded keranga habitat. The keranga habitat we observed in Gunung Mulu National Park was much less harsh and was lush in comparison to this landscape. It wasn't long before we began to notice pitcher plants of the genus, Nepenthes. We had heard from a fellow traveler that there were pitcher plants on the trail, but were were not expecting the botanical wonders of the next several hours. For the next 3-4 hours we hiked in and out of Nepenthes habitat observing millions of pitcher plants. Not trying very hard we tallied at least seven different species (with two species observed in Mulu, that makes a total of nine species for the trip) of pitcher plants. The hike even threw in some sundews (Drosera) and Pinguiculas to satisfy our appetite for carnivorous plants.

The variation in Nepenthes that we observed was outstanding. They occupied numerous habitats-from dense forest to exposed swampy areas cloaked with moss. We found them growing on bare soil and hanging vine-like from tall trees. Filled with water and partially-digested insects they ranged in size from the size of my pinky-finger to nearly the size of my head. And, they ranged in color from plain, pale green to a pattern which resembled a red and green tie-dyed t-shirt.

Hiking back to park headquarters though a forest rich with so uncountable species of palms we observed another troop of proboscis monkeys (one female carrying a baby-so cute) parading through the canopy. What a fitting end to a memorable hike!

Hungry from all of the hiking and botanizing the four of us stopped in for a snack at the park's cafe. If you ever wanted to see monkeys gone bad this would be a good place to start. The macaque problem at the cafe is so bad that they have even hired a guy to sit out front and protect tourists from monkey attacks by pelting the constantly-advancing macaques with rocks.

Q: What do you do for a living?
A: Oh, I work at a restaurant.
Q: Cool, are you a waiter?
A: Not exactly, I shoot monkeys with a slingshot.

Okay, calm down PETA, no monkey's were harmed in the making of this blog post. Seriously, macaques are no laughing matter. We observed numerous near-attacks on tourists while we sat at the cafe. These little guys are scary. Lauren even had one of the little buggers jump onto her backpack early in the day because she was carrying an apple. Watch your back.

Sitting on the beach, waiting for our boat, staring at the ocean's beauty we chatted about the great hike and maintained a state of "constant vigilance" to ensure that no macaques were sneaking up on us. Not far behind us, a troop of proboscis monkeys grazed in the trees as we boarded our boat back towards Kuching.