Patrick Comerford
We spent our last Sunday afternoon on this visit to Kuching with a walk in the rainforest and the jungle, two boat journeys on the shores of the South China Sea, an encounter with the wild life of Sarawak, and a walk on the beach – but without going for a swim for of crocodiles in the water.
Bako National Park is 37 km from Kuching, and we caught a ‘Grab’ there late on Sunday morning after I had attended the Cathedral Eucharist in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching.
Many visitors make a full adventure of their visit to Bako, and stay overnight. The park covers the northern part of the Muara Tebas peninsula of the Bako and Kuching Rivers in Sarawak. It was established in 1957 fishing and former timber logging area, and it is the oldest though one of the smallest national parks in Sarawak, with an area of 27.27 sq km.
It took us about an hour to get from Kuching to Bako. The first part of the journey was a 30-40 minute journey by road to the village of Kampung Bako. From the jetty there, a boat took about 20-30 minutes to bring us to the beach and the park HQ at Telok Assam.
The coastline of steep cliffs, rocky headlands and stretches of white, sandy bays has been created by millions of years of erosion of the sandstone. Many of the rocky headlands have been carved by the waves into fantastically shaped sea arches and seastacks with coloured patterns formed by iron deposition.
Some of the rock formations can be seen at the entry to the Teluk Assam Beach, which fronts the park. The most famous seastack was shaped like a cobra’s head and could be seen on a boat ride from the headquarters or one of the beaches. But this collapsed earlier this year.
Five minutes by the beach at Bako on Sunday afternoon (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Bako is one of the most popular parks in Sarawak, and the rainforest and wildlife are the main attractions. It has multiple biomes, including rainforest, abundant wildlife, jungle streams and waterfalls, secluded beaches, and trekking trails. But the park also has a picturesque coastline, dotted with small bays, cliffs, beaches and rocky features. The scenery constantly changes from place to place or even along a single trail.
A network of 18 marked walking trails of different lengths allows visitors access to many parts of the park. Many of the beaches and many of the seastacks can be reached by boat from both Kampung Bako or Teluk Assam, and the colour-coded trails offers= a range of walking and trekking options from short and easy walks near the park HQ to full-day hikes through the rainforest and the jungle.
Some of the most popular trekking trails include Telok Pandan Kecil, which leads to a small beach; the Lintang loop, which passes through nearly all of the habitat types found in the park; Telok Paku, a short and relatively easy trail located close to the park HQ that passes through beach and cliff vegetation; and Telok Delima, which passes through dipterocarp forest and finishes at an area of mangroves. However, most of the long-distance trails in the east side of the park seem to be closed for maintenance.
Five minutes on the boardwalks in Bako on unday afternoon (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
Following the trails and treks, you can move from beach vegetation, through mangrove forests, then climb a hill to walk through narrow strip of dipterocarp forest before the forest thins out as you enter the kerangas or heath forest.
When you reach the plateau you come across scrubland where the poor soils only support bushes and grasses. There are no tall trees here but pitcher plants line the sandy trail and ground orchids grow in the impoverished soil.
Bako displays almost every type of plant life that is found in Borneo, with over 25 distinct types of vegetation from seven complete ecosystems: beach vegetation, cliff vegetation, kerangas or heath forest, mangrove forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, padang or grasslands vegetation and peat swamp forest. The unusual plant life includes a variety of carnivorous plants – four species of pitcher plants, sundews and bladderworts – as well as a huge variety of tree and other plant species.
Bako is one of the best places in Sarawak for wildlife experiences. The animals are used to human visitors. The star attraction is undoubtedly the proboscis monkey, with their huge noses and pot bellies.
It is said that there are 275 proboscis monkeys at Bako. They are often spotted around the park HQ and accommodation blocks at Telok Assam. But they are now an endangered species and I saw none on Sunday afternoon.
However, we saw two Bornean bearded pigs, and the other animals there include long-tailed macaques, silver-leaf monkeys, langurs or lutungs, plantain squirrels and otters. All these are in the forest and can be seen near the camp headquarters at Telok Assam beach. Bako is also home to a number of monitor lizards and snakes, most of which are harmless.
Over 150 species of birds have been recorded in Bako. The nocturnal creatures there include the colugo, pangolin, mousedeer, various species of fruit-eating and insect-eating bats, tarsier, slow loris and palm civet.
The canteen by the beach has a self-service buffet with limited rice dishes, snacks and drinks. People who are staying overnight are recommended to bring fruit and snacks from Kuching.
It is possible to stay overnight in Bako, but the overnight accommodation at park lodges, hostels and a campsite is basic. Many of the rooms need renovation and repairs, towels are not provided, and there are no blankets or towels in the hostel. One travel agency does not recommend the campsite, because ‘troops of macaques often raid tents, sprinting away with clothes, bags, toothpaste or anything that tickles their fancy.’
At one time it was possible to swim at the park’s beaches, but this is no longer advisable. Although we dipped our feet in the water and the waves as we got off the boat and strolled along the sandy shore at the main beach before checking in at the park HQ, we were told how there have been several sightings of crocodiles on the beaches and in the bays in Bako.
The crocodile population in the wider Kuching area has expanded over the last decade and they are moving into areas where previously they have not been seen. Crocodiles were always found in the Bako River but now they are occasionally sighted in the park’s waters.
Sarawak Forestry has put up ‘Do Not Swim’ signs all around the park, and visitors are told not to go wandering off into the mangroves at low tide.
We stuck to the trails and mangrove boardwalks, before catching a boat back to Kampong Bako in the late afternoon and then made our way back to Kuching. Perhaps on a future visit we may take a packed meal, a bottle of wine, watch the sun set in the South China Sea and stay overnight.
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