The park is a 45-minute drive from downtown Kuching. Then it’s a bit of a complicated process to register as a guest at the park, paying for the boat, then paying for the park entrance fee. All paid, all registered, we boarded a beautifully maintained motorized blue-and-red wooden long boat for a 25-minute high-speed ride to the entrance of the magnificent, mountainous, ocean-side national park.
We woke at 5:00 am to book a Grab early enough to beat traffic and make the most of finding wildlife in their early morning feeding. Even at a 7:30 am arrival, the temperature was hot, and with the dense humidity, the air felt like that of a pressure cooker. We located the trailhead of our first hike, and before we covered much ground, we found a family of Bornean bearded wild pigs as they busily rooted the ground, finding grubs, tubers, and roots. There was a big papa, a mama, and three growing piglets. The babes, the boar and the sow knew what to do. Each creature seemed to ignore us; they were on a mission. Check! We found the wildlife we most wanted to see. We almost turned around to make our return trip back to the city, but there were hikes to do and monkeys to find.
Hikes outside the USA can be primitive. Super primitive. There are no graveled paths; there are no secure safety rails. Our first hike here at Bako was uphill, Path 2. It was the trail the park attendant suggested we tackle first before the day’s heat became unbearable. We set out. There were steep, mossy-covered wooden steps here and there, but the route was what I term a “muddy root-climbing, tree-grabbing trek.” As we grabbed a nearby limb or vine for stability, we prayed it was in fact a root or a limb and not an anaconda. We stopped now and then to quietly listen when we heard rustling in the trees. Was that an animal? Or was it a nut or a piece of fruit falling to the ground? Aside from the pigs, we saw no other wildlife on this trail. Reaching the end of the trail was only about an hour for us but our clothing was wet and heavy with sweat. It was only 10 am in the morning but already I was craving a cool, crisp shower, but we had so much more to go.
Back down the steep trail we went, following muddy foot-holds, grasping roots, vines, and saplings for security to keep from slipping.
Damn, we made it! Then we started Trail number 1, the next one the park attendant suggested. The trail was much shorter, but no less difficult. It was straight up, and the handholds were again ground roots, vines, and trees. Dang! But we did it. We did it again!!! The reward at the end of the trail?? A view of the beach and park headquarters below and bit of a breeze to cool us. It was no magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime view, but there were people there who like us, were wet with sweat but happy to be there. We chatted. We exchanged stories. We made some new friends there at the top of Trail 1, some from Newcastle, England, and others from Barcelona, Spain.
As we waited for the tides to change so we could grab a boat back to the Bako Terminal, we explored wetland walkways around the park headquarters, and Lord, Lord, Lord, we found silver leaf monkeys and red and black fidler crabs in the mangrove muds.
And for us, it was another amazing day.
❤️🥰🥰❤️