Day 5: Bako national park by Eashan

We woke up bright and early to get to Bako national park. We went down to breakfast, which, disappointingly, consisted of questionable toast and spreads. Then we went outside to wait for the taxi.

We found a boat taxi to take us to Bako, which was the only way to get there, with a driver called Nazri. as we walked down the docks, We lost Nazri among the loud shouts and chaotic proceedings on the comparably small wooden dock. however, we were soon reunited with Nazri, and we set off at a nice relaxing pace. as soon as we were far away enough from the riverside, however, Nazri hit the gas, and the boat sped along, skimming across the water, at times fully out. With the wind in our hair literally, a mysterious looking mountain made monotonous by being shrouded in clouds to our left, and deep hills blanketed by the rainforest to our right, the scene was right out of a movie. Eventually, we slowed down once again, and came up to the entrance of the park.

Before we even managed to set foot on the shore, we had already seen not one but two monkeys playing in the sand. as they scurried back to the trees, and climbed away, we stepped onto the concrete steps leading up to a small room. Inside were the route maps, alongside corresponding difficulty ratings. we chose a moderately challenged trail to start off. The trail claimed to take around 45 minutes despite being little more than a kilometre. We laughed naively at how silly for such a short walk to take such little time. we walked towards the trail’s start, passing the cafeteria where we were to have lunch later.

By the cafeteria there were 3 incredibly thin, yet large bearded pigs grazing on the grass. they looked similar to warthogs, with snouts protruding out a hairy face. Also by the cafeteria, hanging on trees, was a family of monkeys.They swung from branch to branch effortlessly, gracefully finding flowers or fruits to eat, apart from a slightly older monkey, who was on the larger side of his species. He reached for some food, but after realising it was just out of reach gave up and just lay there. Soon we peeled ourselves away from the wildlife to begin our trek.

We didn't even go 10 metres before we had realised why it was going to take as long as the map had suggested . It was steep. very steep. but we continued on, going up and up, ducking under hanging branches and climbing over tangled webs of roots. though other than the occasional lizard or insect, we didn't see any animals. What we found instead, however, was a view overlooking the river, rainforest and the mountains in the distance. We stopped for a short water break before continuing on climbing higher. it wasn't long before we realised that we had already reached the end, and were just walking into bushes. we turned back, returning to the cafeteria.

There, we decided on our next walk. this was going to be longer, and we were hoping to find the elusive proboscis monkey. On the way to the next walk, a local guide cane up to us and asked if we wanted to see a baby snake. We followed him to where a small crowd had begun to gather around a tree, pointing at the shrubs below. Looking very closely, we managed to spot the well hidden tiny snake, wrapped around a leaf. After we managed to get photos of the snake, we began the next walk.

This time, we passed the riverside and headed in the other direction. We found ourselves on a wooden walkway over the sand where the boatride had recently receded from. looking down, There were dozens of small critters scurrying around. Upon a closer inspection, we saw that the creatures were tiny crabs, with a single white claw about the same size as itself. We carried on and once again followed the path into the rainforest. and once again, the walk was steep, but the nature was amazing and other than the immense heat and humidity, was a great walk. Before long, we arrived at the halfway point: a beach.

Trying not to be put off by the huge crocodile warnings, we stepped onto the beach, and as soon as we did, we saw another gathering of people. this time it was around a grown snake. the snake was frozen like a statue and was staring at the shore. Its body wrapped around a tree branch, and its neck twisted into an "s" shape, ready to spring and attack. Eventually, we moved on, and sat by some rocks on the side of the beach. Then dad noticed all the crabs. On the ground, whenever you took a step, a cluster of tiny crabs, smaller than a fingernail would scuttle across the sand into holes, disappearing in the sand. We remained on the beach for a little longer before beginning the trek back. The walk back was similarly steep and uneven, and we were ready to have some lunch. but then...suddenly Arushi released a huge scream. We turned around to see what was happening but we couldn't see the source of her fear. We searched around to see what it was, bur then it dropped to the ground besides her. it was a harmless, hand sized chameleon, staring up at us. We looked around at the small cluster of eyes that Arushi's scream had attracted, watching the chameleon, and Arushi,so we decided to quickly move on.

Lunch was a buffet with rice, meat, and vegetables displayed along a table. simple, but still nice. a
Alongside this, we each got a well deserved cold drink. while eating, we decided we were ready to head back. we hadn't seen any proboscis monkeys like we'd hoped, but we had still seen silvery langur monkeys, bearded pigs, ring legged fiddler crabs, and Bornean keeled green pit vipers.

We called up Nazri, for the boat taxi, followed by a taxi back into Kuching . Me, Millen and Arushi took the bags to the room and relaxed, while mum and dad went to the launderette to give them some laundry.

Once they got back, we began to head to the pool and for the next 45 minutes, we spent time relaxing in or around the pool.

We then went back inside into our rooms to get changed for dinner. We went to the restaurant right next door to our hotel. The food was good, once again simple, but effective. We returned to our rooms for the final time that night, and after the long day, got some sleep.Læs mere