Bako National Park

Our plan today was to get over to Bako national park, the oldest national park in Borneo, and have an explore. As the weather is slightly inclement there has been some doubt as to whether we can actually do this. To get there involves a small boat, and when the sea’s rough it’s not the wisest idea to attempt the crossing. If you capsize it doesn’t really matter if you can swim as there’s crocodiles in the waters to gobble you up. However we got the green light with the caveat it had to be at low tide and we wouldn’t actually be dropped off at the centre where we were staying so we’d have a hike with all our stuff after the boat dropped us off. Fine. 

After we set off we stopped at a pharmacy to get mosquito repellent (there’s been an ongoing palava with insect repellent) unsuccessfully and I got some water shoes for less than £1 (successful). The boat trip itself started off calm as a pancake however we quickly came to appreciate their caution, and epic steering skills. We essentially had to surf the boat in between and across waves, at a few points speeding in front of incoming white caps at our head height. Thrilling with an edge of danger with the crocodiles circling beneath (they weren’t, that’s just for effect). After being safely deposited in thigh height water (‘run to the shore’) we changed into our hiking boots and made it to Bako park centre in time for lunch. It’s a canteen style place here, not quite as good as at Matang but still pretty great. 

This afternoon Melanie and I went on a hike led by Richard (our guide for the whole tour, probably should have mentioned him before). The others didn’t fancy it so stayed at their room overlooking the sea, warthogs and the occasional monkey going by. The hike was very hot and humid, I obviously still sweated a lot even though it was raining consistently. When we returned we saw a number of proboscis monkeys (very endangered) and a load of cheeky macaques that chased me with my phone and stole Michelle’s crisps much to her distinct annoyance. There’s no night walk tonight as the weather isn’t good enough (it is, for once isn’t raining...we’re getting the feeling that the guides just can’t be bothered to do these night walks). 

We ate dinner overlooking a proboscis monkey having it’s dinner in a tree, where there was quite a fiasco over someone’s dinner (unnecessarily fussy eater who barely ate anything but still insisted on getting an entirely different dish after not liking her first choice, and insisting on chillies and garlic being chopped up smaller, and smaller, then going to the shop mid way through to buy a bag thus lengthening the length of an already unnecessarily long dinner. Madness). There’s uncertainty on when our boats going to be returning us to the mainland (its not actually an island but a peninsula that can only be accessed by boat, or a veery long walk) as the sea conditions will play a part. So we may have the opportunity to hike tomorrow morning, then take the boat, then go to the Sarawak cultural village, then to the hotel. Or we may be stranded here if it gets worse. Who knows.