Bako: The mother of all parks

By HeidiMunan

BAKO National Park is a serrated rocky peninsula jutting into the South China Sea, north of Kuching. It is the mother of all national parks in Sarawak in that it was the first to be gazetted, way back in 1957.

As national parks go, Bako has it all: a fine variety of wildlife, a staggering array of plants, no fewer than five distinct types of natural habitats, and a visible geological history to keep the most enthusiastic rock hound happy.

There’s a network of well marked and maintained tails, paths and plank walks where feasible, rock scrambles where not – rock scrambles includes cliff-scaling as well as cleft-squeezing.

Nobody gets bored in Bako! Sad to report, however — lots of people get browned off by Bako.

The facilities for orientation, trekking and nature observation are excellent. The facilities for all those eager trekkers and observers’ creature comforts, however, are not.

Please queue here…

Three busloads of tourists arrive at Kpg.Bako jetty, staging point for short boat trips to the national park. About half of them head for the toilets. In the ‘ladies’, two of the cubicles have one inch of water (I hope it’s only water!) on the floor, the third is locked, and has been for some time. Out of order, a little sign says. If there is no plumber in Bako village, there are lots in Kuching, half an hour’s drive away.

Still on the same delicate topic, the toilets at the park canteen are worse. There’s exactly ONE for the ladies, and one for the gents, and we’d better not describe the state they’re in. Hard-pressed fellows have been seen heading for the bushes, giving a new meaning to the term ‘rainforest’!

First Impressions

The toilet situation gives a poor impression of Bako, and so does the first glimpse most arrivals get of the park. At low tide, they disembark from their boats, wade through the shallow sea water for a bit, reach the beach, and are confronted with a noisy building site.

I was in Bako about a year ago; our guide explained that a new HQ was under construction, including a canteen, lots of toilets, shower rooms, the lot. Ready next year.

As of April 2010, the building site is as messy as ever. Every visitor who arrives at low tide has to walk right past it, as does everyone who wants to go to the canteen or the park chalets.

High-tide arrivals don’t get to see the building site at once, but they too are treated to a lot of unsavoury sights. Rotten boats, broken timber, builders’ debris litter strategic points along the plank walk and paths from the boat jetty to the Park HQ.

And when they’re ready to leave, park visitors are targeted with a parting shot of the plain silly kind. There’s a little pavilion where people wait for the boats to come alongside the jetty. The way into and out of this waiting shed leads OVER the sitting bench!

Nobody — fat or thin, agile or clumsy, healthy or lame — can avoid a climb on to a sitting bench and then a jump, step or crawl down the other side.

Head for the Jungle!

The best thing to do is to head straight for Bako’s jungle.

The same visitors who grouch about the facilities at HQ burst into songs of praise when it comes to the management and maintenance of the National Park proper. Miles and MILES of wooden plankwalk are kept in good repair. Steps and footholds are hewn into steep passages (lots of those!), the many meandering trails are well marked. Park Wardens and our own special breed of Park Guides point visitors to the most likely route taken by an itinerant group of Proboscis Monkeys, draw their attention to a jade-green viper curled almost invisibly among the verdure, and reassure them about the perfectly peaceful character of Charlie the bearded, tusked wild boar.

What’s really interesting about Bako is not at the HQ, it’s out there in the forest!