Brilliant Baco National Park – Wonderful for Wildlife in Sarawak Bornean Malaysia

A Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike (Hemipus hirundinaceus) Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia 28 March 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

English: View from the Bako national parc in Malaysia, Sarawak,Bornéo Français : Vue du parc national de bako, Malaisie, Sarawak, Bornéo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Padang scrub at Bako National Park, with N. rafflesiana plant in foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

English: Drosera spatulata var. bakoensis growing in Bako National Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pit viper in Bako National Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Topographic locator map of Borneo. Created with GMT from public domain SRTM data. For non-locator version, see Image:Borneo Topography.png. Left:108 Bottom:-5 Right:120 Top:8 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Deutsch: Bako (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

English: Bako National Park, near Kuching, Malaysia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Proboscis Monkey in Borneo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

A White-chested Babbler (Trichastoma rostratum) photographed in Bako National Park, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

English: Locator map of , with highlighted in red (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

English: Juvenile Proboscis Monkey in Bako National Park, Borneo, Malaysia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Baco National Park (NP) is in the state of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo. Whilst, it is one of Malaysia’s smallest national parks, it is also one of the best in terms of seeing spectacular, rare wildlife in their natural habitats in the rain-forest.

 

We went on a day tour, with an outstanding guide, who we used the previous day for a city tour. Baco National Park has recently introduced a new accreditation process for its guides and other national parks could perhaps benefit by following.  We were driven to the entrance of the national park and from there it was necessary to take a boat up the river which eventually flows into the South China Sea. We got off the boat, straight onto the most beautiful, wide, open beach before we could start exploring the wildlife on foot; we stood for a while staring at the most spectacular views, clear blue sea, firm white sands, where the monkeys would play.

 

We walked for about three hours. It was very hot but we so enjoyed the setting and the viewing of the wildlife in the rain-forest; also looking down at the vast South China Sea was quite lovely. We went for lunch in the one and only place that is available for food. This is also part of a lodge resort for overnight stays. After lunch we walked some more. We saw  endangered species of monkeys, playing happily in the rain-forest and we also saw a most unusual looking beetle, it is called a Rhinoceros Beetle, it has a face just like a Rhino and is jet black and very shiny; we never thought that we would term a beetle as beautiful! We continued walking through this wonderful jungle until eventually reaching the beach again, where trees grow and monkeys play. It was now, sadly time to leave and we boarded the boat for our return, but not before making sure that we had every last glimpse of the truly spectacular area we had visited that day.

 

Just some of the wildlife we saw are listed below.

 

• Bornean bearded pigs
• Proboscis monkeys
• Silver leaf monkeys
• Macaque monkeys
• Flying lemurs
• Rhinoceros beetles
• Wagler pit vipers (snakes)

 

We would thoroughly recommend the Baco National Park. It is small, compact, beautiful, rich in both flora and fauna. Don’t miss it, if you are visiting Borneo!

 

Related articles

 

• Our kind of town: Kuching Sarawak (Borneo Malaysia)
• Adventures in Sabah Borneo Malaysia – Part 2 – Monkey Business
• The Sensational Natural Beauty of Taman Negara Malaysia