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3 easy trails in Bako National Park you must visit

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The oldest national park in Sarawak, Bako National Park is a tourist favourite in the state.

Located about 30km north of Kuching city, the park was established back in 1957 before Sarawak became part of the Malaysian federation.

Bako National Park is a great place to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life especially if you are living in Kuching.

Unlike other national parks near Kuching such as Santubong National Park, Kubah National Park and Matang Wildlife Centre where you can still hear faint sounds of vehicles, you are completely immersed in the silence which nature offers at Bako National Park.

Most of the time, you can only hear the sound of the waves crashing, the trees rustling, and the pigs snorting.

And yes, it is pretty hard to ignore the park’s residents. Beside the bearded pigs, you will also get acquainted with other residents including silvered-leaf monkeys and long-tailed macaques.

However, the star of Bako National Park is none other than the proboscis monkey.

Some say that the proboscis monkey is one of the most unusual animals in the world.

It has reddish-brown fur with greyish limbs and its long tail and lower back are white.

Adult males have a huge, distinguising red nose and a pot belly.

Although they can be easily spotted near the headquarters in the evening, when you explore the trails you might find more of them.

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Bako National Park is one of the few rocky shores found in Sarawak.

With so many trails to choose from in Bako National Park and so little time, these are the three easy trails you can visit:

1.Teluk Paku

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A view of secluded beach of Teluk Paku.

Proboscis monkey, check. Doable trail, check. Secluded beach, check.

It takes about one-hour to hike to this small secluded beach called Teluk Paku.

If you are taking the trail early or late in the day, you might spot a proboscis monkey at close range.

2. Lintang

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A female proboscis monkey spotted at Bako National Park.

This is a good trail for botanists or plant lovers out there.

Lintang trail makes a great introduction to the plants of Sarawak with many trees labeled with their botanical names.

It is a loop trail which takes up to 4 hours to complete.

3.Teluk Pandan Kecil and Teluk Pandan Besar

Bako National Park
A view from the top of the cliff at the end of Teluk Pandan Kecil trail.

It takes one hour to Teluk Pandan Besar and other half an hour to Teluk Pandan Kecil.

Pitcher plants can be found along the sandy paths of this trail. The trail ends with a breathtaking viewpoint overlooking the South China Sea. After which, you can descend to Telok Pandan Kecil beach to enjoy the seaside.

Always be aware of your surroundings, as there have been many reports of crocodile sightings in the area.

Read more:

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8 species of hornbills you can spot in Sabah

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Sarawak might be called the “Land of the Hornbills” but plenty of these birds also call neighbouring state – Sabah – home.

Nature lovers or avid bird watchers will find this Sabah Tourism Board infographic handy as it details the types of hornbills which can be found there along with their measurements from head to tail.

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Check out how else these hornbills differ from each other:

1. Bushy-crested hornbill (Anorrhinus galeritus)

Bushy-crested hornbills prefer roaming around subtropical and tropical lowland areas.

It is a dark-coloured bird and its tail is grey-brown with a broad black tip.

Its diet include figs, fruits, cockroaches, mantis and millipedes.

2. Asian black hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus)

We would not be able to enjoy durian if it were not for this particular hornbill.

Asian black hornbill is known to be a major durian seeds disperser.

The bird is black overall except for its broad white-banded outer tail and its pale yellow casque.

3. Oriental-pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)

The oriental-pied hornbill is a black and white bird with a white belly and thighs. The casque, however is yellowish.

The male has a larger casque with few black marks while the female has a smaller casque with more black marks.

This hornbill is considered more common among the Asian hornbill.

4. Wrinkled hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus)

One characteristic of the wrinkled hornbill which stands out are its blue eye rings.

Plus, the males and females of the species look like they come from different families altogether.

The male’s bill is yellow with a red base and its casque is brown on the lower mandible while the bill and casque of the females are almost completely yellow.

Males have bright yellow feathers on the neck, chest and cheeks, but they are black in the females.

5. White-crowned hornbill (Berenicornis cormatus)

With white crown feathers on its crest, this particular hornbill is like the Andy Warhol of its kind.

It can be easily distinguished by its white head, neck, breast and tail while the remaining plumage is black.

It is also known as the long-crested hornbill or white-crested hornbill.

6. Wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus)

Also known as the bar-pouched wreathed hornbill, you can recognise it by its yellow inflatable pouch on its throat

The casque is corrugated and it has overall black plumage with short white tail.

Males and females of wreathed hornbills look similar but the females weigh averagely lighter than the males

7. Rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros)

Like the rhinoceros, this hornbill has a huge bill and casque which come in orange and red.

The males’ eyes are red with black rims while the females have white with red rims.

The plumage is mostly black with white legs and its white tail has a black band.

It enjoys mostly fruit but will eat insects, rodents, small reptiles too.

8. Helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil)

First of all, this hornbill has a very heavy head. Its casque accounts up to 11 per cent of its 3kg weight.

It has mostly blackish plumage, except that the belly and legs are white.

The throat is wrinkly; pale blue to greenish in colour in females and red in males.

Where to find them?

Now that you can roughly tell these hornbills apart, where can you find them in Sabah?

According to Sabah Tourism Board website, all eight species can be spotted in one place- the Kinabatangan River – the second longest river in Malaysia and renowned for its diverse ecosystem.

Besides hornbills, the river also plays home to proboscis monkeys, orangutan and Asian elephants.

Time to pack the binoculars and a field guide book and head to Kinabatangan!

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National Geographic enthusiast turns orangutan devotee

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Orangutan in canopy_LH
Orangutan usually lives up around the canopy area and is very agile in travelling across canopy. Photo credit: © Lukmann Haqeem

Be it exploring something new or to re-learn our history, the documentaries brought by National Geographic have drawn Lukmann Haqeem to be part of the conservation world.

Working as senior field biologist in WWF-Malaysia under the Sarawak Conservation Programme, Lukmann reminisced, “The show instills the desire to explore nature in me. I have always liked the idea of becoming a pioneer and taking human civilisation to a new level.”

When he was in secondary school, he developed an interest in Biology. During his final year of high school, he won the overall best student for the subject. This propelled Lukmann to pursue his studies in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

“I figured that I will do something that I’m good at and passionate about at the same time. Becoming a field biologist is like a dream come true as it incorporates both exploring nature and my love for biology,” said the 29-year old conservationist.

Lukmann, who is fondly known as Bob, now spends most of his time researching wild animals, especially orangutans. He began developing an interest in working with orangutans after watching several documentaries on the charismatic species.

“Although orangutans are popular animals, not much is known about them. I decided to study them because I wanted to find out the answers myself.”

He also mentioned that the orangutan has the slowest breeding rate of any primate and is one of the most slow-breeding mammals. The interval between one birth to the next can be as little as three years or as long as eight years.

“That is why it is important to conserve them. There is no certainty on when the next generation will be born. The death of an orangutan is always a big loss to their community,” he added.

He usually spends about two and a half months to complete a survey on orangutan nests. Within that period, he will conduct three sets of field surveys, about two to three weeks for each survey with short breaks in between.

Like any other field biologist, Bob also faces many challenges. In Sarawak, the orangutan lives in rugged terrains and so Bob has to hike up and down several mountains before reaching any orangutan habitat. Besides that, he also needs to carry his own supplies into the jungle which can weigh more than 20kg.

“Another challenge will be with the orangutans themselves. They are elusive and very hard to detect. Orangutans are known to hide themselves among the canopy when they sense potential danger. Sometimes it takes me weeks before actually seeing one.”

Currently, Bob is assisting in a new transboundary green economy project area in the Heart of Borneo (HoB), funded under the International Climate Initiative (IKI), Federal Ministry for the Environment Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany.

This two-million hectare site stretches from central Sarawak, Malaysia to northern West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The project site in Sarawak includes two important orangutan areas which are also biologically rich – Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary.

One of Bob’s tasks is to investigate species presence within the HoB landscape, and to advocate for the conservation of areas where they are found so that they can have the opportunity to thrive.

“Both sites are where most orangutans in Sarawak live. Although they live in protected areas, they don’t know what a boundary is. There are always possibilities that they will travel outside the protected areas and into the hands of hunters and poachers,” he explains.

Currently there are about 1,600 orangutans left in Sarawak. This figure is nothing compared to 11,000 orangutans found in neighbouring state of Sabah.

Bob hopes that his efforts, along with that of other experts and stakeholders, will help the orangutan population in Sarawak continue to thrive for posterity.

In Sarawak, some communities, like the Ibans, have a cultural connection with orangutans. The orangutan is revered by them as they believe that humans either are descended from the orangutan, or they turned into orangutans when they die. It is also a taboo to kill orangutans according to the Iban native law.

“The people in Batang Ai still practise this cultural connection and hence orangutans are able to survive there. However, this connection has diminished in other places and orangutans have been wiped out as a result of habitat destruction and illegal killing.”

“I hope our conservation efforts will help people to re-establish their culture and connection with orangutans. With the taboo in place, orangutan populations will hopefully recover naturally and they can live harmoniously with these communities,” he said.

The orangutan is Asia’s only great ape and is found only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. In Malaysia, the orangutan sub-species, Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, occurs in Sarawak and West Kalimantan; and Pongo pygmaeus morio occurs in Sabah and East Kalimantan. In Sarawak, most orangutans occur mainly in protected areas, but incidental poaching cannot be totally ruled out due to lack of management presence in many of the orangutans’ habitats and protected areas. The orangutan is classified as Totally Protected under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance (1998).

 

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