Bako National Park
Bako National Park is the oldest national park in Sarawak, Malaysia, located about 30 minutes journey by boat from Kampong Bako, Sarawak. It takes about 40 – 50 minutes drive from the Kuching town. Bako Park and the village both are mangrove-rich (i.e. bakau, i think that’s where the name Bako comes from).
Bako National Park is rich with its rainforest abundant of wild life, jungle streams, waterfalls and trekking trails. If you’re planning for a trip to Bako, the best is to stay here for 1 or 2 days so ensure you make early arrangement for the lodging and accommodation. Otherwise you’ll be out for disappointment as the lodgings there can easily be fully booked. And this was what happen to me and the other 2 friends who left it too late before making the necessary arrangement. As a result, we did not manage to book any accommodation.
Nevertheless, since these 2 friends were so eager to visit the place, we planned a sort of a half day trip.
It took almost 1 hour to reach Kampung Bako from Batu 8, Kuching and we reached the jetty at about 10am++. From there we took a boat. Each boat costs about RM47/USD13 and can fit 5 people, but if you do not want to wait for other people, you can charter the whole boat and bear the cost. If, you plan to be taken further for the Bako trip, you can always negotiate with the boat man and pay additional cost. Our boat man for the day was Haji Jaafar, a nice pakcik.
The boat took us through the estuary filled with mangroves and here we were able to view the majestic Mount Santubong.
One of the most popular activities done in Bako is jungle trekking. And once we reached Bako, we quickly prepared ourselves to be in the thick of the action (actually it was the 2 friends. I am never a fan of jungle trekking and my last jungle trekking activity was way back in… never). So we took the 2 toughest trails possible, which would take us approx. 5 hours to finish. And it was hell of a journey, climbing up and down the hill, the rocks, the stairs and so on that I almost passed out. I might as well add that if you plan to kill someone you can bring the person here and do it while the person was lying helplessly tired on top of the hill.
The upper part of the jungle was covered with rocks, so considering that the time was passing the 12 o’clock in the afternoon, we can be categorized as 3 crazy jungle trekkers. It was just damn so hot. Just look at how condensed the shadow is. And this friend is lucky to have brought that dodgy souvenir called ‘umbrella’ along with here. Apart from the heat, the views are so beautiful and fantastic!
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Langgan Menerusi Emel
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yo gang!!! hahaha…luckily i bought the umbrella… but i still got sunburn…so damn hot there..but of course when u reached up there, u wont be regret! the view was so amazing!
thanx guys for your company..next trip to mount kinabalu, let me know earlier coz i may bring a group of crazy people from here…hahaha…
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[...] building I just wish the UNIMAS management will consider planting more trees. It reminded me of our crazy time climbing the hills in the Bako National Park in a crazy jungle trekking trip. Unlike in the old campus where you can just walk from the hostel to the faculty, here you can [...]
[...] For photos and to read more, go to My Bako National Park Trip. [...]