"Bako National Park" Bako by Willettsworld

Bako National Park is the oldest national park in Sarawak (established back in 1957) and is located at the tip of the Muara Tebas peninsula, which is at the mouth of the Bako and Kuching Rivers, about 25km NE of Kuching. It is characterised by steep coastal cliffs and rocky headlands punctuated by sandy bays. The result of millions of years of erosion has carved fantastic rock formations, sea arches and sea stacks which are coloured with iron deposits.

Covering an area of only 27 square kilometres, Bako is the smallest of Sarawak's national parks. Yet even with its diminutive size, it harbours a myriad variety of wildlife. There are 16 walking trails, all colour coded for easy identification that allow visitors a truly wonderful experience as they explore Bako.

There are seven complete ecosystems which include beach flora, cliff vegetation, heath or kerangas forest, mangrove forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, grassland vegetation and peat swamp. Among the flora in Bako includes many species of carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants, sundews and bladderworts. There are many types of animals at Bako. Perhaps the most distinctive is the proboscis monkey (which I saw plenty of running away from the sea when the tide was coming in), endemic to Borneo. There are presently only about 150 of them in Bako. Other animals include long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, Bornean bearded pigs, silvered langur, otters, lizards, snakes, flyer lemur, pangolin, mouse deer, bats, tarsier, slow loris, civet cats, and over 150 species of birds.