Waking up to grey, drizzling sweater weather on the last day of Charisma Movement's Journalism Study Visit was worrying. The finale of our trip was Bako National Park, which is just north of Kuching, where some of the richest variety of Bornean vegetation and key region-unique wildlife could be found.
Our CM Journalists arrived at Bako National Park.
Established in 1957, Bako National Park spread across an area of 27 square kilometres. Seven distinct ecosystems could be found, including Beach Vegetation, Cliff Vegetation, Kerangas (Heath Forest), Mangrove Forest, Mixed Dipterocarp Forest, Padang (Grasslands) Vegetation and Peat Swamp Forest. Our mission was to observe the rare, diverse wildlife that thrives in this strictly protected area, as well as to study the parks’ role in sustaining the local biodiversity and safe habitat for native creatures. This included catching sights of the proboscis monkeys, a strange-looking primate with a large nose and swollen belly endemic to Borneo, the Bornean bearded pigs and long-tail macaques.
A 37-kilometre car ride from Kuching city centre brought our journalists to Kampung Bako Jetty, where our boatman awaited to bring us on a 20-minute speedboat ride to the main visitor area of the park. Mount Santubong stood in full mystic afar as our boat sped across sea water made murky by the mangrove swamps nearby. We hurried to register ourselves at the visitor centre upon arrival to start our excursion early before the drizzle could turn heavy. The guides on duty briefed us on the available trails (out of 18 total) that day- do note that the park does regularly close certain trails for maintenance- and we were in luck to have access to the best trails for wildlife sightings.
Thrilled that the sun started shining as we embarked on the Tanjung Delima trail, the lush tropical green and magical orchestra of birds and bugs surrounded us. Movements in the tree foliages prompted us to scan around nervously, hoping to not miss a proboscis monkey hanging from the branches. Our trail led us through the forests into a shore with rocks lying on swamp mud, with no trace of creatures other than birds we could not name. Some other hikers directed us to look at long-tailed macaques lurking in the distance. We observed their slender builds and the backwards-directed crown hairs on their features before they fled. Unlike the proboscis monkeys and silver-leaf monkeys which prefer unripe fruits and leaves, long-tailed macaques feed on ripe fruits, which makes them one of the most important dispersal agents of the Ficus microcarpa fig (or Malayan Banyan) seeds at the national park.
A male proboscis monkey was spotted, with its unique physical characteristics
including a large nose, dark orange fur coats and a long tail.
While another long hike along the Ulu Assam trail was unfruitful of wildlife sightings, potentially due to rumbling thunders, we chose to visit the other end of Bako National Park through the Telok Paku trail, which cut through a cliff forest to arrive at an open beach with an incredible view of Mount Santubong. While the trail was only 1.2km-long, it took us an hour due to the steep landscape. Frequent yet inconsistent rustling of tree leaves caught our attention again, and as we raised our heads, there came the stars of the park- the proboscis monkeys. An obvious male was moving from branches to branches, balancing its leaps with its swinging tail, while others were more hidden in the foliages despite active movements. There were only approximately 150 of these endangered creatures in the park. We spent some time spotting a number of them before leaving, and were just intrigued by the unique look on male proboscis monkeys combining a large nose, a protruding belly and beautiful dark orange fur coats. Females have less attention-grabbing features where everything looks smaller than males, including their overall body size.
Proboscis monkeys, along with other species in the park, were given a haven protected by the local authorities which allowed them to thrive in their natural habitat. The park takes serious enforcement actions against perpetrators with the intent to threaten the local biological ecosystem. In 2023, two visitors from China were fined for processing devices for capturing animals, releasing animals and attempting to remove animals from the park without permission. Not only were non-native insects and laboratory field equipment like jars and tongs found in their backpacks, they failed to produce evidence of valid permission to enter the national park.
Bornean bearded pigs at Bako National Park.
As we made our way back to the visitors’ centres, we spotted Bornean bearded pigs taking a stroll on the beach. These animals are very social and tend to live in groups consisting of mothers and their young. If not resting or sleeping, they spend most of their daytime foraging and wallowing in mud. Following macaques is one of their interesting behavioural tactics to feed on fruits that fall to the ground.
We took the chance to tour the park’s education centre before leaving and browsed through information on the park’s natural resources. While we might miss out on appreciating the 190 species of birds that call Bako National Park home as we did not come with binoculars, we were touched to witness the effort in sustaining biodiversity at such a grand scale, being reminded that the larger authority also plays an important role in preserving the environment for wildlife to thrive. This is especially when increasing urbanisation and developments across East Malaysia expedite the conversion of forests for agriculture, fragmentation of available habitats, and unsustainable logging.
By,
Euan Thum.
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