Bako National Park, BORNEO

Back to Bako

Today we decided to go back to Bako National Park and with a bit of luck see the proboscis monkeys .We decided to go by local bus which are cheaper and more fun.It arrived on time despite warnings about bad time keeping and we chatted with a nice young woman doing a world tour and who was ...from Gosport of all places ! Anyway , we shared a boat with her to the Park itself which cut down the costs. The rivers are for Borneo what roads are for us and the river to Bako is really lovely ,great views of the houses on stilts and the mangroves.We weren`t wearing life jackets which was a bit daft given that the river is full of crocodiles ...to be honest the life-jackets looked as if they`d been in a few `croco combats` anyway ! We had to wade in from the boat to the beach because the tide was out and , after a cup of coffee Pat and I set off for the mangrove treck but when we started out on it I didn`t like it – too creepy by half ,I kept expecting to see something `brillig and the slithy tove-like `(The Jabberrwocky ) so I put my foot down firmly and refused to move forward! The trouble was you can`t stamp your foot in the mangroves because they disappear in a skweltch! Pat got the picture and we backtracked and found another track – full of creepers BUT not creepy !

We heard a lot of animal noises but didn`t see many unless you can count a monkey`s bum . It was when we returned to the starting point a few hours later that we saw our favourite monkeys ;male and female proboscis monkeys . We decided that we were a bit like the monkeys because the female has a short ,turned up nose ( I prefer petite and retroussé ) and the male ...well , look at the photo ! We also saw a lime green snake ,it was such a vivid green that I`m now wondering if it was plastic !

It was sooo hot that walking in the forest was like walking through a green hammam , you can almost feel the plants and trees growing …!.Anyway , our boat took us back and we shared the cost with a couple of French medical students. We also met a really friendly Franco/Portuguese couple so the bus ride backpassed in a flash !