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| Beach landing, Mt Santubong in the background |
All the wasted time in Kuching has been worth it, just for 26 hours in Bako National Park. WOW!! The management is very Sarawak (= poor) but let's focus on the nature for a while. I caught the first bus out to Bako at 6:30am because I'd checked the tide tables and I knew that if I didn't get the first one, I wouldn't get to the island until after lunch, and during the hottest part of the day. Also on my bus were an Aussie girl and a USA lady travelling together, so when we got to the jetty we shared a boat over. Since it was almost low tide, we did a beach landing and when I got to the jetty at Bako I could see why - it was about 200m from the low tide mark! There's a huge tidal change, and a nice mangrove forest to match. The welcoming committee was there for us, two macaques who patently ignored us and went on their way.
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| Welcoming Committee |
I went to the desk to put my bag somewhere and the guy said "oh you're lucky, your room was free already!" (Now I was really annoyed because I'd waited all week to come here and it was free the whole time! Sarawak. My new swear word.) Anyway, there were silver langurs (aka silver leaf monkeys) playing in the tree next to reception which was great. I went to my "Semi-detached Lodge B" which was surprisingly large! I went straight back to registration, signed myself out, and set out on a walk towards Pandan Kecil Beach (which means "small beach") and the Tajor Waterfall. It started as a boardwalk and I thought, "well this is going to be nice!" Very quickly the boardwalk finished and it was into the jungle proper... and all up a very steep hill! At a couple of points there were even ladders to get higher, and there was some scrambling over rocks. It was pretty hard going and quite hot, so not long before I worked up a good sweat and thought I had gone a very long way...
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| South China Sea |
...until I got to the 200m marker! It was straight up a hill though... The trail was amazing, it went first through the jungle, then onto a big rocky area that reminded me of walking up Kings Canyon. Then into a heath area with a narrow boardwalk, which was where I started finding pitcher plants. I came to the turnoff for the waterfall which by now was very tempting, but I had been told that Pandan Kecil was the place to be for pitcher plants so I kept going. The trail now went down a small river (rivulet? A channel of fresh water anyway) and I was glad that it hadn't rained the night before as there might be a lot more water! As it was, big fluffy clouds were in the sky and I could hear thunder, but there were only a couple of drops of rain. After about an hour of walking in total, I reached a cliff with a stunning view of the South China Sea. The water was many different colours and it was really quite beautiful. There was another couple there too who said you could walk down the steps to the beach, but I thought "what goes down must come up" and chose to stay where I was. It was very hot out on the rock though, so I didn't stay long and soon headed back up the trail. At one point I had to sit down on some steps of the boardwalk to rest, and as I did I saw the tiniest pitcher plants yet. Reaching the turnoff point for the waterfall, I looked at the 2.7km I had to walk to get there. It doesn't sound like much, but when it's up and down hills in the harsh Bornean sun and humidity, it's an entirely different prospect.
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| Made it to the pool! |
Still, I persevered and almost ran to the waterfall. By the time I got there I was ready for that swim! I was surprised to find a very tiny waterfall, but looking at the signpost in one of my photos, I may have gone to the wrong one as it had a different name. Someone had thoughtfully installed change rooms... on the other side of the river. I spotted a big log upstream a bit and walked over on that (veeeery carefully!) I needn't have bothered because nobody came by the whole time I was there and I had the place to myself, but I knew at least one guy was somewhere behind me so I peeled off my clothes in exchange for a swimsuit. Got into the cold, cold water and was stunned to see my bright red legs - the water is full of tannins and is a rusty colour. When a fish nibbled my hand I knew it was time to move on, so I geared back up and started on the trek back. It was right in the heat of the day by now and with 1km to go I headed up one of the hills and almost cried it was so hard. I stopped at the turnoff point again for a drink and a rest and emailed mum as my phone had reception up there. In the finish it was a 5-hour walk and if you know me well you'll know that's a pretty marathon effort for me! Needless to say, I didn't do anything much for the next few hours!
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