I got up at 07:20 like a good little trooper! I was instructed to be ready for a tour into Bako National Park by 08:30 and ready I was. Actually I had packed my backpack and sat reading my book while waiting for Ian to get ready.
We took our gear to reception to leave it with them while we were on our tour and settled our bill. Then we waited until 08:45 for our guide, Loi, to arrive. In the meantime Ian did a Helen and mislaid his sunglasses. While I waited in the lobby, out of the way, I could see him pondering about it and eventually he dived back into his bag and removed his sunglasses.
The journey to Bako National Park involved a 40 minute drive to a fishermens village, where we were joined by two Danish lads, and a 20 minute boat ride. The boat was pretty speedy too! The water of the Bako river was opaque with mud and silt and the colour reminded me of the most excellent mud pools of geothermal Rotorua in New Zealand. When we approached the beach at Bako National Park it was only then that, by witnessing other boat fulls of tourists wade out to their boat, it dawned on us that we too had to remove our footwear and get mucky. I don't know whether it's better to see what is in the water where you step or not but occasionally I trod on something soft and hoped it was only soft sand... The beach itself was a broad expanse as the tide was out and the surface was riddled with tiny crabs scurrying away as we manouevred our weight inland. Having washed our feet at the park hut, used the facilities and paid our park entry and camera usage fees, we began our short trek into the jungle.
No sooner had we started and Loi pointed out some silver leaf monkeys in a treetop. A little further on we saw some more, one of them being a baby and bright orange in colour like an orangutan. As we walked on the boardwalk over the aerating mangrove roots we saw lots of little crabs like those we saw on Pangaimotu, with red and yellow pincers, and a few mudhoppers. In the 10 minutes we had walked we were already dripping with sweat. It was very hot and humid. Just around the corner we found ourselves to be very lucky. Some probiscis monkeys, a couple of female and one large male, were sitting directly ahead of us. They are funny looking creatures which the Malay people call 'the Dutch people' because of their features, the main one being their big noses that are upturned at the end. They are orange brown in colour with light chests and very white tails.
Once the monkeys moved on we made our tiring ascent, climbing over hundreds of tree roots in search of pitcher plants. One the way to the plateau summit Loi pointed out a very long train of ants which stretched for as long as our eyes could see. It really did look like a snake winding its way downhill as it passed over tree roots as the ants were moving to their new home.
At the plateau we felt something of a slight breeze that we welcomed with open arm, literally, sharing our natural scent with nature.
Once Loi pointed out a pitcher flower to us we spotted one after another, after another, after another. It became much like our diving has, searching for the little things which are so rewarding. The larger flowers were certainly the most photogenic and I was impressed by the magnitude and complexity of these fascinating plants. One of the plants we found early on had attracted a large ant to it and the ant was pacing around the opening of the flower, clearly curious and attracted by the scent. He had no idea of the fate that he was about to meet once he succumbed to his temptation.
The descent was certainly easier than the ascent although it required more concentration regarding where you placed your feet as the pathway was a complex network of tree roots. We found that the great ant trail was still busy snaking over the tree roots over an hour later!
At the spot where we first saw the probiscis monkeys we were lucky to see another one, if only from a distance. Beneath the trees on the swampy ground a couple of water monitors moved lazily about. They were stunning.
At reception we received some lunch and a welcome cold drink. We were soaking from the heat but so satisfied with our walk and the animals that we had encountered.
After a brief rest Loi suggested that Ian and I take a walk in the other direction before meeting him back on the beach for the return boat ride to the fishermens village. Dutifully we picked ourselves up and trekked off in the other direction keen to see a bit more of Bako National Park, at a slower pace as we were knackered from the earlier walk.
We were walking on a slightly raised boardwalk, mostly watching butterflies, as we walked past the hostel buildings and campsite when we heard a loud thump to our left. I had seen something fall out of the corner of my eye and looked up to the tree to see a squirrel looking down. My eyes followed the squirrel's line of vision to where lay another squirrel, clearly stunned by his high fall, looking at us, who then proceeded to jump up and climb straight back into a tree and disappear off out of sight. It was very surreal.
A few metres on I was surprised to see a thin, blackish blue snake quickly move away from us, moving its body from side to side, barely a metre in length. I didn't see his head 'though.
We walked on into the jungle looking out for snakes mostly, in the trees, underfoot, although we still had the luxury of a boardwalk. After a short while, maybe 20 minutes, and the sighting of a very red dragonfly, we reached another tree root steep ascent and decided we should be heading back to meet Loi. As I turned around I said to Ian 'let's look for more snakes' just in time to see a brown coloured snake with a white belly slither away from us, moving his thin body from side to side. He seemed a bit thicker than the other one but I guessed he was about the same length. Again I didn't see his head.
When I saw the first snake I was more surprised and excited than frightened. I had always wondered how I would react to seeing a snake in the wild but as this one was moving away, and very quickly too, I almost felt sorry that I didn't see him sooner, at least so I could photograph him. I think it helped that I was slightly higher than him too, if only by 10 centimetres on the boardwalk. Having said that, when I saw the tail end of the second snake it took me by surprise and I found myself a little disturbed and stood watching the jungle floor where he had disappeared to, and consequently came from.
We made our return walk back along the boardwalk on which we came and were greeted by a family of monkeys, not silver leaf nor probiscis. I took a few shots and watched how a mother carried her infant like a rag doll. The infant, sadly, was dead and its frail little body was no longer intact. The mother sat down near the boardwalk and the infants head flopped down. I continued to watch her although I also felt that I was intruding on her private act. She seemed to be pulling the infants body apart and prising out the intestines, poking around the tiny organs. Every now and then she would lick her paws and then wipe them on a nearby tree trunk that had fallen. She refused to leave the infant alone and instead she lifted the floppy body and carried it off with her when she moved having sensed other people nearby. She didn't go very far, just to the other side of the boardwalk and I felt I could look no more, that I had invaded her privacy enough and that I had possibly seen too much.
I moved on to photograph some adolescent monkeys and cursed them silently as all three of them walked past me before I managed to focus my lens on their faces. I composed another photograph and took my shot at a single opportunity. Then, fearing I was too close, although the monkey had moved towards me, probably disliking my flash, he bared his teeth and made a dreadful noise and leaped towards the boardwalk to where I was stood! I gasped and whimpered and quickly fled for he had frightened me far more than the snakes!
Shaking with adrenalin I caught up with Ian, who had stopped walking when he heard my yelp, and we walked back towards the beach. As we did so I saw something out of the corner of my eye again, a small thin dark thing leap off of the boardwalk as Ian approached it. I drew his attention to it suggesting that if he didn't just kick a tree branch off the path then that was another snake! I was still shaking from the monkey incident and we just made our way back to the boat where Loi was waiting for us, dodging the crabs again as we walked across the beach. Most of the crabs scurry away as they sense you approaching but some were quite defiant in holding their ground and refused to hide from the danger.
We waded back out to the boat and were transported back to the fishermens village where the fishermen were retrieving the daily catch from the fishing nets. Among the nets was a small shark which I photographed being held by one of the fishermen. As we were wading on the opaque waters of the Bako river we didn't suspect that there might be sharks swimming in the water!
Once we returned to Kuching we collected our backpacks from reception of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport. After collecting our revised tickets and finding the Malaysian Airlines guy extremely helpful by waiving the rescheduling fee of MRN100, we checked in our luggage and enjoyed an ice-cream. Given the complete absence of shops at the airport we sat in a corridor overlooking the runway and read our books while watching planes landing and taking off.
10 minutes before boarding we passed through immigration and security checks. Some part of me set the metal detector machine off and I was asked what was in my trouser pocket by the female attendant. The moment she asked me I began to feel embarrassed, not for me but for her, for in my pocket I had two compact sanitary tampons and I had already guessed that she may not know what they were by sight when she picked one of them out of my hand and asked 'what's this?' By now she had attracted the attention of her male colleague and they looked confused as to what I possessed, he more so, she just looked cross and was rather condescending. I offered them 'they're for sanitary use, instead of towels' aware that Muslim women don't use tampons but do use towels. She failed to comprehend and I struggled to find an alternative explanation. Then she raised it to her nose and sniffed it! I was lucky not to come over with a fit of giggles, as I think I would have been arrested, and remained patient but keen to convey their identity and purpose. The male attendant then cottoned on and said 'it's okay' permitting me to retrieve my tampon and pass through. Then he said to me 'for woman, yeah?' to which I was grateful that he had now understood. 'Yes' I agreed, nodding with pleasure...
Our flight from Kuching took off at 19:25 and 1 hour 26 minutes later it arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 20:51. We collected our baggage from baggage reclaim and left the airport. There was no sign of immigration, security nor customs nor quarantine. We were just free to leave which surprised us very much. Had we not entered Malaysia through Johor Bahru we wouldn't have a departure card corresponding to our entry into West Malaysia. The visas for Sarawak and West Malaysia and Sabah differ. Departing Malaysia may have become an issue for us had we flown from Singapore to Sarawak and then into Kuala Lumpur. Still, we didn't so it's of little importance. We arranged one nights accommodation at Hotel Malaya in the heart of Chinatown and then we discovered that we hadn't arrived in Kuala Lumpur at all, but 70 kilometres out of the city! So, MRN 70 and 60 minutes later, we arrived at the hotel where we checked in, showered and wrote our long journals of todays exciting and most surprising adventure filled day.
It wasn't until 02:00 that I finally got to bed.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.