Baku NP

A male proboscis monkey.

A pit viper.

A long tailed macaque.

Tiny termites marching across a tree.

The path.

A young silver backed langur.

And an adult.

Epiphytes, plants that live on other trees.

A large spider 'hiding' in the corner of the park office.

Two bearded pigs.

More proboscis monkeys.

The rocky coastline.

The iconic rock of the park.

The fishing village at the entrance of the park.

Wednesday, June 20^th.

After breakfast we met our local guide, Sevram, and our bus and driver. We have a full-sized coach for eleven people, very spacious. Today we drove for a couple of hours to Baku National Park while Sevram told us about the park and what we might see. The park is on a peninsula of land and is home to, among other things, three species of monkeys, and the bearded pig. We arrived at the jetty about 9 and took a boat to the park entrance. The park is not accessible by road. As we were walking from the park dock to the ranger station we encountered the bearded pig. What a strange looking pig. It has exceptionally long legs and a full beard. He is totally used to people and was wandering around digging up the lawn. We walked on the beach and found a couple of proboscis monkeys feeding in the trees by the beach. As their name implies, they are known for their noses. The males have enormous ones and the females have very small ones. It is all about sexual attraction.

Then we got organized for our hike through the jungle but found a poisonous green pit viper on a tree right by the trail and right after that Sevram found an animal similar to the flying squirrel of North America. It is nocturnal and was sleeping on a tree trunk about ten feet above the ground.

The hike itself was beautiful walking through the jungle. We walked really slowly and Sevram told us all about the myriad of plants that are edible, or poisonous or just interesting. When we got to the end, we had to retrace our route and just when we almost got to the end we came across a few long-tailed macaques. When I checked the photos later, I found that one had only one eye. Then right after that we heard crashing in the trees as a troupe of silvered langurs were headed our way. They stopped and started feeding on trees right be the path. Unfortunately, the growth is so dense it was still hard to get good photos. They are the rarest of the three monkeys and Sevram said he seldom sees them. They are usually a silver-grey colour, but the babies are orange until six months of age. We stood and watched them for the better part of an hour. Really a treat as the babies were really interested in checking us out.

After that we walked back to the headquarters of the park where we ate our boxed lunches. When we finished we went back to the beach to see more proboscis monkeys. Then we mustered again and went for another hike through the jungle. This one was more difficult over roots, rocks and leaf litter and up and down a couple of hills. We found a pool full of little fish and a few larger catfish and Sevram told us about yet more plants. The path ended at another beautiful little cove beach where we were met by our boat which took us further around the edge of the park so that we could see a large eroded rock formation just offshore that is the iconic symbol of Baku NP. Then we took the boat back to the original jetty and took our bus back to the Lime Hotel.

We had an hour free before we met again for a walk into downtown Kuching. When I originally researched Borneo on Google Maps, I was surprised to see a very beautiful and modern city. I assumed it was Kota Kinabalu and when I got there I was disappointed and thought I must have dreamt it. However, it was Kuching. From our hotel there is a one-kilometre walkway along the river that goes past the government building. It is beautiful and really a unique shape. We got there just after sunset and it was all lit up. There is also a snaking walkway bridge over the river. It has two large support structures and the whole thing is lit up with cycling colours. Louis told us the bridge just opened last year. It is really spectacular and completely not what I expected to see in Borneo.

Then we went to a local restaurant and had a basic, disappointing dinner before walking back to the hotel for the night.