A trip to the Bako National Park in Sarawak is a trip my friends and I will always

remember. To go there, we took a local bus from central Kuching to the town of
Bako. We stopped a few times along the way. One stop is a colorful village on
stilts, the wooden houses painted bright colors from which children stream in and
out, goats huddle around and mothers do their cooking in.

We arrived in Bako and changed our mode of transportation to a longboat. The

boatmen took us, crashing through the waves for about fifteen minutes until we
were in sight of a beach with huge, multi-colored, limestone cliffs. They told us to
take off our shoes because it was low tide. So they could not take the boat up to the
jetty. We had to jump out of the boat and walked onto the beach with our heavy
backpacks.

After walking for half a kilometer, we checked into the Bako National Park
headquarters. It was then we decided to take a quick walk into the jungle before it
gets dark. We followed a plank walk while the sun was setting, the best time to
spot Proboscis monkeys. We rounded a corner and a black, thin snake slid through
the water of a little pond. About fifteen minutes later, we heard something crashing
through the trees. This made us stop to see what was happening. There were four
of them overhead. At the moment before dark, it started to pour, tropical rainstorm-
style, and we had to head back.

The next day we woke up early to start a hike while the sun was still low. To our
right, in the trees, was an entire community of Long Tailed Macquaques. These
monkeys were much bolder than the previous night's monkeys. They ventured
really close to us, especially when we were taking our cameras out of our bags.

Further on down the trail was much more serene. We passed loads of pitcher
plants: carnivorous, deep pockets with a liquid inside containing enzymes which
digest their prey. They were eye-height, and we saw that many of them had dried
up. We got to a plateau and the last part of the trail took us down through the rocks
and down to the sea. Around the beach are huge, red lakes. The rocks here have
deposits of iron throughout them. We ran down, all alone, and jumped into the
salty water. This place is fantastic. We were bodysurfing in the South China Sea!
While we were drying off, we watched mudskippers, small, fishy things that
looked like salamanders, run right across the top of the rusty water.

After a rest, we decided to go on another trail in the afternoon, this time through
the dense forest. After two absolutely sweaty hours, we reached our destination,
Tajor Waterfall. The waterfall itself is quite small and the rocks around the pool
are covered in slippery moss. There, we played in the water enjoying the cool
water running over our feet. On taking a closer look at the water, we realised that
although it was red, it was crystal clear.
The trip is certainly one I would recommend to those who want to get away from
the hectic city for a few days. The Bako National Park is truly a place of natural
beauty.