Last weekend I made a day trip to the Bako National Park. Thought I' d be lucky enough to shoot (photograph) the 'orang belanda' (Dutch people) as they are locally known or the Proboscis monkey which can be found only on the island of Borneo. The trip started with a 40 minutes drive from Kuching to the jetty point at Kampung Bako. From there you will take a 30 min boat ride to the park. Round trip boat fare was RM97 for 5 person. There were 2 ladies incidentally from Holland sharing the boat and they couldn't make out the joke asking if they were visiting relatives. Anyway it was about 8am when we set off the jetty and life jacket were provided and the boat slowed down due to the low tide and navigating through muddy waters. Once that was clear we headed to open choppy waters and can be quite harrowing and make sure you cover your equipment. Due to the low tide we were let off near the beach and you have take off your shoes and wade through shallow waters to get to Park HQ. Entrance is RM10 per adult and there are lodges if you wish to stay overnight. There are various trails to set off ranging from 30 mins to 7 hours trail. I set off on the Paku Trail to catch a glimpse of the monkeys. There were the Silver leaf langurs and common macaques. The 'orang belanda' were elusive and I manage to spot them along the trial but were too high up in the trees for good shots. The other types can be aggressive if they think you have food. The trails can be quite hard with lots of steeps inclines. Make sure you have good treking shoes and bring lots of water for you will be drenched in sweat. A broad brimmed jungle hat and trekking stick are recommended items to bring. I only brought my 70-200mm F4 L IS though sufficient longer lengths are recommended for birding or even a macro for other plant and insects shoot. I wished I planned for a longer stay and will bring more equiptment on my next trip to Bako National Park. Visit my
album for more images.
Last weekend I made a day trip to the Bako National Park. Thought I' d be lucky enough to shoot (photograph) the 'orang belanda' (Dutch people) as they are locally known or the Proboscis monkey which can be found only on the island of Borneo. The trip started with a 40 minutes drive from Kuching to the jetty point at Kampung Bako. From there you will take a 30 min boat ride to the park. Round trip boat fare was RM97 for 5 person. There were 2 ladies incidentally from Holland sharing the boat and they couldn't make out the joke asking if they were visiting relatives. Anyway it was about 8am when we set off the jetty and life jacket were provided and the boat slowed down due to the low tide and navigating through muddy waters. Once that was clear we headed to open choppy waters and can be quite harrowing and make sure you cover your equipment. Due to the low tide we were let off near the beach and you have take off your shoes and wade through shallow waters to get to Park HQ. Entrance is RM10 per adult and there are lodges if you wish to stay overnight. There are various trails to set off ranging from 30 mins to 7 hours trail. I set off on the Paku Trail to catch a glimpse of the monkeys. There were the Silver leaf langurs and common macaques. The 'orang belanda' were elusive and I manage to spot them along the trial but were too high up in the trees for good shots. The other types can be aggressive if they think you have food. The trails can be quite hard with lots of steeps inclines. Make sure you have good treking shoes and bring lots of water for you will be drenched in sweat. A broad brimmed jungle hat and trekking stick are recommended items to bring. I only brought my 70-200mm F4 L IS though sufficient longer lengths are recommended for birding or even a macro for other plant and insects shoot. I wished I planned for a longer stay and will bring more equiptment on my next trip to Bako National Park. Visit my album for more images.
