After we finally made it to the boat terminal, we went through a bizarrely long and over-complicated registration process and got into a boat. It looked seaworthy enough, but I was not particularly impressed by the number of signs warning of crocodiles. We didn’t see any.
We arrived in the positively baking heat and were shown to our basic, and I mean basic accommodation for the next two nights. You could see straight through the floorboards of our room and they creaked ominously every time you took a step (arousing the macaques snoozing underneath). The furniture was held together with scotch tape and glue and the ceiling fan so dusty and dirty that it was a minor miracle that it even worked. The shower unsurprisingly had no hot water (not that it mattered in the heat anyway) and no light bulb. We were really roughing it.
We didn't have particularly high hopes for the food, but it was pretty disappointing, especially after Buntal. The food sat out all day everyday and was exactly the same for all three meals. A couple kinds of noodles, fried chicken, fried eggs, greasy rotis . . . you get the idea. At least they were well stocked in beer and water.
As it was only about 1pm we decided to get in a quick hike. We set off for a beach that was a 2.5 km hike with an estimated 1.5 hours one-way. The first 400 meters were pretty much vertical and then it flattened out, but you were shot out of the jungle into the baking heat and glaring sun. We persevered and after a very steep descent reached the beach. It was a small cove, completely surrounded by lush jungle. There were a few monkeys hanging about which scattered upon our arrival. We went for a quick swim to cool down and started back. We were running dangerously short on water it was pretty grueling. I marched straight into the canteen and downed a can of 100 plus and a 500ml bottle of water in about 3 minutes flat. I then and had one of the best showers of my life.
The next day we had big plans to take on one of the longer trails that was about 8km return. We stocked up with plenty of water this time and got an early start to beat the heat of the day. It was mercifully cloudy which really helped to keep the heat down; I’m not sure we would have made it in the blazing sunshine. We completed the hike and made incredibly good time, it took us about 5 hours which included a long break on the beach and several water breaks. It was probably some of the most difficult hiking I’ve ever done (only the great Pilatus descent, Switzerland, 2009 compares).
The flora and fauna in the park is amazing. We saw several kinds of carnivorous pitcher plants and all sorts of flowers, ferns and palms. The park is also home to monitor lizards of which we saw one that was about 2 feet long. There are also loads of wild pigs that hang around just snuffling in the grass. They come remarkably close to you and frequently block the way on the paths.
The most famous residents of the park are the proboscis monkeys. These monkeys are rare and only found in a few other places in Borneo. The Proboscis monkeys are quite large, with red-gold fur, long white tails, massive pot-bellies and very odd-looking, long, pointed noses. We were lucky enough to spot several of them twice as they come in early in the mornings to feed on the mangroves.
Two days was all the jungle I required so we packed up and returned to Kuching for the final day and half of our holiday.
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