Just Chillaxing: Bako National Park

Oh hi! We only had a few hours before our longboat water taxi was due to collect us, so decided to make the most of them but getting up early to do the Telok Delima trail through the mangroves. Again no one was about, making it perfectly quiet. It even seemed too early for the macaques, lol. We made our way south parallel to the coast line, on a boardwalk that was sheltered by a jungle canopy. Further along the trail the boardwalk ended and we reached the mangroves by scrabbling over rocks, tree roots and through squelchy black mud.

In amongst the decaying leaf matter were these huge land snails.

The trail lead us through part of the mangrove...

We stuck close to the rock edge to avoid getting stuck in the mud!

It was extremely quiet, apart from an enormous black bee that was lumbering about in the air and then returning to a twig. I tried to get a photo of it but it kept flying off when it saw me! A parrot started shouting at Wiji as he went further out into the mangrove, so he had to return closer to the rocks too.

Water was running off the sandstone and dripping into the sand below creating thin, deep crevasses.

As we moved around we could hear clams snapping shut.

There were plenty of small crabs making balls. This hermit crab was the largest that we found that morning.

We knew that the proboscis monkeys might be in the area and were thrilled to get a final look at some. We stood motionless peering into the jungle to see where the noises were coming from, and then realised that it was us who were already being watched! This monkey pulled back the branches to get a better look at us.

Still looking!

We could here and see some of the group moving back into the jungle and decided to leave them to it in case they were waiting to get back down to the mangroves.

Tons of pitcher plants hanging down off the sandstone.

After heading back and collecting our stuff, we wandered to the jetty. I spotted another black bee on the way and managed to get behind it to take a picture. It kept flying off and returning to the post. It had a 2in wing span and very large opaque milky green eyes.

Our boat driver was waiting for us as promised. He expertly navigated the waves that were rolling into the bay. We could really see how the crossing could be pretty lethal if the swell was any bigger. As soon as we had jumped some waves head on, he then sped away parallel to the coast, slowing down so that I could take a few more pics along the way.

Mmmm, looks calmer here!