Sarawak National Parks

If you wanted to visit every national park in Sarawak, you’d need 30 days. And that would give you only one day in each because in this, the largest state in Malaysian Borneo, there are actually 30 national parks, in an area of land the size of England. Where we have 10, by the way, although in fairness not all of Sarawak’s national parks are open to the public. Those that are, however, open up one big biodiverse bonanza. An explosion of ecological exquisiteness. The secret is, of course, working out how to create the best pic’n’mix possible in what feels, to nature lovers, like being a child in the best sweetshop ever. So working from north to south, here are some of our favourites.

When hiking in Gunung Mulu, you will be guided by official national park guides along one of three main trails. The two- to three-day Pinnacles Summit Trail starts with a boat trip down the Melinau River, then leads along a trail to a campsite near its eponymous gorge and, after a night’s rest, through ancient moss covered forest, up limestone rocky outcrops to a viewpoint from which you can take in the jagged jungle spikes that lend the trail its name. This is indeed the pinnacle of many a trekker’s trip through Sarawak.

Other hikers may hone in on the Headhunters’ Trail which follows the cheery historical route of the Kayan people who went on headhunting trips up the Melinau River, then dragged their longboats through thick forest to the Terikan River, all in search of heads of people in the Limbang area. Nowadays, thankfully, there is no headhunting, but there are plenty of longboat trips as well as overnight stays in a traditional longhouse; your head left happily intact.

Niah also protects a maze of limestone cave systems where guided rainforest walks lead you to their gigantic entrances. This is the moment when you are glad you packed raingear, from head to toe, as you explore this subterranean world of bats and swiflets, both of which exit the caves at dusk in what looks like choreographed clouds. There have been issues around the conservation of swiflets, however, their unique nests sought after for the Chinese delicacy: birds nest soup. Delicacies come at a high price, and have therefore provided a significant income to local people over the years. But things are changing, and the national park has put in place a conservation programme educating local people on this issue in Gua Perintah cave area.

Treks in this park can be a day long, or many people opt to delve deeper by spending a night locally in one of the community’s welcoming long houses.

Gazetted in 1957, this is Sarawak’s oldest national park and so its wildlife has been wonderfully preserved while at the same time being a little more habituated to human presence, meaning creatures can be more visible. And the park’s most famous dwellers, the pendulum-faced proboscis monkeys are definitely worth seeing. Easily done too, because Bako is only 37km from the state’s capital city, Kuching, stretching along the Muara Tebas peninsula , where eclectic habitats of marshy wetlands, littoral and rainforest provide homes not only to the proboscis monkey, but also long-tailed macaques, flying lemurs, pangolins, silvery latung (or langur), wild boar and deer. Popular walking trails include Telok Delima, Telok Paku and Telok Assam where dawn and dusk are the best time to catch sight of their lively residents.

This is Sarawak’s submarine beauty, with coral reefs stretching along the coast between Bintulu town and Miri. A much celebrated scuba location, there are close to 40 dive sites boasting over 800 species of hard and soft coral, and marine life from barracuda to batfish, sea horses to sharks all thriving among the giant clams, anenomes and Gorgonia sea fans, to name but a few. Diving conditions are perfect between late March and November, when visibility ranges between 10-30m. So, after exploring the tropical jungles up above, you can spend days immersing yourself in Sarawak’s sub-aqua ones too.