Gazetted in 1957, Bako is Sarawak's oldest national park, and despite being barely an hour from Kuching by road and boat, it feels like a different world. A small motorboat from Kampung Bako drops visitors straight onto the park's beach, since there's no road in — the sea stacks and sandstone cliffs that make Bako famous are visible from the water before you even land.
Bako holds the largest known population of proboscis monkeys anywhere, and they're often spotted right around the park headquarters, along with long-tailed macaques, silvered langurs and monitor lizards. The park's short, well-marked trails cut through several ecosystems in miles rather than hours — mangrove, kerangas heath forest, and cliff-top scrub where pitcher plants grow wild.
Most visitors do Bako as a day trip from Kuching, but staying overnight in the park's simple hostel or chalets is worth it if you can — the proboscis monkeys are most active at dawn and dusk, right when the day-trippers have gone home.