BY: Simon Rowe

THICK mist and drizzle greet travellers to Kampung Bako during Borneo's wet season.

The inhabitants of this tiny fishing village, which sits on the muddy banks of the Sarawak River in western Borneo, say the rain is a gift from the gods.

Bad weather means their waterproof ponchos are in big demand among the ill-prepared tourists who pass through the village on the way to the jungle.

The cause of all this dampness is Bako National Park, a vast tract of ancient dipterocarp rainforest which blankets the Muara Tabas Peninsula in East Malaysia's Sarawak state. The region remains relatively pollution-free as the government disallows hotel developers to extend access roads there.

That's good news for the zoologists and film-makers who seek out the rare wildlife which inhabits the park's six distinct ecosystems.

The wildlife-watchers outnumber tourists two-to-one. If you can see them, their camouflage suits and spotting hides lend the park trails an eerie covert-operations feel.

To reach the national park, one must first travel for two hours by bus from Sarawak's sleepy river port of Kuching to the village of Kampung Bako.

Tobacco-puffing boatmen ferry you down the Sarawak River and out along the coast to Bako National Park HQ at Telok Assam Beach in an hour.

Towards the Muara Tabas Peninsula, there lies some of the most dramatic coastal landscapes in Borneo. Between its rocky outcrops, grey leaf monkeys forage along the high-tide marks.

Tourists can expect Malay-styled lodges, either private or shared dormitory-style awaiting them. They all have balconies at the rainforest's edge and are only a five-minute walk from the beach.

Large animals roam the park's headquarters freely. Visitors can see bearded pigs and monitor lizards from the restaurant balcony which overlooks lawns and palm groves that are often flooded by afternoon showers.

The deeper realms are easily accessible too, with over 50km of walking trails which take hikers from the fish-rich mangroves into the rainforest with its towering dipterocarp trees.

On higher ground, there's the drier savannah, called pandang, where carnivorous pitcher plants dangle to catch insects.

There are seven ecosystems here. If you want to explore, take a sun hat, water bottle and a poncho with you. Five "spotting" platforms allow birdwatchers to catch sight of some of the 150 recorded bird species that inhabit the park.

The perfect time to bird-watch is just before dawn, as the sun burns off the morning mist. Bako National Park is rich with wildlife, and the highlight of a visit is undoubtedly a glimpse of a proboscis monkey. Its grey legs, white backside and orange kettledrum stomach make a fashion statement in the forest. Extremely shy, it is also the forest's most flamboyant creature.

A grey leaf monkey forages for food; Get a bird's eye view from the mangrove platforms in the park.

I set out at 6am with Swiss film-maker Stephan Veiss for the half-hour hike to Telok Delima beach, where he had spotted a large troupe of proboscis monkeys the previous day.

"After a heavy rain, you can almost hear the forest breathing," whispers Mr Veiss, stopping every few minutes to listen for the sound of the monkeys leaping about the canopy.

Just as the sun rises above the morning mist, he spots six white tubular tails dangling from the tree tops less than 20m away. The troupe has heeded the dominant male's breakfast call and are gorging on leaves high above the mangroves.

Bako's brooding storm clouds played in our favour. It withheld the morning showers just long enough for us to catch a rare glimpse of one of South-east Asia's most unique creatures.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 31, 2008.