CHONG JIEW HAN

There were proposals to develop tourist facilities at Telok Sibur in the Bako Management Plan (Good, 1990), reviewed in the Bako National Park Evaluation Report (Devlin et al, 2000). Wildlife surveys have been done in some other parts of the park, but not at Telok Sibur. Hence, this study aimed to look at the importance of the area for wildlife, and whether development of tourist facilities should be permitted.

The area of Telok Sibur is mainly low-lying and flat, characterised by a cover of beach forest, riparian and swamp forest and mangrove forest. The beach forest at Telok Sibur covers the low primary and secondary dunes and the shallow troughs between them and is unsuitable for any development. The debris found well into the forest is evidence of periodic inundation by the sea. Some debris found several metres up some trees had the appearance of having been deposited by floodwaters from high seas. Both Lakei River in the east and Nipah River in the west are only accessible by small boats during high spring tides.

Data were collected through observations along the trails, beach and rivers for the following purposes:

• To carry out an inventory of the type of large mammals present in the study area.
• To determine the relative abundance of large mammals in the study area.

Trail surveys
The surveys were carried out along the following trails, both of which were measured and marked with flagging tags at 50m intervals:

• Telok Sibur Beach: total length 1500m.
• New survey trail: total length 900m. Passed through beach forest and mangrove forest. Cutting of small saplings and undergrowth was minimal, sufficient to facilitate my walk throughout the surveys.

The survey was carried out between 0600 and 0800 hour when animals are most active; evening surveys were conducted along the beach from 1700 to 1900 hour. We walked slowly and quietly, stopping for one minute at every 50m mark to look for any animal movement and listen for animal calls or any other noises in the forest, and then continuing for the next 50m. The starting time and the weather during the previous 2 hours were also recorded.

I did not apply the standard line transect survey technique as I was not interested to find out the absolute population density but to find out the species of large mammals present.

Relative abundance Index count
The survey was done for a total of eleven days on both trails, so observations were recorded for a total of 26,400m (26.4km). The index was calculated as follows:

Relative abundance Index Count = Total Individuals divided by Total distance

For example: relative abundance for groups of long-tailed macaque, when 21 groups were seen over a total of 26.4km of trails surveyed, is 21/26.4 = 0.79 groups per km

River survey
Surveys were carried out by boat at Lakei River and Nipah River during the highest tide. The data obtained were only used to find out the presence or absence of big mammals.

Table 1: Relative abundance of big mammals and index count.

Animals such as the pangolin, otter, mouse deer and flying lemur found in Bako National Park (Radchiffe and Tyller, 1982) were not detected in the study site.

Other smaller animals encountered in the study area include plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus), monitor lizard (Varanus sp), rats, white-collared kingfisher (Halcyon chloris) and Brahminy kite (Haliastur indus). On two occasions, we saw sea turtles and a group of dolphins at the open sea just in front of the coastal area of Telok Sibur.

Heath forest (kerangas vegetation) covers the largest area of Bako National Park. Trees are generally smaller both in height and girth; therefore the abundance of animal food is presumably less than in low-lying forest. Only about 56 hectares or 2% of the total area of Bako National Park (2,726 hectares) is riparian and fresh water swamp forest (Brundell et al, 1990). Telok Sibur is the largest area of riparian and fresh water swamp forest in the Park and is important habitat for the proboscis and silver leaf monkeys. Any intention for development at Telok Sibur in the near future should take into consideration the abundance of wild animals present and subsisting in this area.

Animals at Telok Sibur are apparently wild and sensitive to human presence compared with Telok Assam.

Telok Sibur is not recommended for any development if populations of large mammals and their habitats are to be conserved for future generations. Animals at Telok Sibur are shy, so visitors will see fewer animals at Telok Sibur than at Telok Assam, where animals are already habituated and ecological impacts have already worked their way through the system. Management should concentrate on solving the problems with macaques and bearded pig at Telok Assam.

More wildlife surveys should be carried out in other parts of the park in the near future to look into the overall populations of wildlife in Bako National Park.

Brundell, P., Patrick, R., Healey, G., Garbutt, N., and Hannah, G. (1990). The Conservation of Proboscis monkeys in the Bako National Park Sarawak. Unpublished report, Nottingham University, UK.

Devlin, P., Ryan, B., Aban, A., Tyller, C., Roman, L., and Chong, J.H. (2000). Bako National Park Evaluation Report. Unpublished report, National Parks & Wildlife Office, Sarawak Forest Department.

Good, L. (1988). Bako National Park Management Plan. Unpublished report for Sarawak Forest Department.

Radcliffe, G.C.T and Tyller, C. (1982) Some Animals of Bako National Park Forest Department Sarawak (National Park and Wildlife Section) Information Series No.1.