Getting here:
The National Park HQ is located on the beach of Telok Assam. The boat journey from Kg Bako to Telok Assam takes about 30 minutes.

Description:
The headquarter complex should feature in the itinerary of every visitor to Bako National Park. Even if you are indifferent about the information centre, almost everyone congregates here for the public facilities such as the rest rooms, showers, luggage storage, guest registration and food supplies. The visitor centre fronting Telok Assam is the place where you should register when entering the park. If I am not mistaken, you will also need to specify which trails you intend to hike for the day, obviously for safety reasons. Trail maps are available at the counter as well as a day-shelter for hikers eagerly looking for a seating place to nurse those tired joints.

Actually, I found the information centre (near the staff quarters, not at the visitor centre where you register) to be extremely informative. The park authority has done a commendable effort to provide education information and statistics to get your bearing right about Sarawak's oldest national park. In fact, the informative displays are very scientific when it comes to the geological snapshots of the area, the types of vegetation, animal species as well as annual visitor statistics of Bako National Park. Not surprisingly, there more foreigners visit the park every year as compared to Malaysians. Again, I am not all surprised considering how many Malaysians know the hidden ecotourism values of a mangrove forest or proboscis monkeys anyway. Chances are 9 out of 10 Malaysians probably do not know about proboscis monkeys and why they are so treasured by tourists from around the world.

The headquarters also features a canteen where a la cartè menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided. For visitors staying overnight at the adjoining Bako Park Lodge, this is pretty much the only place to eat. The food prices are not that expensive (a good friend of mine relate a horrifying price of RM6.00 for a can of Coke in Mulu National Park) but rather bland nonetheless. Just enough to stock up on your carbo needs before heading to the national park's many hiking trails.

The Park HQ also hosts a number of accommodation types for overnight visitors. On my quick count, the overall room offering can accommodate close to a hundred guests at one time, not including the adjoining camping ground which offers eighteen tent sites. The accommodation types vary from the ones with attached bathrooms to shared ones, with various bed configurations. All types of lodging come with fan-only option which can be a bane during the daytime. Room prices start at RM40 to RM100 per night. I had to settle for a room with shared bathroom that cost me RM100 per night as other room types were no longer available. In all honesty, I thought it was quite exorbitant considering how that amount can get me a nice air-conditioned room in downtown Kuching. Nonetheless, one should be lucky to have proper roof on their heads (instead of camping outside) should the torrential downpour that occurred the night I was there is anything to be thankful for.

You can read the full overview of the room selections of Bako Park Lodge in a separate article.