All national parks except Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Matang Wildlife Centre, Kuching Wetland National Park and Talang Satang National Park reopen to public

A scenery of a trail in Sama Jaya Nature Reserve. Photo credit: Sama Jaya Nature Reserve’s Facebook page

By Adrian Lim

KUCHING, Aug 30: All the national parks in the State are now opened to the public, except for Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Matang Wildlife Centre, Kuching Wetland National Park and Talang Satang National Park in Kuching.

Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) said most parks have been reopened to the public since Aug 13, subjected to strict compliance to standard operating procedures (SOP) for national parks, nature reserves and wildlife centres.

As for Kuching Division which is still under Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), only selected parks are opened namely Bako National Park, Kubah National Park, Santubong National Park, Gunung Gading National Park, Tanjung Datu National Park, Batang Ai National Park and Sama Jaya Nature Reserve.

On July 14, Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) had announced the opening of the Sama Jaya Nature Reserve to the public for physical exercise and jogging only.

SFC also reminds all visitors to strictly adhere to the SOP and instructions in its parks during visitation.

As per latest SOP, visitors are required to produce their digital vaccination certificate in their MySejahtera app or original vaccination card prior to entry.

Other basic Covid-19 safety measures to observe include wearing of face masks within the premises of the nature reserve except during physical exercise, physical distancing of at least one metre, body temperature checks, thorough hand washing, follow designated route plan or directions, no gathering and avoid close conversations with one another.

For parks that provide boat services, only fully vaccinated boatmen can ferry passengers which is capped at 50 per cent capacity.

For leisure trekking activity, it is limited to 10 persons per group at any one time, while for adventure trekking, only eight persons per group are permitted to enter at any one time.— DayakDaily