Bau, which is one of the twenty-eight districts in Sarawak, is situated within Kuching Division. It is an inland district about 35 kilometres by road from Kuching.  It has an area of 884.40 square kilometres sharing a common border with Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia. The district capital is Bau Town.  

As far as the interpretation of the Chinese Astrologer is concerned, the location of Bau Town is viewed as follows:
From a distance looking in a south-west direction, the five kilometers long rugged limestone formation with its low peaks resembled a Chinese Dragon with a marked dorsal.  Both of the hills, the one on the left under the name of 'Tai Parit - Mau San' and the one on the right, the Bekajang Hill resumed the description of the two 'paws' of the dragon.  The 'Ghost Cave' to the north-east likes the proverbial pearl in front of the dragon (i.e "Saburan and Tai Tone Mines") and the 'Tail' of the dragon (i.e Bidi Gold Mine).
In Chinese Hakka dialect, Bau is known as "Shak Lung Mung" which literally means "the gate of the rocky dragon".  

There are two way (routes) to get here from Kuching- that is by using the old Bau-Kuching Road via Kota Sentosa  or using the Kuching-Bau-Lundu Road (which form part of the Trans-Borneo High way) via Batu Kawa.

General View of Bau Town


Bau town is also known as the 'Gold Town of Sarawak' due to its rich gold ore deposits and gold-mining activities in the past.  However, gold mining operations in all the mines had ceased before the turn of this century as the remaining gold deposits deep underground was difficult and expensive to extract , making the operation unviable at the present market price for the gold ore.


Fascinating Places
Bau district has many places of interest that have potential to be developed into tourist attraction for both local and foreign tourists.

General View of Bau Town's Fascinating Places



Vital Statistics:
Area of Bau District: 884 sq. km.

Population:
The district has a multi-racial population with the majority of the people being Bidayuhs.
Total Population is above 47,293 people (based on 1998 population census).

Racial break-down (%):
Bidayuh       : 79.52
Chinese      : 11.85
Malay           :    8.46
Other races:    0.17

Education:
Primary Schools: 40 including 9 Chinese medium primary schools.
Secondary Schools: 3

Community Leaders:
Like any other districts in Sarawak, Bau District has an administrative system whereby the community leaders are appointed by the State Government to look after the administration of an area. In the Bidayuh area, one Pemanca is appointed to look after the district and under him, five Penghulus are appointed to assist him. There are altogether 53 Tua Kampungs under the jurisdiction of the five Penghulus.

Likewise in the Chinese area, one Pemanca, two Penghulus and three Kapitans are appointed to look after 39 Chinese settlements. In the case of the Malay area, in view of their small population in  the district,  only  one Penghulu and six Tua Kampungs are being appointed.

More general View of Bau Town