Bukit Aup Jubilee Park, about 12 km from Sibu won the National Landscaping Competition for Public Parks in 1998. It is a 24 acre cluster of low hills with a lookout tower offering views of the surrounding plantations, longhouses and the Igan River. Among the facilities the park offers are an amphitheatre, open space, barbeque pit, picnic huts, camping site, and towers for viewing surrounding areas. There are also picnic huts, a canteen, a suspension bridge over a small lake, jogging tracks and walking trails at the park. The suspension bridge is a popular spot for photo shoot of wedding photo. Children can feed the fish at the large pool near the entrance. Teenagers like to go there with their friends and couples like to go there to romance. Most visitors like to take the photographs of the forestry scenery.
Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) has reconstructed the park in two phases, with the first one in 1990 covering eight acres which was completed in March 1993 while the second phase covering 14 acres was completed in July 1997.
Among the local people, particularly the Iban community, Bukit Aup is considered a sacred place where a benevolent spirit called Naga Bari dwells. They often visited by bringing offerings to a benevolent spirit, the Naga Bari, which is believed to help people in need. Legend has it that Naga Bari is a beautiful Iban princess and the Ibans believe she can help those who need her divine assistance. Almost every weekend, the Ibans from various places who still practise their traditional beliefs come to the peak of Bukit Aup to perform ‘miring’ (offering ritual) to Naga Bari to seek her help.
On the way to the peak of the park is Naga Bari Pool where the princess takes her bath. And this pool which does not dry up even during dry season is believed to be able to help childless couples conceive if they take their bath there. It is claimed that one may sometimes see Naga Bari bathing in the pool in the early morning if one is lucky.
OPENING HOURS :
The park is open daily from 7 am to 7 pm. Plan you time to come here if you want to grab the cache.