Mulu National Park is only accessible by airplane or 10hrs on a river boat. Unfortunately I didnt have time to do the river boat so I flew into the park from Miri. I arrived Miri by flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia after a long night bus ride from Hat Yai in Thailand.
Malaysian Borneo is split in two. Sarawak and Sabah. Mulu National Park is in Sarawak. Its famous for all its caves, and among the caves you find the world biggest cave passage and also the worlds biggest cave chamber. Its estimated that only 40% of the caves in the limestone rocks is discovered and now and then a new cave is discovered. Most people visit the "Showcaves". Caves easily accessed with lightning and path walk. Big groups of tourists aside, many of the caves are very impressive! Id like to do the adventure caving, which involves a bit more action in form of water, headlamp and climbing, but unfortunately I didn't have the time. The whole Borneo visit was more or less a bit impulsive and I stressed a lot to make reservations in different national parks before going (accommodation and treks)
I arrived Mulu on the 19th and the first day I visited the Deer Cave and Langs Cave. The Deer Cave is the worlds biggest cave passage and the home of 2-3 millions bats! You can spot them far up in the roof as a big black mass.
After the cave visit we waited outside to see the bats fly out. It was an impressive sight and lasted for 20-30 minutes! Coming to Borneo is almost like coming to Jurassic Park. Everything is bigger here, but haven't seen any dinosaurs yet!
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| Mulu airport.. strip in the jungle, only way to get here |
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| Biggest insect I ever seen! (Stick insect) |
Taking pictures inside a dark cave is really hard, so gotta excuse the bad quality. Also I just have a pocket camera which isnt the best in such conditions! Also photographing in the rain forest is really bad!
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| Sign outside Deer cave - the largest cave passage in the world |
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| Opening to Deer cave |
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| Inside the Deer cave, that is waterfalls from the roof |
The next day I visited the Clearwater Cave, Wind Cave and Moon Milk Cave with some Malaysian youths. No photos as I forgot my camera! I spent the rest of the day sleeping as I was really tired.
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| Million of bats flying out at twilight - quite a sight and lasted for good 30 minutes |
Copy paste from other blog post:
I dont know where to start. Borneo has always been a exotic destination for me and finally Im here! Dont know how many programs I have watched about Borneo on National Geographic, but its not few. I have to say, I thought Borneo was a bit more non-touristy, but there is actually a lot of package tourists here, and not so many backpackers. Borneo is actually split in three. You have Malaysian Borneo, Indonesia Borneo and Brunei, a little oil nation inside Malaysian Borneo! Im visiting Malaysian Borneo.
Well as I wrote. I dont know where to start. I have seen plants only growing a little spot in the world. I have seen millions of bats fly out of a cave. Ive seen the worlds biggest cave passage and some other amazing caves. I have slept in an Iban longhouse. I have trekked an old tribal war path of the headhunters. I have climbed The Pinnacles, a natural wonder of the world. I have climbed the biggest mountain between Burma and Papua New Guinea. I have seen orangutans, traveled on a river and trekked about 30km through the rain forest picking up several leeches on the way!
As you understand its hard to write about all these things in one travel letter so stay tuned for many letters from Borneo!!
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