We rested for a couple of nights at the Marriott in Miri (a Sarawak oil town), well timed as Nick was feeling a little poorly - too much curry we think! On the morning of Jan 11 we flew to Gunung Mulu a World Heritage Site comprising of a geo-diverse and bio diverse rainforest, complete with a stunning gorge, three peaks and the world's biggest cave.
We stayed in national park itself which had comfortable but simple accommodation. You could pick a number of different treks or activities to do on a daily basis. On the first afternoon we went to Deer and Langs Cave via an hour’s plank walk through the forest, spotting stick insects, a pit viper and other jungle treasures. Deer Cave is the world’s largest cave (now overtaken by one in Vietnam that remains quite inaccessible) and it houses a 3 million strong colony of Wrinkle Lipped bats (it was featured on David Attenborough’s Planet Earth). As you enter the cave you marvel at the sheer size of its entrance, the water dripping down through the limestone, the swiftlets swooping in and out to feed their young in their nests, the sun shifting rainbows from water spray to water spray and of course the moon milk, the stalactites and mites! We spotted Adam and Eve’s showers spouting 30m columns of water to the river below. Then the bats, welcoming you with their squeaking, chattering about the night to come, sense that dusk is not far away. They begin to prepare themselves to leave the cave to feed on mosquitos (goodie!). As they start to swirl around the entrance, groups release themselves from the main throng into the sky like small puffs of smoke. The small puffs become large swirls as the bats follow the cliff edge around and you could hear the volumes of flapping wings.. After an hour of craning our necks upwards we decided to walk back to the main camp, the bats were still exiting. The next morning we hired a longboat to take us to Clearwater and Winds Cave, stopping off at a longhouse market on the way – listening to a vendor play the flute through her nose!!!. In Winds Cave a million years ago the first minute calcite crystals were deposited, building majestic columns and stalagmites in the King’s Chamber. The caverns were full of beautifully lit columns. In contrast a 108km river roars through Clearwater Cave and the caverns glistened and echoed in the wet
That night we embarked on the famous night walk, during which our eyes feasted on frogs, spiders, centipedes, a tarantula and the sweetest of bear cats that came to our guide’s calls. We were lucky and got in just before the torrential rains started. It rained predictably everyday but unpredictably as to when. We were extremely lucky and only got caught in it once but the rain did delay our flight out for a day as no planes could come or go.
