Gunung Mulu National Park - Days Two and Three

Our second day at the Gunung Mulu National Park saw us heading up the Sungai Melinau river for our guided tour of the second two major show caves. These were known as wind cave and clearwater cave.

We were a little bit behind schedule in the morning, and I was worried about Clairy as the previous days tour had taken a huge amount out of her and she was still getting savage stomach cramps. When we arrived at park head quarters I had to get Clair to peg it over to stop the boat leaving without us while I ran inside to pay. I returned to find Clairy squeezed into the front of the boat behind one of the drivers, and I had to sit right at the back.

Nevertheless, Clairy snapped a couple of nice pics on the way up the river.


After about 15 mins we reached a village. The boat pulled over and we all got out. This turned out to be the Penan longhouse village closest to the park headquarters, and we were dropped there to check out touristy handicraft market.


There were lovely views of the mist strewn mountains stretching into the distance.


We had a quick look round and Clairy swiftly spotted one of her top five favourite purchases of our travels, some beautifully carved wooden spoons. The woman who had made them looked a little surprised by the Clairy's massive enthusiasm and instant purchase.


Just as we were heading back to the boat we noticed that standing on one of the open windows of the longhouse was an enormous hornbill. It looked like the owner of that part of the house had fed it previously and it was returning for some more tasty treats, but sadly at this point our drivers appeared and insisted we had to get a move on to reach our guide up at the caves.


After not much of an introduction from our rather non-talkative guide we headed up a slippery-steep boardwalk that was bolted to the limestone cliff face, and made our way to the entrance of wind cave.


The wind cave gets its name from the effects the atmospheric pressure has on the air and moisture in the cave, sucking it in and blowing it out in really quite noticeable ways, particularly in the narrow sections.

Like Lang's cave on the previous day it was full of quite amazing limestone formations. This stuff is known as moon-milk and scientist aren't sure exactly how it is formed. They know that is is the result of the limestone interacting with a particular bacteria, and that the formations seem to follow the breeze in direction.




My rubbish E.T. impression, if E.T. were massively deformed and made of stone.


The forest peeking through.


Again, it was nicely lit inside, but required a steadier hand than I had with the camera sans-flash.




Eventually we reached the 'cathedral', the big central chamber. In this instance it really deserved the title as it was enormous and hugely ornate, with incredible formations on every surface.




I'm really pleased with how this pic came out. I rested the camera on the hand rail in an attempt to reduce shaky-cam. You can see the walkway that went all around the cave edge.


Stunning stuff.


One of the displays that really got my interest described how the difference in concentration of carbon dioxide present in the water that makes its way down through to the cave, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air inside the cave determines whether limestone crystals are formed or whether they are dissolved. This therefore will determine whether stalactites on the roof are formed or stalagmites on the floor.

Back outside, the sun had burnt through the mist and clouds and it was now fully boiling.


Our guide now herded us along another bolted on boardwalk, this time a fairly flat 400m towards our last show cave know as clearwater cave.


We had a short break at a very picturesque little picnic spot by the river. A super fast little bat was zooming about catching insects just inches above the water.


From the picnic spot was a mass of hugely steep concrete steps up to the cave entrance. It was too much for the chain smoking Malay teenagers on our tour who had to pause to try and get some oxygen past all that carbon-monoxide lodged in their lungs.


On the left is the entrance to clearwater cave which apparently holds the title for the longest mapped cave system in the world at 155km! Some Brits researchers were due back soon to survey another section which they expected to increase that value by some way.


On the way down our guide pointed out these plants that only grow in cave entrances. In Sarawak they call them one-leaf plants, for obvious reasons.


It was another huge one, stretching off into the distance, and after 20 mins of walking we reached a massively fast flowing underground river. I found it quite disturbing. You wouldn't stand a chance if you slipped into those murky depths.


On the way back out we entered a small cave to the right. This was again filled with some interesting formations, but none quite as incredible as wind or Lang's cave. I did like this huge hole that disappeared off into the distance.


After making our way back down the hundreds of slippery steps to the picnic spot, we decided that Clairy would take the boat back to park headquarters, and I would walk the moon-milk trail back on my own. I was very proud of her as she had done really well whilst feeling pretty darn horrible. As she got in the boat and the driver started the engine, I furiously tried to extract the camera from its tight little case to snap a piccy of her. You can just see her turning towards me as she zoomed away.


I followed the boardwalk back past the wind cave and it wound its way back down to the river. There were some huge buttressed trees around.


The blue sky looked beautiful through the dark green canopy. It didn't come out too well in the piccy though sadly.


I passed some gnarly dark passages.


And then the walkway headed towards some steps. The guide leaflet had said that there was one very strenuous climb on the walk and this was where it started. It went up and up and up. I was glad I hadn't badgered the poor lady into doing it.


On the savage hike up I got some great pics looking out over the National Park.




I was absolutely sodden with sweat by the time I made it to the top and the entrance to moonmilk cave.


The trail went all the way through the cave, and it was another fascinating one. It certainly lived up to its name, there was moonmilk everywhere.




It was very low in places, and I had to duck to squeeze through. One of the information boards had also helpfully pointed out that sweat turns moonmilk black, which made me ultra paranoid in case any part of my body came into contact with it.


The handy button-activated lighting gave up after a while leaving me with just my headtorch for company.


It was quite spooky on my own.


The flash was pretty much necessary from here on in. Great formations though.


God knows how I squeezed my tiny self through here.


The way the roots of big trees manage to penetrate tens of feet of limestone is still astonishing to me.






Eventually I reached the cave mouth at the other end. This tentacle-like root had found its way in and crossed the boardwalk numerous times on its journey to find a decent water source.


After a huge decent on yet more rickety steps I reached the jungle floor and the boardwalk followed the river from there. I managed to capture this beautiful specimen while it took a quick break.


This though had to be my top spot of the day. The only reason I saw it was because of its wobbling motion where it was perched on this twig on the path. They are camouflaged so brilliantly. I found myself really watching my step from here on in, in case I came across another.




Here's a little video I took of its strange motion. I think it might have seen me though and tried to remain still.


There were more of the huge ants that we had come across in the jungle at Belaga. When I put my finger near this fella to try and give the piccy some scale, he reared up on his back legs in a fighting pose. I swiftly backed off.


Another gorgeous butterfly. I followed this one for a while, and in a very generous way, it stopped and presented itself open-winged in a patch of brilliant sunlight. Why thanks.


I snapped this one for Clairy. She loves her tree ferns. They are not parasitic, they just use other plants for structure and stability. I liked the way this big one was hanging off such a small vine.


After another tasty meal at the canteen, we set our alarm for the quite insane hour of 5:30am so that we would make it to the canopy walkway tour that we had booked ourselves on for 7am. The idea behind this was that it would be a better time to see the bird life, and perhaps the more delinquent mammals who had been up all night partying, like the slow loris or the tarsier.

Sadly the alarm came and went at 5:30am and we were both sound asleep. When I eventually awoke it was 7:05, and the tour had almost certainly already left. I pulled on my manky clothes from the day before and vainly tried to rouse the sleeping Clairy. She still wasn't feeling 100%, particularly after being rudely awakened by a raging banshee like myself, so we decide I would go on my own if I could catch the guide up.

I asked the chap on security which way it was to the canopy walk only to be given a vague wave of the hand in the direction I already suspected. I was a bit worried that by the time I arrived at the un-signposted turn-off from the boardwalk there would be no one about and I would find myself walking off into the distance. After 20mins of speed walking at a rate the elderly American ladies in Hyde Park would be proud of, I literally just caught the group up as they left the main trail.

A blurry shot of the steps up to the first tower.


The canopy walkway up above.


The walkway measures an impressive 480m in length and is 25m up. Sadly though it could do with some maintenance, as the boards that you walk on make a godawful noise as they creak together, potentially scaring away any wildlife that might be around.


It was a totally different perspective however, and I enjoyed being up there.






The only interesting spot of my short tour was this very bizarre little flying insect. He was so freaked out by my presence that he attempted to squeeze himself though the mesh of the walkway. After many attempts, he did actually manage it and fluttered off into the distance.


There was an incredible variety of vibrant flora growing out of the canopy.


The limestone cliffs that reach around to form deer and Lang's caves.


The river down below.


It was quite a structural undertaking. There was a lot of movement on the walkways, but generally I felt pretty safe with these huge trees holding me up.


Our flight back to Miri was booked for 10:10am, and as the tour was due to return at 9, I fairly well pegged it round the canopy walk. In fairness, our guide was the same uselessly non-communicative chap from the previous day, so I don't think I missed a great deal. This might go some way to explain the rather rushed pics as below.






On the other hand, my speedy effort meant I was back at headquarters to squeeze our free brekky in before the flight. Phew.

On the way out of the park, Clairy snapped this great pic of the misty peaks.


And then we were on the plane heading back to Miri. Again there seemed to be about five of us on a plane with a capacity of twenty.


Just as we were about to land I took this pic of the incredibly mahoosive palm oil plantations that quite literally go on as far as the eye can see.