Mulu National Park offers an interesting range of adventures.
IT'S mid-week and I am on a working trip to the Mulu National Park, which is a 30-minute flight from Miri — Sarawak's second largest city.
During this trip, I will be meeting a group of six National Cancer Council volunteers who are on a 4D3N fight against cancer mission to climb the 2,376m-high Gunung Mulu.
I reach Mulu around 1pm. While waiting for the group to reach the Mulu National Park headquarters, I decide to join the 2pm caving excursion that takes visitors to explore a number of caves.
THE FLORA AND FAUNA
Within the site of the park, there are four caves that are incredibly unique in their own mysterious ways.
Among these four, Gua Rusa and Gua Lang are considered non-extreme and tourist friendly.
It takes 45 minutes of walking through the lush forest, alongside the running streams to reach the caves, and there is much to see on the way.
Since visitors cannot enter the caves without the company of a licensed guide, the excursions are fully guided — which is a perk as we get to learn more about the flora and fauna in the area.
The park is home to many insects and animals. Our guide promises that we will be able to catch sight of some of these amazing creatures.
"Bear in mind that they move quickly," says the guide, urging us to keep an eye out.
Unfortunately, we aren't able to spot that many unique species besides a tiny sized lizard, stick insects and white lantern bug sultanas.
The forest is also a botanical experience that houses millions of plants and trees.
Pointing to an Ipoh tree, the guide says that hunters from the Penan tribe extract poisonous glue from the tree and applied on the tip of their darts that will be used to hunt for animals.
THE CAVES
We then walk on a 3.8km plank that ends at the bats observatory area. From there, the path branches to the nearest caves.
Gua Lang, without a doubt, is stellar — not the biggest, but certainly one of the most beautiful caves in the park.
The 240m plank walk inside the cave is easily navigable by visitors. They can walk comfortably as they admire the unique rock formations.
The cave is made even more attractive by the strategically positioned spotlights that showcase the pristine conditions of the stalactites and stalagmites. One of the formations on the wall seems to take the shape of a jellyfish!
Almost everywhere in the cave stomach, water drips down the stalactites that are hanging from the cave's ceiling, keeping the floor wet.
The sight reminds me of a creature from one of the Alien movies where slimy saliva drips from its mouth. Creepy, but a fascinating sight.
We then continue to the next cave located nearby.
A brightly lit entrance greets us upon arrival at Gua Rusa, famous for housing millions of bats that leave the cave at dusk between 5pm and 6pm.
With over 2km in length, the ceiling of the huge cave is covered with bats, hanging upside down, while the floor is covered with guano (bat manure). And then there is the strange smell that fills the cave stomach.
According to the guide, deers used to visit the cave to lick salt-bearing rocks and to seek shelter. That's why the Penan people call it Gua Payau, which means Deer Cave.
We also spot some footprints believed to be of mongoose, a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal.
"Mongoose scavenges for food and in the cave, they feast on fallen injured bats," says the guide.
The wonderful thing about this cave is that the pathway leads to the "Garden of Eden", where hangs the Adam and Eve shower head that resembles a bathroom shower.
The sight of water pouring from the ceiling top is mesmerising as well as therapeutic.
At a specific spot inside the cave, against the sunlight, the cave mouth treats its visitors to an optical illusion by forming an uncanny silhouette profile of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.
THE OBSERVATORY
The caving activity comes to an end at 5pm and by then, all visitors are already seated at the bats observatory area.
We patiently wait to witness the most impressive event of the day — the exodus.
The wait for what is said to be the world's greatest spectacles of nature keeps me in absolute awe.
It is a scenic sight of over two million wrinkle-lipped bats exiting Gua Rusa. It is as if the cave mouth blows out a long thick black smoke into the dusky sky. And it is a daily occurence!
The bats will gather at the cave entrance in large ring-shaped formations, circling higher and higher up the cliff face before moving out across the rainforest in swirling ribbons.
Every few minutes, a cauldron of bats will fly out of the cave.
Since bats are nocturnal, they leave the cave every evening and forage for food such as bugs and insects.
THE CANOPY WALK
The following morning before leaving Mulu National Park on a 72-seater aircraft ATR-500, I head out to the canopy walk.
Also known as the Skywalk, the 420m walkway that is suspended 25m above the forest floor, is one of the longest tree-based canopy walks in the world.
It follows a circular route suspended between 15 trees, with a separate exit tower.
The canopy walk bounces and sways as I walk on it, hence the probability of losing grip of the things in my hands.
While trying to take as many photos as I can, I also have to hold on tight to my handphone.
For if you drop anything, it is considered gone because there is almost no way to recover it from the dense forest. However, you don't have to worry as the walkway is well maintained and very safe.
The view of the rainforest from the canopy walk is amazing; every now and then our guide will point out insects, birds and squirrels.
A wide range of trees are labelled for scientific study purposes and these give visitors the opportunity to learn about trees and their environment.
I get to learn the types of trees that are logged to make boats, houses and musical instruments like sape, a traditional lute of Sarawak's Kenyah and Kayan communities.
The guide says the wood from the tree are made into planks due to its long-lasting property.
"Samak wood from the pelai trees are also suitable for making sape due to its softer properties," explains the guide, adding that the pelai wood is also used to build rafts as it floats easily.
THE NATIONAL PARK
Listed as a Unesco World Heritage site, the 60-million-year-old Mulu National Park is surely a botanical gem.
The park is outstanding both for its high biodiversity and its karst features. In November 2000, Mulu was listed as a world heritage site due to its spectacular scenery and biological significance.
The park qualifies for all four of the World Heritage criteria, namely an outstanding example of the world's geological history (caves and cave deposits); an outstanding representative example of ongoing evolutionary processes (current research programmes); of exceptional beauty that contains significant natural habitat for in-situ conservation of biological diversity; and offer protectition for threatened species (wide range of cave and forest habitats).
Mulu National Park also offers an interesting range of adventures from show caves to boat rides, the bats exodus, adventure caving and extreme high-altitude adventures like climbing Gunung Mulu and the iconic Pinnacles.
Although I have come unprepared, I manage to enjoy a few excursions that don't demand a high level of fitness. That morning, I leave Mulu with a feeling of wanting to discover more.
That thin wisp of "smoke", billowing into the clear blue sky in a spiral formation is definitely the highlight of my overnight stay at Mulu National Park.
Mulu, I'll be back!
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