Underneath the mountains of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia, lies the largest cave system in the world. This awe-inspiring natural phenomenal became a world-famous attraction. The park was proudly awarded UNESCO World Heritage site in year 2000. Speleologists around the world are still trying to explore the undiscovered parts of this massive cave system until today, how intriguing!
This is the Mulu National Park main gate, where our walk to the Lang Cave and Deer Cave begins through a long plank boardwalk. To ensure these nature phenomenal are full protected, all caves visit at Mulu must be guided. Tourists will also have to obey the strict rules of the national park.
The view while walking across the wooden bridge to the boardwalk trail. Longboats are the main transportation along the Melinau river.
And so, the trekking begins. The trail is mostly in filtered sunlight and shade therefore it feels chilly and cool.
These towering trees are the skyscraper of the glades.
Don't forget to be fully equipped! Water is essential to stay hydrated during the journey, other items that will come in handy are insect repellent, cap, torch light, and umbrella or raincoat.
Jungle streams.
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This astounding rainforest is also home to many different types of flora and fauna. Until today, botanical expeditions continue to shed more light on Mulu.
A lucky day to witness two millipedes mating on the top rail. Friendly reminder- do not put your hands on the railing.
Our very first cave visit was the Lang Cave. This cave is small and less well known yet it contains intricate curtain stalactites and jellyfish-like coral helictites as if it was a work of art.
Luminous spotlights gorgeously exhibits the low cavern in all angles.
Jellyfish cave formation.
Lang cave was a short walk to Deer Cave, the biggest cave passage and cave entrance of the world.
Cave entrance view from the outside.
The cave mouth is 2.2km long and 220 high at it's highest point.
Although the walkways in the humid caves are well defined, it can be very slippery and damp. Water droplets would fall regularly from high above (or at least you'll hope it's water) like misty veil waterfalls. I was so weary of the millions of bats hanging overhead and the overpowering guano (bat poop) stench made me feel sick in the gut. The Deer Cave is home to a massive bat colony, thick layers of guano (the local people call it 'black snow') covers the cave floor.
The east entrance of Deer Cave opens onto a luxurious patch of jungle named the exotic sounding Garden of Eden.
The all-time famous creatively interpreted silhouette of the sharp profile Abraham Lincoln.
Photo taken from the amphitheatre located at the bottom mouth of the cave. Tourists would take a breather around this spot while waiting for the evening showcase of bat exodus. It is a cleared field aligned with wooden benches and a restroom. We waited with bated breath for the bats to emerge from the entrance of the cave.
The Bat Exodus occurs between 5pm to 7pm, if the weather is fine. Black clouds of millions of bats begin their daily flight ritual in search of food. What a spectacular sight to witness!
The bats fly out of the Deer Cave in spiral-like formations, like a dragon in the air. I was really lucky to capture a photo of a bat hawk swooping in for kills.
The parting of the bats from their homeland also signals that the sky is getting darker. It was time for us to head back to the park entrance. As you can see from my bat exodus photos, the sky was gloomy on that day. Not long after we departed from the amphitheatre, rain started pouring down heavily! The 'best' part of it all was the fact that we forgot to bring umbrellas and rain gears. With no other choice, I walked steadily at a good pace, completely ignoring the idea of the rain heavily beating down on me and that I am soaking wet. All I could think of was I certainly do not want to be out in the jungle after dark! The loud sound that went like "guak, guak, guak" really startled me, my dad said it was made by a type of river toad. I sped up my pace, walked even faster! I couldn't wait to get out!
According to our guide, we have trekked approximately 9km, walking to and fro through these two caves and walking back to the park entrance. Great job. I'm glad that he did not tell us the distance before we begin trekking. But it seemed that everyone eventually made out just fine, even the senior citizens.
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