Mulu

After Uncle Tan's, we called in at Mount Kinabalu National Park for a night – not long enough to climb the summit, but long enough to walk some trials around the base and have a good look at the peak. Unfortunately the weather was against us, so there was little evidence of a mountain through the thick fog - the only view we got was from the plane on the flight down to Tawau.


















We flew from Kota Kinabalu to Mulu National Park in Sarawak, having cleared immigration in Miri (why you need to go through immigration flying from Sabah to Sarawak – part of the same country, is beyond me). Mount Mulu is a 2376m peak, which contains the world's largest limestone cave system, and is covered by an ancient rainforest. The park itself is incredibly well laid out, with dozens of miles of wooden walkways through the forest. There are four “show” caves, then three categories of “adventure” caves.















Arriving late afternoon we headed to Deer Cave (aka the Bat Cave) to see the twilight exodus of millions of bats. I wanted to record the bat sounds, which was impossible with the din of people chattering at the observation point, so we walked closer to Deer Cave. The smell of ammonia becomes quite unbearable, and really starts to sting your eyes and burn the back of your throat (all those millions of bats do leave their mark). The path just continues into the cave, which at 174m high and 122m wide is the largest cave entrance in the world, and there is plenty of natural light even a few hundred meters in. So after half-hour of filming and photographing in the peace and solitude, we were surprised to be approached by a slightly disgruntled guide – apparently even these very safe show caves are off limited without a guide.















Early next morning we set off on our first official cave visit to the Cave of the Winds and Clearwater, the latter being part of the largest cave system in the world. We saved the 60RM on the boat and took the 80 minute walk up-and-down over 400 steps and through a small cave (Moonmilk) to meet the guide at the Cave of the Wind. Neither of these caves has the majesty of Deer Cave, but they are extremely well lit, giving a highly atmospheric effect. Of course what follows a torturous 80 minute walk out to a cave, is a torturous 80 minute walk back.














After the first of many toasted cheese sandwiches (oh the joy of vegetarianism) we joined a group for Lang and Deer Caves. Lang is similar to the Cave of the Wind, while Deer Cave was equally as breathtaking the second time. Several hundred meters in it finally gets dark, before the light from the second entrance reaches in. With all the Bat droppings, there are of course plenty of cockroaches. Fortunately they stay down in the lower levels.















For our taste of adventure caving, we signed up for the intermediate level Racer Cave (you need to show membership of a caving club for the advanced caves). Armed with helmets, headlights and two guides, we set off in a long boat – Racer is out near Clearwater, and we weren't going to start the day with another killer walk. Things didn't start too well as the first rope section was quite tough; the wall was too slippery to get any foot grip, so I ended up just haling myself up on my arms. The guide helpfully created foot holes for Kirsten by cupping his hand, and we were through the first of five rope sections. Another hour of tight squeezes, waterfalls, accents, descents, a snake and several very large spiders (really needed to be careful where you put your hand), and we'd reached the large central chamber. The only thing left to do was the entire thing in reverse.















We took the afternoon off, which proved an inspired decision, as mid-afternoon saw the start of 15 hours of torrential rain. There's plenty of other things to do in the park, including the limestone pinnacles or the summit of Mount Mulu, but these take at least three days of hard hiking. So we finished off with a very gentle canopy walk – 500m of rope bridges strung between the trees.