July 6th, 2016

Day 98: Mulu National Park – Day 1

We are off on our last Malaysian adventure: Gunung Mulu National Park – one of the most remote (and expensive!) parks in Malaysia. There is no road into the park – all tourists (and amenities, food supplies, etc.) must be flown in. When we got to the airport, we saw that once again we would be flying a tiny propeller plane (which is running 30min behind schedule – apparently that is average for Mulu). Thankfully it is a short flight, as we seem to be attracting sickies everywhere we go now. Sure enough – we see the same two coughing French tourists from Niah boarding the plane. Very tempted to start handing out cough drops to all these people.

 

Propeller plane taking us to Mulu National Park

 

Breaking out the surgical masks to protect us against Patient Zero. It was a short flight – no snack, but they did provide a box of chocolate milk!

Once we reached the park HQ (a short 5min taxi or 20 walk from the airport), we checked into our bungalow. Since it was only 11AM maid service hadn’t cleaned the room yet, but at least we could store our bags in the room instead of the unsecured luggage room.

When planning our activities for the day, we quickly learned that most of Mulu requires a guided tour – none of the caves are open to unguided tourists, nor are the multi-day hikes. We booked the 2:30PM tour to see Mulu’s most famous cave – Deer Cave which is home to millions of bats that exit the cave at sunset each night. With our remaining time, we took a short walk to the Paku Falls – one of the few trails one can do solo.

 

Mulu National Park – or last jungle adventure for several months

 

BUGS.

 

Paku: another contender for the “world’s smallest waterfall”

 

It may be a tiny waterfall and a really shallow pool, but it was so hot and muggy out that we NEEDED a swim

 

The water felt frigid compared to the steamy air, but we had to force ourselves to go under – the refreshment would be worth it!

 

The Paku Falls was also filled with little fish that nibbled at the dead skin on our feet! A jungle pedicure!

 

We had time for a Nasi Goreng lunch stop at the park’s café before our cave tour

We met up with our tour at the HQ only to find out that once again, these park tours are absolutely crowded. We were in one of two groups of about 20 people each – our group included the two sick French girls who stuck to the head of the group next to the ranger (we are noticing that the French always need to be FIRST). We stayed safely in the back of the group to avoid their germs, thereby missing out on any wildlife or plants the ranger pointed out.

It was a 3KM walk to the two caves and “Bat Exodus” viewing area. After taking us through both caves, we were on our own to find a place to sit, and then walk back to the Park HQ on our own. Since the bats would not be leaving the caves until sunset, we were warned that the walk back would be in the dark, so we needed a torch (sorry, flashlight).

 

At the back of the group. We’ll never know what this pretty red flower is, but I doubt we’ll lose any sleep over it

 

Who needs the ranger? We can spot stick-bugs and lizards on our own, thanks

 

The first of two caves on our tour. Since there were so many groups heading to the big cave, our guide took us to Langs Cave first, which is a really pretty show cave that is well-lit to show off the beautiful rock formations.

 

Igor was getting bored of cave formations (after the amazing caves of New Zealand’s Waitomo and the solitude of the Niah Caves it’s hard not to have high expectations)

 

Lindsay was still impressed with Langs Cave – the cave “cauliflower” and “elephant’s ears” were really pretty

 

The famous Deer Cave – arguably the biggest cave in the world. (Depending on how you measure – by volume, by height, or by length?) From this angle, one of the rock walls looks like Abraham Lincoln in profile – see it?

The entrance to Deer’s cave – no doubt, this is the biggest cave we’ve seen yet. Also the most stinky – not only is the place filled with guano, there’s also so much bat piss on the floor that the name “Deer Cave” came about because deer go into the cave to drink the salty pee. EEEEWWWW!!!!!

 

Lindsay admiring the size of Deer Cave

 

The rear entrance to Deer Cave – it used to continue further, but a section of the cave fell in, creating two separate caves and an opening called the “Garden of Eden”. There is a night-vision camera near the rear of the cave that records the Bat Exodus from within – video is streamed outside near the viewing platform. Unfortunately, as we were at the back of our group, we didn’t heard our guide say this – we found out days later from a fellow tourist.

 

After leaving the Deer Cave, we joined the throngs of people waiting in the stadium-style sitting area for the Bat Exodus

 

So, we expected the bats to just come flying out en mass at sunset. In fact, little groups come out, creating spiral formations, one after the other. It’s a cool sight – just not what we were expecting.

 

While the veiwing platform was jam packed when we arrived, it started to clear out after the first group of bats. We actually recognized the first two people to leave – it was the French brothers Thomas & Olivier from the Miri dive! They left poor Susan behind (she was one of the last people to leave the platform – she looked very comfortable enjoying nature *alone*) – we could just imagine their commentary as they left: “These bats are shit. The French invented bats. I am le bored. Let us go drink some wine.”

 

Walking back through the jungle in the dark. Parts of the boardwalk have lighting, but most is pure darkness. Luckily we have torches, so we can spot the odd Huntsman spider and stick bug.

Our rainforest bungalow – our last moments of air-conditioned luxury before camping in the jungle. Gotta savor ever second!