Dhahran British Grammar School Expedition 2006

Saturday 18 March
Fly from Kuching to Mulu National Park

Mulu National Park is in the north of Sarawak near the border with Brunei. It is a two hour flight from Kuching. We made this journey on an extremely loud Fokker 50, so small that you could swing from the twin propellers and Yako was unable to stand.

Three trucks were waiting at Mulu airport to take us to the park headquarters – a beautifully landscaped, if rather basic hotel. The rooms along the lines of local longhouses but made somewhat more luxurious for the benefit of the tourists. - long wooden chalets on stilts high above the marshy ground, six bedrooms divided by a common sitting area.

Dragonflies, deep red and with the most vibrant blue wings, were skimming back and forth over the pond in front of the rooms. Less enchanting was one small boy was similarly skimming back and forth around the hotel. I began to wonder how often he would have to be told to remove his shoes before he would remember that we didn’t want to walk through the mud he was trailing inside.

There are lots of bugs here, and predators too. During the day, swifts ply the gardens like small jet fighters on manoeuvres. At night the bats take advantage of the lights from the hotel to mop up the clouds of moths and mosquitoes.

We had an excellent guide through the rainforest on our way to the Mulu Deer Cave and Lang’s Cave. There is a boardwalk through the jungle, suspended six feet above the marshy ground. Our local guides, Phillip and Laing pointed out some amazing plants and told us what they were used for. A tree, the sap of which can be used to make poison blow pipe darts captured the boys’ attention. Fortunately for the careless, there is another tree growing nearby that provides the antidote. Apart from medicinal plants, we found one that can be burned to make a mosquito repellent and another that can be used as deodorant. Not all plants we were shown were useful though. Some are armed with alarming thorns, others full of aggressive ants and some with mysterious tentacles that look smooth but grip like the strongest Velcro.

The Deer Cave has many cave formations in pristine white limestone, thanks to the fences and clear instructions that prevent people touching and littering. Much more spectacular is the huge Lang’s cave, which has one of the world’s largest cave entrances and is hope to several million bats. The cave floor is thick with guano – so thick that I couldn’t work out why we were able to walk through the cave without being soiled from above. The cave has an entrance at either side of the mountain – gaping holes hundreds of metres across. From the middle of Lang’s cave is an unbelievable profile of Abraham Lincoln silhouetted against the blue sky. From the dark, dank cave interior, the rainforest looks like the Garden of Eden, its greens surreal in their vibrancy.

Inside the cave there are few bats to be seen – they are simply too high above in the cave roof. We did see their parasites however; hideous, inch long earwigs that had fallen from the roof and were busily trying to climb back up. In some places there were so many that the handrail posts seemed to be moving. After we had spotted them, it was noticeable the students were less inclined to grasp the rail when they lost their balance.

Below the cave entrance there is a grassy area and an open shelter where you can sit and watch the bats fly out of the cave at dusk. A lot of money has been spent on making this cave accessible to tourists, and in preserving the environment. Unlike many tourists attractions I’ve visited in Asia, the quality and sensitivity of the things that have been done here are outstanding.

Expecting the sky to go black with bats we sat and waited patiently for dusk. There were many tourists there, but most gave up and had left by the time the bats appeared in long swirling clouds high above the cave entrance. Too small and too high to blacken the sky, the bats were still and impressive site.

The walk back in the dark was easier than I expected, as there were lights along the path. Concentration was needed though, for in one or two places the lights are out and it would be all too easy to step of the boardwalk.

We had dinner in the open air restaurant over the rope bridge. Richard, one of our local guides, and two of the waitresses donned tribal dress for us and danced. The kids were most appreciative, even more so when Sue and I had a go. They were rather less enthusiastic when they were pressured into doing it themselves. Sadly, only James and Casey were brave enough to put on the costume and dance. Towards the end of the evening everybody did join in an eccentric conga, led by Richard in find traditional style, copied unsuccessfully by the rest of us.