Mulu National Park
Earlier this year I made my first little adventure to discover some of the real Borneo. I went to Mulu National Park for five days. I travelled together with Maria and Kieran from Australia and I really enjoyed their company.
Our trip started with a flight from Kuching to Mulu Airport out in the middle of the rainforest. There we met our guide and he took us to the park headquarter where we were going to sleep the first night.
View from the plane.
After we had signed in we made a guided walk on wooden walkways to see two different caves; Lang's Cave and Deer Cave.
A wooden walkway makes the access to the caves convenient.
We spotted a couple of colourful millipedes on the rails.
A bamboo viper, which is a venomous snake, was lying on a branch very close to the walkway!
After less than one hour we arrived to the caves. First we visited Lang's Cave. Lang's Cave is the smallest of the Mulu Show Caves but it has some really nice stalactites and stalagmites.
Inside Lang's Cave.
The next cave on our schedule was Deer Cave. When you look out of Deer Cave you can see that the rock wall has the shape of Abraham Lincoln in profile. The cave has also a natural shower inside and it is home for millions of bats which are hanging under the roof. The floor of the cave is almost completely covered by bat guano.
Inside Deer Cave.
The profile of Abraham Lincoln.
A natural shower.
After we had explored the caves we gathered outside and waited for the bats that live in Deer Cave to come out. Almost every night millions of bats fly out of the cave entrance to hunt for insects.
The entrance to Deer Cave.
Millions of bats flying out of the cave.
The following day started with a boat trip in a longboat to visit Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave. After visiting the caves we started to walk to the camp site where we should spend the coming two nights. We walked 8 kilometres and the terrain was easy, but it was extremely hot and humid. The sweat was dripping.
Travelling in a longboat.
The beautiful camp site.
The following day we woke up very early to start the climb up to the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are rock formations shaped by the rainwater. The climb up to the viewpoint is very steep and it took us 8 hours to climb up and down again. The distance is about 2.5 kilometres one way, but the altitude difference is almost 1200 meters. The last part of the climb was the steepest, with ropes and ladders, but it was actually my favourite part! I was tired in both my arms and legs afterwards!
The Pinnacles.
A chameleon that I saw during the climb.
At the camp site huge butterflies were flying around.
After our climbing adventure we walked the 11 kilometres long Headhunters' Trail through the rainforest. Back in the early days the real headhunters carried their boats along the trail, from one river to another, when they were out robbing and killing their enemies from other tribes. To show how brave the men were they collected the skulls from all the victims they had killed and that's why they are called Headhunters.
The last part of our rainforest adventure we travelled downriver in a longboat to a village where we spent one night in a longhouse. It was interesting to meet the local people and see how they live. The life in the longhouse is very social at least.
The longhouse as it looked like from the outside.
Inside the longhouse.
This was the end of a real adventure out in the rainforest. We experienced a lot during those five days and finally conquered all the leeches! Poor Kieran got 15 leeches on his legs when we walked the Headhunters' Trail, but luckily he was able to remove them all before they bit him.
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