Mulu Caves

The MuluCaves is Malaysia’s pride.  Theses caves are considered the most spectacular in the world.  Situated near the northern corner of Sarawak, the GunungMuluNational Parkis spread over a massive 52,000 of rain forest spread mainly over flat plains.

Caves are listed under two main mountainous areas.  They are Api and Benarat caves. The caves under Api include Blacrock cave, Bridge cave, Cave of the Winds, Clearwater Cave, Cloud Cave, Cobra Cave, Good Luck cave, Green Cave, Hidden Valley cave etc.  The caves under Benarat caves include Benarat Caverns, Cobweb Cave and Moon cave.

The talking points of this place are the Deer Cave and The Good Luck cave.  These caves grab all the attention and let’s take a brief look at both below.

The Deer cave is a historic and wonderful place to be.  It is accessible to the public.  This cave ranks as the largest cave passages discovered on earth till date.  One can make use of a passage of more than 300 kilometers into the complex, which is huge and easily one of the world’s largest cavern passages ever found on planet earth.

The numbers are excellent, nowhere is this cave shorter than 90 m in height.  The cave is home to millions and millions of bats and their droppings are seen all over the place, so one needs to take care of that.

Entry to the Good luck cave is meant strictly to cavers only.  This cave possesses Sarawak Chamber, the largest underground chamber in the world.  This place is a must visit for a die-hard Caver.  One has to sweat it out to reach the place though.  A three hour hike though a jungle starts the journey and beware of your feet, you will need good footwear. This area is full of leaches so you may wonder what is going on under your feet.  Once inside, a little bit of swimming comes handy inside the cave.

Let’s have a look at the history of this must-visit site.  It is believed the Mulu caves came into existence over 5 million years ago.  This was the time when the running water made a path for itself between the sandstone and limestone of the mountain’s interior.  This process slowly resulted to the dissolution of limestone and developed this gigantic structure that is present today.

Most of the areas are accessible only to experienced cavers keeping the dangers in mind. However, 4 caves have been built as show caves.  These caves provide easy access and the lighting is also adequate to avoid any dangers.

There have been 21 caving expeditions at the Mulu National park till date.

When cave exploration began in earnest, Mulu National park was more of an expedition.  It was a very tedious process getting to the place and required an overnight stay at a hotel while traveling.  In the present day, traveling to the place is much simpler and straightforward.  Malu has its own airport and daily flights from Kota Kinabalu or Miri are operational.  Accommodation is also available in abundance here. One should stay at the old headquarter buildings, where the Royal Mulu Resort is housed.  The hotel boasts of 180 rooms, bar, swimming pools, restaurants and other luxuries.