Malaysian Borneo (Part II) - Miri

Following the disappointment of missing out on the Ulu Temburong National Park in Brunei, due to expense and inaccessibility, it was only fitting that my next destination should be the relatively small Malaysian town of Miri, just 4 hours by bus from Bandar Seri Begawan, which is surrounded by some of the most impressive National Parks in the whole of Borneo. With only a few days to spare, I wasted no time and visited all three major parks in the following three days, in what would become an exhausting National Parks overdose, more than making up for the missed, and all but forgotten, Ulu Temburong National Park a few days earlier.

Yet another sunset in Borneo - Miri

LIMBIR HILLS NATIONAL PARK

Episode one of my National Parks trilogy begins with the Limbir Hills National Park, just 30km from Miri, which is by far the most accessible, if not particularly the most impressive. Despite a distinct lack of large wildlife, there was however plenty of opportunity in the 7,000 hectare park for some true Borneo exploration and jungle / forest adventure. Such as:

Natural swimming pools...

...showers...

...bridges...

...stairways...

...unnatural (crumbling) observation towers...

...and rungless ladders!

(In addition to the lack of rungs on the ladder, what I didn't realise until after I'd clambered all the way up, was the fact that it was also swarming with a million ants, as was I by the time I came back down again)

After a few hours in the jungle, when you find yourself hot, sweaty, hungry, thirsty, bitten by ants, drained of blood by mosquitoes, constantly harassed by flies, wasps and other buzzing insects, it's easy to start complaining and wonder why you're putting yourself through such pain. It's at this point that it's important to remember, firstly, that you're in Borneo (in the jungle!) so of course it's going to be hot, humid and full of annoying insects, and secondly, ask yourself, would you rather be hot and sweating in the forests of Borneo, or sat at home (as I've done many times in the past), in the cold and miserable English weather, watching a television program about Borneo and wishing I was there? Despite the annoyances though, after a couple of hours hiking up an increasingly steep mountain trail, to suddenly reach the top, where the trees part before you, as you emerge into a bright sunny clearing, with a cool, strong breeze washing over your tired, aching limbs, to an epic mountain view of the surrounding jungle and distant hills, will certainly erase any complaints you may have had along the way.

A worthy view after a 2 hour climb

Scrambling back down the treacherous path, as spots of rain begin to fall, with hidden roots seemingly reaching out to trip you up with every step, and every damp leaf, littering the forest floor, suddenly becoming a cartoon banana skin, waiting to make you slip on the dangerous, rocky descent, all becomes part of the day's adventure. As does finding yourself 3km from park headquarters as the storm clouds roll in and the rain begins to fall more heavily, turning the surrounding forest into a slippey, muddy swamp. I guess it's not called the rainforest for nothing! There's little chance anyone would particularly enjoy trudging through the swap-like conditions (unless of course you happen to be Shrek), as swarms of mosquitoes appear from all around, making your journey all the more unbearable, not to mention the growing pools of mud underfoot and my first encounter with a blood sucking leech, casually slurping away at my ankle. While I'd been warned about leeches beforehand, I hadn't been told about the bleeding that occurs afterwards, for while they are fairly easy to remove, the constant oozing of blood down the leg and into the shoe, was not quite so easy to control. Finally, after an hour and a half of constant blood-loss, leaving a huge congealed mess around my ankle, the bleeding slowed to a manageable trickle. I was quick to give myself a thorough once over though as, after swimming in the lake earlier in the day, sudden images of the film "Stand By Me" came flooding back into my mind.

My first leech!

So, after a few cuts and scrapes, several mosquito bites, one leech, a quick swim in a waterfall, a two hour uphill climb, a treacherous downhill slide, a crumbling observation tower, countless bugs (although no real wildlife, unless you count the acrobatic squirrels crashing through the trees, sounding like a herd of elephants swinging from the branches), buckets of sweat, plenty of dirt, and a whole load of burnt calories behind me, it was finally back to Miri, looking like a dirty swamp monster boarding the clean VIP bus, as day one gradually drew to a close.

NIAH CAVES NATIONAL PARK

Day two, and the second instalment of my National Parks marathon, began very much the same as the first, with a very early morning wake up call. Along with a couple of people I'd met the day before at Limbir Hills, I made my way to the second and far more impressive site of Niah Caves National Park, 100km from Miri. The two main attractions of the park are, unsurprisingly, both caves, with the first being Great Cave (which was indeed great), followed by the second, smaller Painted Cave (which was surprise, surprise...painted!). After registering at park headquarters, there is a short boat ride from the nearby jetty across the river, where you must pay the boatman 1 ringget to cross on demand, perfectly fitting for a journey to the caves, reminiscent of Greek mythology where a single gold coin paid to the boatman gains you entry into the underworld. If only the boat continued upstream, through the dense jungle, to the mouth of the cave, the similarity would have been complete. As it was, the boat simply dropped us off the other side of the river, where it's a 3km walk through the jungle, along a wooden planked walkway, to the entrance of the caves.

Unfortunately, photos don't quite do justice to the sheer size and scale of the cavernous gaping mouth opening up in the jungle before you. With a floor space of 10.5 hectares, the cave is truly immense, and with wooden walkways and staircases, covered in a mass of spider webs, dirt and bats faeces, continuing off into the darkness within, and the eerie backing track of birds and bats echoing down from the cavernous chambers above and the ever-present waft of nauseating excrement rising up off of every surface, it certainly does feel as though you're about to descend into the deepest, darkest depths of the underworld.

Now this would have been a much more fitting drop off point for the boatman

To reach the Painted Cave, you must first proceed through the bowels of the Great Cave, where all light disappears, and with only the faint glow from your torch struggling to illuminate the way and penetrate the darkness, reaching little more than a few feet in front of you, you stumble blindly on. To really get a feel for your surroundings, it's a great test of nerves and an unsettling experience to extinguish your light and stand perfectly still in the impenetrable darkness, seemingly gathering around you like a hot and humid blanket, and listen to the high pitched echo of the birds flying past, the faint trickle of a stream running somewhere far below, and the monotonous drip, drip, drip of water nearby, all the while with the deafening silence hanging like a storm cloud just behind, waiting for all other noises to cease before sweeping in and flooding your surroundings. Whether you're afraid of the dark or not, I guarantee it won't be long before you switch the light back on and hurry your way back to the surface, eager to reach the fresh air and natural light above.

(Although hiring a torch is optional, actually having one is not!)

Once through the Great Cave, you finally emerge the other side to a short boardwalk through the watery mangroves and limestone formations, before reaching the steep stairs leading up to Painted Cave, where many illustrations decorate the walls, dating back a very long time (although don't ask me how long as that's where the added expense of a guide would have come in handy). In addition to the cave paintings, the site was also used as a burial ground, with remains having been discovered dating back 40000 years. In fact, the remains have shown almost continuous habitation from 40000 to just 2000 years ago, including one which is still left half uncovered for visitors to observe.

Although the park was extremely impressive, there still seemed to be a distinct lack of wildlife, with the exception of bugs and insects, which seem to grow to unbelievable dimensions, such as snails the size of your fist, ants the length of your thumb, butterflies with a wingspan the size of both outstretched hands and spiders with webs that cover entire trees.

Jungle bugs

Beware however the bugs that look you directly in the eye when you lean forward to take a close up photo as they might just leap onto your face, like the enormous praying mantis that nearly caused me to drop down dead in shock as it lunged towards me with an evil look in its eye.

As well as a lack of wildlife, there was also a distinct lack of western tourists, although with my third and final destination being described by everyone's trusty travel companion, the Lonely Planet Guide to South East Asia, as "possibly the single most impressive destination in all of Borneo", I have a vague idea where I might find them.

MULU NATIONAL PARK

Unsurprisingly, the most outstanding of all the National Parks and concluding my three day saga, was also the most inaccessible, with the only real option being a flight over the impenetrable jungle to the famous Mulu National Park below.

Flying in to Mulu

After just 30 minutes from take off to landing, it was then into a small jeep with a few others for the 5 minute journey to park headquarters. With no time to waste, I immediately booked up for a tour of the first two show caves departing that very afternoon.

Langs Cave and Deer Cave

Unfortunately visiting any of the caves in Mulu National Park without a guide is strictly forbidden (and with security check points along the way made it impossible for me to attempt anyway), so along with a tour group of around 12 other people we headed out on the 3.5km boardwalk trek to Langs Cave. Passing through some impressive rainforest scenery along the way, we soon arrived at our destination, and while Langs Cave is the smallest of the Mulu show caves, it's certainly still impressive inside. Containing some amazing limestone formations, including stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, shawls and rimstone pools, giving every surface a differing and intricately shaped appearance, it almost felt like entering a strange alien landscape of shifting shadows and textures.

After Langs Cave we quickly proceeded on to the main attraction, and deservedly so, holding the record of the world's largest cave passage, the awesome gaping maw of Deer Cave. With an entrance spanning 130m in diameter and 180m in height, stepping into the enormous mouth of Deer Cave, and proceeding through the largest cave passage on the planet, was truly like a journey to the centre of the earth.

In addition to the sheer size of the cave, it is also famous for being home to around 3 million bats, which during the day hang from the ceiling 200m overhead, looking like an ominous black stain slowly spreading across the surface of the rock. The sheer scale of bats can only truly be felt as the sun begins to set and the bats, seemingly on cue, take flight and emerge from the cave entrance in a mass exodus, flowing in a constant stream, looking like a dark, shifting ribbon across the sky, as all 3 million bats emerge at once, flocking together in a swirling cloud in an attempt to confuse and avoid the waiting predators outside.

A bat exodus that went on for 20 minutes

That night, after the tour, not content with sitting around doing nothing at park headquarters, I decided a little night time exploration was in order. After sneaking past the guardhouse I proceeded onto one of the trails, with only the meagre light of my headtorch to guide the way. After only a few minutes walking through the darkness, I was convinced that I caught sight of a flash light approaching from up ahead and not wanting to get caught trekking where I shouldn't (and possibly face a fine for breaking park rules) I quickly shaded the light of my torch, and in the near complete darkness, hurried back the way I'd come, constantly checking for any signs of pursuit. Not wanting to give up on my darkness adventure so easily I decided that a little verbal trickery was in order and approached the guard station and asked if it was possible to walk along the main path at night, deliberately pointing to the trail by the main entrance. The security guard assumed I mean the main road outside the gate and nodded in agreement. The fact that I was actually pointing to the entrance to one of the main trails gave me all the permission I needed to go exploring further, and in the event that I was caught, I could simply play the dumb tourist card and say "but the man at the gate said it was ok". While I don't often enjoy being mistaken for the usual dumb tourists, when it gets me what I want, I'm more than willing to accept the misconception. Heading towards the main gate, I quickly checked that the security guard wasn't looking before ducking to one side and onto the forest trail.

Not only is walking through the jungle at night on your own exciting, it is also extremely spooky as the trees overhanging the path seem to take on the appearance of looming figures and the vines reach down, unseen, to brush your face and tangle around you as you pass by. In addition to the creepy surroundings, the strange noises emanating from the darkness all around are almost deafening. Still not satisfied with how dark and forbidding the jungle was in the light of my head torch, I then decided it would be a good idea to switch it onto the lowest red light setting, casting eerie shadows and giving even the most innocent looking trees and plants a distinctly menacing appearance. After walking headlong into a bat hanging from a low vine in front of me, causing me to jolt back in shock as it silently spread its wings and took flight just centimeters from my face, I promptly decided that a dim red light probably wasn't suitable for walking the jungle at night and quickly reverted back to the brighter, if still inadequate, main beam of my torch.

With the nocturnal chorus of ear piercing buzzing, croaking, clicking, squeaking, and the flashing lights of passing fireflies, as well as the frogs, bugs, birds and bats, it was actually one of the most fascinating walks I've experienced so far.

Cave of the Winds and Clearwater Cave

The following day, with no time to rest, I was up and out for my second tour, to the equally impressive Cave of the Winds and Clearwater Cave. Starting out with an exciting boat ride up river, passing over shallow waters, narrowly missing protruding rocks and low hanging trees, we made a quick stop at a local village (in an attempt to get us buying the handicrafts on offer) before proceeding to the entrance of Cave of the Winds, where our guide was awaiting us. As with the tour yesterday, we began with the smaller of the two caves, which once again was breathtaking due to an abundance of fascinating rock formations covering every surface. In addition to the stalactites and stalagmites, the other interesting aspect to the cave, and indeed where it gets its name, is the breeze that flows through it as the air outside reacts with the air inside, causing a steady flow of air through the chambers and tunnels within.

After a short boardwalk around the rocks, with huge formations hanging down from above, it was then on to Clearwater Cave, up a long and steep set of wooden stairs. With passages measuring 180km (so far discovered) it is ranked in the top 10 longest caves in the world, and is estimated to be one of the biggest in actual volume (which as yet has not been measured). With a sweeping, tube-like appearance, it's clear to see how the cave was formed by the passage of a large and powerful river carving its way through the rock, flowing through the cave's centre. While the river is nowhere near the scale that once created the enormous cave, it is still present and steadily flowing through the interior of the cave.

The tour ended with a chance to swim in the refreshing waters of a large pool outside the cave before boarding the boat and speeding back to park headquarters. The afternoon was unplanned but rather than sit and relax, I chose instead to trek to a waterfall along with a few others from the morning's tour, through the jungle and muddy, swampy conditions. After getting unbelievably hot and dirty, it was a welcome relief to emerge into a forest clearing where the river slowed to a lazy pool beneath the cascading waters of a small, tumbling waterfall. Without a moments hesitation we all jumped in, catching our breaths slightly as we hit the surprisingly cold waters, but enjoying the respite from the heat and humidity outside.

A perfect remedy to a long trek

And so ended my whirlwind tour of Borneo's National Parks, and after another 30 minute flight the following day, I found myself back in Miri where it all began. Without a doubt the most impressive of the parks was Mulu (where I did indeed find the missing western tourists!), however all three had their plus points, such as Limbir Hills' rough and muddy trails, giving you the sense of truly being lost in the jungle, to Niah Caves' solo approach and possibility of exploring the pitch black interior without a guide or assistance, to Mulu's spectacular, record breaking caves and awesome 3 million strong bat spectacle, it's hard to say which I enjoyed the most. One thing is certain though, and that is that three National Parks in three days was an exhausting experience, but one that I'm glad I did and, as it turned out, more than worth it.