Deer & Lang Showcaves

I have five nights in Mulu, kinda two too many compared to the typical tourist. The extra time was for the Pinnacles trip which I can’t get enough people for. There is a trip departing a day later than my preferred date but it was a bit risky as I may not arrive back in time for my flight.

I had heard that there was someone at Mulu Backpackers near the airport that wanted to go to the pinnacles. As I had the morning free, I headed there to see if he would team up with me and one other to set off for the Pinnacles on Friday. Flavia was his name, but he had now booked for Saturday with others. Ah well, but the walk wasn’t wasted as I realised that his hostel was nice and priced at MYR25 which was half of what I had paid in the park at MYR50 (even though the breakfast was good).

To fill in the rest of the morning, I went up to the Treetop tower (free but required a key deposit of MYR50). There wasn’t anything to see in terms of bird life but it was good for people who aren’t familiar with the layers of the rainforest. For this reason I decided I wouldn’t bother with the canopy walk unless I get really bored. I still had some more time to kill before lunch, so checked out the informative panels in the Park HQ.

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At 1400, I did the showcave tour to Deer & Lang Cave. It was about 45 minutes walk to the to the cave are and when we got there, it started raining reasonably heavily. After a short rest in the shelter, we braved the rain and walked to the entrance. It makes sense to be indoors in the cave during the rain.

First up was Lang Cave. I’d probably rate this as the most beautiful showcave in terms of stalactite/stalagmite formations. It had some nice ones which described as “jellyfish”. Its beauty makes up for its small size.

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After about an hour we moved left next door to the very expansive Deer Cave, which is home to millions of bats. The cave floor full of guano and was alive with all sorts of creepy crawlies. Unlike our visit 21 years ago, we walked on plankwalk.

Being the world’s largest cave passage until a recent discovery in Vietnam, it can’t be photographed easily by an amateur with a point-and-shoot camera. This would be even worse for the advanced adventure caving trip to the Sarawak Chamber (world’s largest cave chamber). Guides say that it is hard work and when you get there, there isn’t anything to see but just darkness. On an early exploration, they had brought in 500W lights and generators but still couldn’t illuminate the ceiling!

There is a second opening in Deer Cave at the far end from where we entered, which leads to the Garden of Eden.  That’s available as an adventure outing (which involves getting very dirty but has swimming opportunites).

The rain had subsided when we emerged from Deer Cave. We waited for the three or so million bats to emerge as well but it was in vain. They would go without dinner tonight as they do not fly well in wet weather (due to their fur getting wet); apart from the naked (furless) bat.

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We walked back to the Park HQ disappointed. Walking back with me was a HK-based teacher originally from the US. She loves all sorts of creepy crawlies and got quite hyperactive as we spotted them on the walk back. She and her school management are here to check out whether Mulu and the Pinnacles would be suitable to bring the kids.

They are off to the Pinnacles on the day which I had hoped to go. She invited me along but it would be hard to organise; they had booked through an agent in Kuching and I’d have to email them to organise it tonight for tomorrow morning’s departure. They had also paid a lot for the trip and I probably wouldn’t be prepared to cough up that kind of money.