In Der Deer Cave

The Mulu National Park was declared in 2000 a UNESCO World Heritage Site and covers an area of ​​530qkm. Named after Mount Mulu, the park is mainly famous for its gigantic cave systems.
With a small plane (for just 68 passengers) went there in just 25 minutes from Miri to Mulu National Park. Previously, this was our shortest flight in the smallest machine. Far and wide, we saw only trees and occasionally a brown river snaking through the rainforest.
From the airport there were only a few minutes walk to our accommodation in “Cave d'Homestay”. It reminded us more of a garage as a guest house: temporary wooden walls, ranging not quite up to the ceiling, all very simple and spartan. Our room was next to the kitchen and as the walls do not reached up to the ceiling, It was almost as, as if we slept in the kitchen. But the location of the National Park was great and there were already occupied all the beds in the park, we were lucky to have found a place to sleep here. The first two nights we spent in the “Kitchen Room”, for the last night we had 9 beds in the room-he.

Claudius, Seppel friend and football buddy from Basel, was just in Borneo and we had arranged to meet him here. After he arrived in the afternoon Mulu, we went together to inform on the National Park office to Us, what one can do everything. We were very lucky and still were able to book tours in three different places. Usually the tours are already fully booked long in advance. It and our reunion we then first initiated with a cold beer.

6. July 2013: “Garden of Eden Valley Walk”

The next morning we had breakfast and shine. For today we had the tour to “Garden of Eden” booked. Our group consisted of 8 people, including the Guides. We started the tour on boardwalks through the forest until we reached the first cave, the “Deer Cave”. It is 2km long and 174m height with the world's longest known cave passage. The Deer Cave is home to more than 3mm bats, the fly out in the evening in search of food. The cave smelled therefore quite strict. Equipped with headlamps, we went over to the adventurous part of the hike. We climbed in the dark over slippery rocks, We squeezed through gaps, Eden crossed the river several times and finally reached the other end of the cave “Garden of Eden”, an oasis of green in the sunlight. Then we went through the river and through the dense rain forest. From time to time a leech would be laid eyes on us, but we can repel them successfully. Our destination was a waterfall, the winds in several stages along the rocks. At the waterfall we made then a lunch break. It was rice with chicken and then a cool down in the waterfall.

On the way back it started to rain heavily. It went through the Deer Cave and unfortunately I made some acquaintance with a small crevice, I slipped into one leg into. A huge bruise on my thigh was then “Memory”. After the Deer Cave, our guide showed us the “Lang's Cave”: a small cave with lots of stalactites.
Since it was raining and I did not Dopey waited on the “Outing” the bats and we did again on the way home.

7. July 2013: “Wind Cave & Clearwater Cave”

With a small boat in the morning we drove along the jungle river to a village, where a small market was built. The village women here mainly sold handmade jewelry and small souvenirs. After a short stop we continued to “Wind Cave”. As the name suggests,, you can feel inside the cave a cool wind. Then the Clearwater Cave was on our program. This is with a length of 107 km a huge tunnel system with an underground river and corridors, up to 350 m range in depth. Considered the longest cave in Southeast Asia and is also one of the longest in the world. The crystal clear water of the river gave the cave its name. After visiting the Clearwater Cave still time for a little swim in the river at the cave's exit was before it went back to the boat.

8. July 2013: Canopy Skywalk & Return flight to Miri

Mulu's 480m long walk on suspension bridges through the treetops and offers a great view of the rainforest. To hopefully get some animals to face, we went with a guide in a small group early in the morning on the way. We hiked through the rain forest to the Canopy Skywalk, leads in 15 to 25m height through the canopy. We heard a lot of birdsong, saw butterflies, Birds and insects. And then moving the trees and we could discover a few monkeys. Unfortunately, they were quite far away and disappeared again quickly in the dense jungle.
After breakfast it was called then pack your bags and on to the airport. At the airport we said goodbye to Miri Claudius. We spent another night in Miri, the next day before we made our way into the small country Brunei.