We have an 11:20 flight to Mulu, so we get picked up from the hotel at 9:00. We're greeted by Angela, a representative of the travel company. She's there to confirm our flight to Mulu which is their handoff of their responsibility for us to the next local tour company The driver is Don and he's responsible for driving us to the airport.
Don talks about his heritage as he is Bediyah, one of the indigenous groups. His earlobe has a small elongated hole which some of the tribe would have been known for. He knows the area we're going to and suggests that we come back to do all the things we're missing such as staying in a longhouse.
We manage to navigate our way successfully through the airport ending up at the gate in plenty of time. When we hear an announcement about our flight leaving from another gate, we started to investigate. We meet a couple who ask if we're going to Mulu and we all investigate together. We conclude that we incorrectly thought there was a gate change due to her accent and a pitiful PA system.
Mulu airport is small. One baggage claim area that has about 8 feet of rollers, a hand cart to carry and move luggage to and from the plane and 3 guys that load and unload the luggage onto a cart.
We exit the airport and are greeted by the Marriott Mulu staff who take our luggage and direct us to board the bus. It's an open trolley bus with no windows. The seats are benches with hard wooded slats. After everyone piles in, the luggage is brought on board in the rear area, stored under the bench seats, on top of the seats and stacked or placed in the aisle.
The trip to the resort takes us past a few storefront shops, homestay accommodation, a few homes and jungle. Access to the Marriott is over a single lane bridge. The bus backs over the bridge as there is no turnaround large enough on the other side.
We get off the bus and enter the reception area. It's under a large roof structure that is open on all sides. We get checked in and grabbed our luggage and proceeded down the boardwalk to our room. It's pretty nice compared to our other rooms. Here are the room pictures.
Our instructions were to meet our guide in the lobby at 2:30, which gives us about 30 minutes to organize ourselves before we start exploring. Our guide is Lawrence, a young knowledgeable man. He was about half as wide as he was tall and was a slower walker than we were. There were lots of steps to climb and he had to frequently stop to rest.
We take the shuttle bus from the hotel to the park. Mulu National park is a World Heritage site due to its extensive cave system and its biodiversity. Entrance to the park is over a suspension bridge.
The first cave we explore is called Lang cave. It's impressive as it's big. We follow a walkway built into the cave. There are lots of stalagmites and stalactites inside. I didn't take any pictures on my phone camera so I can't post any, but I can confirm there were many interesting formations including ones that looked like jellyfish.
The next cave we go explore is called Deer Cave. It's has a huge opening and is much larger than the last cave --over 2 km long and 174 meters high in places. The opening is apparently large enough to slide in St Paul's cathedral. We proceed into the ginormous opening. Inside near the entrance our guide points out a few large black areas on the ceiling of the cave. They're bat colonies. It's a big cave with a tall ceiling and a lot of big black areas. It's almost 5:00 and we can see a few bats flying around up there.
There are about 5 million bats that live in the cave representing about 12 species. When it's not raining, the bats leave their resting place in the late afternoon to search for food. We get to witness the exodus from the mouth of the cave. It was an amazing sight that lasted 45 minutes. The bats exit as a school, forming a dense thick line that often swirls In a corkscrew. There are bat hawks that congregate at the cave entrance to pick off bats and the swirling motion helps the bats elude their prey.
Admittedly my iPhone pictures are pretty lame.
School after school flew out of that cave, all of them in an ever changing graceful swirling pattern. It was fascinating. But it's hard on your neck to be looking skyward. We walked a short distance from the cave entrance to the bat exodus viewing platform where the national park has built a few reclined benches. We parked ourselves and continued the viewing the spectacle until it ended.
We walked back to the park entrance, about 30 minutes away as it started to rain. Then it started to rain harder. Then it was a monsoon. Rain poncho time. It was interesting how quickly it went from a few drops to deluge. The bats don't exit when it's raining hard. We learn that they didn't come out yesterday as it started to rain earlier than today.
Back to the hotel where we dry off and head for dinner. It's a buffet style affair like breakfast. They had a whole separate desert room full of cakes, ice cream, a fruit crumble to name a few of the ones I tried. For me it was a great way to end the day. For Judith it was the fact that there were stray cats that she could feed table scraps.
If you haven't yet, you must eat a rambutan while you're in Sarawak.
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