After a breakfast of rusk and milk, I checked out of my hotel. I enquired about transport to Niah Cave National Park HQ as it was a 5km walk according to the map. The receptionist managed to book me a taxi which turned up about 10 minutes later.
I got to the park at 0800 and took the driver’s number for later. He charged me only MYR10 and not the original price of MYR15! I think he liked having a chatty customer!
The ticket office at the park wasn’t open. The cleaner was there but the ticket lady didn’t turn up till 0815. I got my ticket and left my bag (clothes, toiletries etc) with her.
I teamed up with Naomi from the French Embassy in KL to explore the caves, starting with a boat ride (MYR1 pp each way) to the other side where we would start our explorations. It was a 35 minute walk on plankwalk through the jungle to the first cave, the Traders Cave where I had the rest of my rusk and milk.
The walk had gone quickly as we chatted non-stop except for a few brief moments to attempt observing some wildlife. There was plenty of mutual interest in what we were doing with our lives.
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- Walk to the first cave, Trader Cave.
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- Walk to the first cave, Trader Cave.
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- Impressive buttress root.
At Traders Cave, we saw remnants of the huts used by the birds nest collectors. It wasn’t a large cave and we moved on pretty quickly through an open jungle walk to the next cave, the Great Cave.
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- Trader Cave with remnants of huts used by birds nests collectors.
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- Trader Cave with remnants of huts used by birds nests collectors.
At the Great Cave, we saw the amazing bamboo poles which hung from the cave ceiling, used by the birds nest collectors. It was a large cave and other visitors in the distance looked like ants in comparison to the height of the cave.
It was Sarawak’s largest cave before the discovery of Mulu. Despite being smaller than Mulu, it is more significant in terms of human history. According to Wikipedia:
Items found at Niah Cave include Pleistocene chopping tools and flakes, Neolithic axes, adzes, pottery, shell jewellery, boats, mats, then iron tools and ceramics and glass beads dating to the Iron Age. The most famous find is the human skull dated at around 38,000 years BCE.
We walked up the staircase which led us through the mighty expanse of the cave and then to another open jungle walk.
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- Looking out from the main entrance of the Great Cave.
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- Penan people have the rights to harvest the swift nests attached to the ceiling of the caves by climbing up these long bamboo posts.
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- Penan people have the rights to harvest the swift nests attached to the ceiling of the caves by climbing up these long bamboo posts.
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- Penan people have the rights to harvest the swift nests attached to the ceiling of the caves by climbing up these long bamboo posts.
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- The Great Cave at Niah is the most cavernous of the three open to visitors. As a reference for the scale, look at the people on top of the stairs.
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- Inside the Great Cave.
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- Inside the Great Cave.
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- Inside the Great Cave.
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- Far end of the Great Cave.
Continuing from there, we reached the Painted Cave. Initially we were disappointed with seeing any paintings even when we reached the very far end. But on our return we noticed a fenced off area where the paintings could be viewed rather faintly.
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- The far end of the Great Cave exits into another garden of Eden which leads to the Painted Cave.
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- The far end of the Great Cave exits into another garden of Eden which leads to the Painted Cave.
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- The far end of the Great Cave exits into another garden of Eden which leads to the Painted Cave.
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- Rock garden.
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- Far end of the Painted Cave.
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- The green algae grows on the light-facing side of stones and cave walls.
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- Pre-historic cave paintings.
We headed back with a slightly different route through the Great Cave and noticed some torches in the distance that weren’t on the track. We guessed they were birds nest collectors.
All-in-all, we reached the Park HQ some 4h30 minutes after leaving. We were told that the 5km walk would take around 3h30 and normally such estimates are generous. Considering that we were neither rushing nor being very slow, it was a surprise to take an hour longer.
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- Langur high above us.
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- Bird’s nest ferns above us.
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- Roots growing on rocks.
I was also surprised that the park had no check-out procedures to ensure that people who had entered had left safely.
I rang up my driver from the morning to take Naomi and I to Batu Niah Junction. The cheerful man turned up. We chatted again and he suggested that we shouldn’t buy a ticket for the bus to Bintulu. He said that if we paid the driver directly it could be as little as MYR4 rather than MYR15.
Hopping off, we took MYR20 instead of the usual MYR40 fare! Then he hunted down the bus driver and we were charged only RM10 for the fare to Bintulu. Naomi slept most of the way, having started early in Bintulu. The 1h45 ride went quickly, with views of the Pan-Borneo Highway constructions and some modern concrete longhouses which are more like terrace houses.