Sarawak en Sabah

© Dirk Deckx (1995)

4. BATU NIAH - PANGKALAN LUBANG

It's no use searching for accommodation in the boring village of Batu Niah. Better is to go straight to Pangkalan Lubang to the National Park's headquarters. The most spectacular way to reach the park is by motorboat. You can find boats at the riverside only a few minutes away from the bus terminal. The boat costs 10 RM, no matter how many people are on it and the owner never argues about the price. Possibly there are more foreigners to share the boat with. The trip is an exciting first experience in the middle of the lush vegetation of the dense Sarawak rainforest. It's a pity it only takes about 15 minutes.

The Visitor's Hostel in the Park's headquarters is completely renovated since November '94 and we are totally overwhelmed. The bungalows look like a four star hotel. They are fit up cozy, perfectly clean, well kept, shining bathrooms with white tiled floor en -walls, hot and cold water, big fan against the ceiling and very spacious rooms with four beds.
One bed costs 10 RM and it's possible to buy all beds (4) in a room if you like privacy (4O RM).

To visit the caves (why are you here anyway ?) you have to arrange a permit at the counter of the headquarters' building. It costs 3 RM per person. For every camera you have to pay an extra 5 RM. Many travelers only come here for a blitz visit to the caves and leave the park the same day. This is really crazy because it's worth to stay here a day or two. There are several alternative trekking possibilities outside the caves.
One of these alternatives is a visit to the "Iban longhouse" via the plank walk at the other side of the river. To cross this river, you just have to shout to the small restaurant at the other side and immediately someone will come over to pick you up with his boat. This crossing takes only a few seconds and costs not more than 50 Sen (0.5 RM). It's not a good idea to swim here because strong currents occur and crocodiles also may spoil your swim, although we never spotted one. The restaurant at the opposite bank is the only possibility to find some food and drinks because at the moment (95) there are no facilities in the Visitor's Hostel. (It might be different right now).
Once you reached the other side it's easy to find the 'plank walk', it's a wooden construction about three feet above the ground and it's specially made for tourists who don't like dirty shoes. The path crosses a beautiful piece of primary forest straight to the Niah Caves. At the junction you have to go left to visit the Iban longhouse, if you follow the right path, you'll enter the caves.

Humidity in the forest is tough, especially when your body is not yet adjusted to the climate. But everyone can do it without to many problems. The jungle sounds great here ! Many giant butterflies, insects and birds may cross your road if you show some patience and of course respect the silence.
A giant longhouse grabs our attention and before we know we are surrounded by even bunch if giggling village children. It's clear that these Ibans are quite modernized when they show us some mountain bikes. We meet a nice guy, called Alex, who invites us in his house to say hello to his huge family. We sit on the ground and a big bottle of Tuak wine is placed in front of us. The wine tastes great and slowly we reach our maximum temperature.
Alex tells us that the village is inhabited by about 1.000 Ibans. He's working for the government as a park keeper in the caves. His job is to watch the pollution caused by irresponsible tourists who decide to leave their garbage in the caves, especially Chinese and Japanese he says.
Alex just continues talking about politics, family, traditions, etc...etc... He even invites us to spend the night at his place. Unfortunately our stuff is still in the bungalow so we have to return. It's getting dark frightening fast. We decide to wear our long pants as a protection against bad mooded mosquitoes. Miraculously the feared insects don't show up at all. Even if we use our torches they don't bother us. It's dark as ink and it makes it even more exciting, the amount of decibels that's produced between the trees is can't be explained in ordinary words. Once our eyes are adjusted to the dark we notice the tiny white fluorescent mushrooms under the plank walk. In combination with the fireflies we are offered a hallucinating show. A night walk in this area should be an unforgettable experience for nature lovers.
After the walk we buy ourselves a great nasi goreng special (3 RM) and a large ice-cold beer in the restaurant.

Another alternative trek is the so called "Madu Trail", a trip that, according to the signboard, should take about 1.5 hour. You better don't take this too seriously. The 'walk' soon turns into a meeting with hell. The trail through the bush is almost inaccessible at several places because of deep mud pools. Thick tropical vegetation prevents us from walking around. The combination of mud, extreme humidity and heat are not very stimulating to our mental condition. Of course, the mosquitoes are present here, hundreds of them. Other animals don't show up at all.
There's really nothing worth seeing on this trail. Don't even consider it when it has been raining.

In the late afternoon we start our trip to the caves. They belong to the biggest ones in the world and are inhabited by millions of bats and swallows. These birds build their nests high in the ceilings, sometimes even 100 ft above the ground. These nests are very much wanted by the Chinese for their bird nest soup and ridiculous amounts of money are spent on it.
Suddenly we run across Alex and he's willing to accompany us. We learn that there are three kinds of bird nests: white, red and yellow ones. For the white ones, the most expensive, people pay up to 1.500 RM per kilo. In order to get the nests one has to build shaky bamboo staging or alternatively some just use a rope to climb all the way up. Every now and then these daring activities demand their victims.
One of the most interesting caves, the "Painted Cave", is temporarily closed because of renovations. In here you can see 1.000 years old paintings and small wooden canoes which were used as coffins. This cave was once a cemetery.

On the way to Bario :

Back in Miri we hop on the plane to Bario. We already booked this flight in Belgium. Check-inn is slightly different, every passenger, including his hand luggage, has to stand on the scale. Maximum luggage weight should not be more than 10 kg and every kg above this maximum theoretically costs 5 RM. Nevertheless my stuff is about 20 kg heavy and I didn't have to pay extra, except 5 RM on taxes.

The Malaysia Airlines Twin Otter is made for 18 passengers en is on schedule. Once in the air the gigantic dimensions of the green lung below penetrate our brains. A giant green carpet with here and there glittering rivers or waterfalls. Soon we're above the Kelabit Highlands preparing for landing in Bario.