Gunung Mulu
National Park, Sarawak, Borneo
#To start with Borneo is a
pretty special place. It is the third largest Island in the
world, that and the fact that its climate and forest
habitat has remained unchanged for millions of years makes
it a showplace for the wonders of evolution. Remember,
North America has only had only 10,000 years since the last
major climate change. Gunung Mulu is Sarawak's largest
national park at about 130,000 acres. It is said to be home
to 1500 species of flowering plants, 10 species of
ant-eating pitcher plants. At the center of the park is a
range of limestone mountains, with beautiful clear
free-flowing rivers meandering through tropical rain
forests. The monsoon rains have eroded huge caves home to
many millions of bats. This is the region we visited on a
trip in 1997.
We
took an outboard motor boat up through the rapids of the
Melinau River to a point where we could hike along a
boardwalk through a flooded wetland forest up to the Deer
Cave. Along our path we saw multitudes of new insects that
we'd never seen before. The cave was immense with many
spectacular rooms and features. Outside the cave we waited
until the first signs of evening and the exit of more than
a million bats into this insect-filled forest and
wetlands.
Out
they came, from every passageway in the cave, in long
spiraling clouds of brown. As the darkness fell, we walked
home through the forest. The bats flew around us and
between us as the tree-frogs called to each other with an
amazing din. They were close enough to feel the wind from
their wings, it was comforting to know that they only
wanted to eat the insects. It was a spectacular
introduction to an amazing part of the natural
world.