Extending 480 meters, Mulu National Park’s rainforest canopy trail is claimed to be the world’s longest.  The trail is a series of rope and wood bridges suspended among a number of treehouse-like platforms built about 20 meters above the forest floor.  From the trail,  all of the layers of the primary rainforest are visible.  It’s an enjoyable, low-impact way to see the rainforest from a different perspective.

Warning: the mildly acrophobic may feel an oddly (un)pleasant tingly feeling in the ass region when looking down from the trail.

magical floating, glowing bird's nest fern (edible)

looking up at the canopy from the canopy trail

tip: if the butt tingling gets out of control, pause for a second, grip the rope, and stop looking down!

Mulu National Park is located on Borneo island in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Sadly, it is a tiny oasis engulfed by a deforested wasteland.  According to the  Sarawak Forestry agency, Mulu National Park covers about 60,000 hectares (about 10 times the size of Manhattan).  A recent satellite imaging study concluded that over 177,000 hectares (about 30 Manhattans) of Sarawak forest were levelled in a single year in 2010.

This Google maps satellite image shows Mulu National Park, the dark green area around the “A” marker, surrounded by lighter green deforested areas scarred with worm-like logging roads.  Note that almost all of Brunei’s land area is still dark green, covered with primary forests.

Some estimate that 85% of Sarawak is deforested.  One of the Earth’s most valuable banks of biodiversity, accruing interest for countless millennia, has been erased from existence by the hand of man in a mere 30 years.

after the land is stripped bare, it is planted with row after row of monoculture. i surmise that this enormous plantation (seen from an airplane) grows palm oil palms, Malaysia's main cash crop