Biodiversity, an absolute good. Â Maybe I am religious, after all.
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Mulu National Park, Malaysia – is nomadic hunting-gathering in our future?
the mouth of deer cave contains a forest
Note: Please read this previous post for information about rampant deforestation in Sarawak.
Mulu National Park is in Sarawak State on Borneo Island. Â It’s well known for its breathtakingly gigantic limestone caves, of which Deer Cave is in competition for the largest cave passage in the world. Â If you’ve seen BBC’s epic nature documentary Planet Earth, you may remember a scene showing millions of bats streaming out of an enormous cave in a seemingly endless ribbon. Â I was there!
World’s Longest Rainforest Canopy Walk
Extending 480 meters, Mulu National Park’s rainforest canopy trail is claimed to be the world’s longest. Â 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. Â From the trail, Â all of the layers of the primary rainforest are visible. Â 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.
Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia
Mount Kinabalu, the highest point in Malaysia, is located on Borneo Island, the mystical land of headhunters. Â Unfortunately, we spent only two days there because our time was limited and we also wanted to check out Mulu National Park. Â As a result, I didn’t have a chance to investigate the area’s environmental problems, but I can say that I was happy with the management of the Mount Kinabalu climb.
The permitting system is very strict. Â Only 146 permits are issued each day to prevent overcrowding and limit impact on the park’s environment. Â Hikers are required to spend a night at the hostel at Laban Rata, located several kilometers below the peak, before waking up really early to scramble up the peak in the dark. Â The number of beds at the hostel is also set at 146.
Permits are checked at the entrance to the trail and at a another checkpoint near the peak, and from what I saw, it would have been difficult to sneak past either spot.
Finally, one guide must be hired for every six hikers. Â This is a great way to bring money to the local people, and contributes positively to the safety and educational value of the hike.
The trade-off is that the cost is quite high, but I think it’s well worth the experience, and in the long run these measures are necessary to protect this beautiful place.
As I alluded to in the previous post, I was more impressed by the journey than the view at the top. Â Maybe I’m getting over my lifelong obsession with goals and targets and gradually learning to live in the present, starting to enjoy the weird phenomenon of just being alive.
That said, the area near the peak was also cool. Â For some reason, the texture of the granite reminded me of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Â In the picture above, you can see part of the rope that hikers grip in the dark as they struggle up the slippery stone.
Mosses of Kinabalu
At 4,095 meters, Mount Kinabalu’s ironically named Low’s Peak is the highest point in Malaysia. Though the views from the top and the granite surface surrounding the peak are amazing, I was most fascinated by the diversity of mosses growing along the trail. This collage is a mere sampling of Kinabalu’s moss species. Apologies, a couple of lichens may have sneaked in.
Can you pick out the world’s largest moss, Dawsonia superba?
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