| The next
morning, the long boats took us on a 45-minute
ride on the Melinau River from the Guest
House to a pier where we walked 2 miles
along a boardwalk and paved trail, avoiding
leeches, through the rainforest to Deer
Cave. Along the trail, it is possible to
spot giant walking-stick insects (Pharnacia
sp.), the longest
insects in the world. Female specimens
of Pharnacia serratipes from Western Malaysia
and Pharnacia kirbyi from Borneo are the
longest insects in the world, 555
mm (nearly 22 inches) and 548
mm, respectively, with their legs outstretched.
Deer Cave is the largest cave passage known
to man, over a mile in length and up to
300 ft high. The main chamber, which is
partially sunlit, is 600 ft (174 m) wide
and 400 ft (122 m) high. Deer Cave penetrates
a mountain with two huge entrances at each
end. Approaching the southern entrance,
I was overwhelmed by a sight that reminded
me of the dragon's lair in J.R.R. Tolkien's
'The Hobbit'. A ten-foot wide stream flows
from the entrance. Inside the cave, I looked
back at the entrance where shafts of light
illuminated a 360-foot waterfall falling
from the roof. The awesome dimensions of
the cavern dwarfed humans who resembled
ants scurrying across the cave entrance.
Each day, three tons of guano falls to the
cave floor providing an energy source for
other cave inhabitants. A mist of ammonia
from the breakdown of proteins hangs over
the guano. The surface of the guano is alive,
a seething carpet of six inch centipedes,
earwigs, spiders, giant crickets, cockroaches,
flies, beetles, and tailless whip scorpions.
The odor and the sight of 2,000-3,000 cockroaches
per square meter is not for the faint-hearted.
The cave is warm, about 78°F, and humid.
We followed a paved illuminated walkway.
There was a scream from the rear of our
procession and I scurried back to see a
cave racer (Elaphe taeniura), the only snake
adapted to spend its entire life in a cave.
Even the railings had a coating of guano.
But the members of our group were prepared
for each of us wore our white formal gloves.
In back of me, I heard a chorus from Marie
and the other ladies of "I'm puttin' on
my top hat, Tyin' up my white tie, Brushin'
off my tails." About a mile into the cave,
the walkway ends at a viewing platform near
the northern entrance of the chamber. Here
you can see the Garden of Eden just outside
the entrance, a mile-wide circular sinkhole
formed from the collapse of the roof thousands
of years ago where lush vegetation thrives.
Near the Garden of Eden is a 60 meter high
shower falling from the roof. Upon leaving
the cave, we walked 100 meters to the bat
observation platform. Puddles of water attracted
the magnificent Rajah
Brooke's Birdwing (Troides brookiana)
with black iridescent wings, seven luminous
green triangles on each forewing, and broad
green bands on the hindwings. Between 5pm
and 7pm, sinuous clouds of up to 1.8
million free-tail or wrinkle-lipped bats
(Chaerephon plicata, formerly Tadarida plicata)
and other bat
species pour out of the cave entrance traveling
as much as 20-30
miles to feed on insects, nectar, and fruit.
The wrinkle-lipped bats consume 10
to 20 tons of insects per night. Some
evenings, no bats come out. As the bats
leave, the swiftlets return after spending
the day feeding on insects above the canopy.
For more information on the flora and fauna
of Mulu National Park, take a look at Borneo
Lowland Rain Forests, Forest
Department Sarawak, Gunung
Mulu Expedition, Magic
of Mulu, MuluPark.com,
and UNEP-WCMC
Information Sheet. |
