Sunday, July 25, 2010

Big caves in Borneo

Another quick post to let everyone know that we made it into and out of Mulu and it's stunning caves. The trip ended up being a bit (ok a ton [to me]) more expensive than I had expected, but forgetting that it was really fantastic! Deer cave is the biggest thing (not just cave) I have ever seen and a couple of the other caves were packed with some stunning formations. Deer cave was also cool because of the Abe Lincoln profile (wait for my pics) as well as the Garden of Eden. I enjoyed Lagang cave largely because it was much less touristy than the others and we needed flashlights to actually see anything, and the formations we did see were some of the best I've ever seen. The cave was also cool because you could really see how it was formed (melting limetstone and flowing water).
I've done a fair amount of caving elsewhere so some of the novelty had worn off, but then again it made me appreciate how amazing some of the sights within the caves were too. The novelty had also warn off on some of the jungle trekking, but it was pretty fun to see mom see it all for the first time. I was a bit disappointed with the rangers there though as they seemed mostly interested in rushing us along. For instance, on the night hike we did, I found the vast majority of the 'wildlife' we found (mostly insects). Oh well, we jut didn't pay for it!
The bat exodus was a also a great experience. We ended up having to go two nights, but it was worth it I thought as I had never seen anything like that. Literally million upon millions of bats come out of Deer cave, but they don't come out all at once, instead coming out in groups and the circling waiting until they hit some sort of critical number and a bunch of them leave. That's when it gets really cool because this huge mass of bats comes up and is literally a pulsating, twisting/turning ribbon of bats. Definitely a unique experience!

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