East Timor and Indonesia : Mulu Day 2: Canopy Walk

We started the day with a canopy walk. The brochure says it's the world’s longest tree-to-tree canopy walk, and I believe it.

The route was a large U shape, over some creeks and a river, and near some cliffs. The whole time, we were in moderately dense canopy. Even crossing the river, it didn't feel open or exposed.

The walk was two planks wide; maybe 10 inches/15 centimetres. The railing was mesh, about chest high, with two more strings of wire on top of that, each about a foot apart. Only two people are allowed on a bridge at any one time, and a maximum of six people on a platform. Needless to say, our eight person group was strung far apart.

Many platform trees (the ones from which the bridges were suspended) had signs identifying them, but the names were all so unfamiliar that I dint recall any of them.

Ashling, our guide, pointed out lizards as she spotted them. The other wildlife stayed far away from us. However, the flora was amazing and diverse. Lots of broad leafed trees. Some palm; some banana. One sign talked about a tree that blooms one day a year. That day is not consistent. Ashling was not sure of its trigger. So it's a joy and a surprise when it happens.

Also on this tour was an Australian family (father, mother, teenaged son and daughter) and young American man spending 18 months travelling around Asia. We had seen the Australian family at Bako and the orangutan place. Next, they are going on the headhunter trail hike, so we might see them at Camp 6, where our itineraries overlap.

In the afternoon, we met Ocean (pronounced O'Sheen), Ashling’s brother and our guide for the next three days. Today, our destination was the Deer Cave followed by the Lang Cave.

The Deer Cave entrance is more than 100 meters high, and we went 800 meters in. It got its name from the deer that used to go into the cave to eat bat guano. There are more than 3 million bats living in the cave, or that was the estimate at the last census in the 1990s. There are at least 52 species of bats, a dozen of which were identified by Ashling's and Ocean’s mother. She’s a researcher from Ireland who came here to study, and met their father, a local guide.

The Deer Cave was astounding for more than its size, although that alone is remarkable. There are boulders bigger than an average garden shed that have tumbled down from the roof. Stalagmites and stalactites line the sides, various caverns within the cave and are sometimes found further towards the centre. Three rivers come out of the cave, and there’s a lot of moisture that drips within. There was one column of water that was easily falling 150 meters straight down.

Further inside the cave, there are two “shower heads”, rock formations that are a couple of meters deep that emit water in the same way as a fancy rainshower bathroom shower head. Only there’s no shut off valve or temperature control.

With that many bats in the cave, even with its enormous size, the ammonia smell from the guano is quite overpowering. In the gully of the walkway, I was wishing for a lavender sachet, or something to neutralize the vapours. It's not bad enough to skip the cave. It's just bad enough to remind you that nature has its own ecosystems, and Disney Imagineers don't copy that particular quality.

We were mostly alone on the Deer Cave, something that would not be possible in April, July, August or September. These months are the high season. Christmas is definitely the low season, and the time to visit if you want to see the sights more than other people.

As we were on our way out, two tour groups were on their way in. It gave us a chance to look across, and see how tint they looked.

Our next stop was the Lang Cave, named after Ocean and Ashling's grandfather. He was guiding an expedition of researchers into the Deer Cave in 1977, and was looking about when they were doing their work, and happened on this smaller cave nearby. Smaller is a relative term. No, you can't land a 747 jet in the Lang Cave, but you could still fit 1000 people in comfortably. The path into this cave is only 200 meters, although the path twists and turns so that the entrance is obscured and the sense of space is escalated.

Here we saw curtain stalactites, sheets of rock forming as the water drips slowly down. There were also jellyfish formations, with a solid head and hundreds of rivulets forming strands of rock. There was one stalagmite that looked like a giant pine cone and another that resembled a frothy Christmas tree.

The Lang Cave brought us closer to the rock formations. The Deer Cave provided spectacle. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

And now for some pictures

On the way to the start of the canopy walk.