Mulu & Niah Caves

With its rich biodiversity, and world-famous caves, Gunung Mulu National Park offers a fascinating cave and rainforest experience. Combinable with a visit to the Niah Caves, the park includes one of the world’s largest and most spectacular cave complexes.

• Learn about the stalagmites, stalactites, and other cave phenomena
• See some of the world’s most spectacular cave environments
• Travel by traditional boat to a local village
• Watch as millions of bats form a living tornado as they spiral out of the cave

Still only partly explored, the five principal Mulu caves are estimated to be at least five million years old. Deer Cave is not only the world’s largest cave currently open to tourists, but it is also home to a spectacular colony of over 2 million bats, which is not only rather smelly, but also truly spectacular when you see them swarming out en masse at dusk in search of food. Wind Cave is equally impressive on account of its chambers filled with amazing stalagmites and stalactites.

The rainforest in the park is also home to an abundance of flora and fauna, including many primate and bird species as well as over 8,000 types of plant and trees and there are some lovely short hikes or longer overnight treks available in the park.

Located to the south of Miri, the Niah National Park is home to the Niah Caves, one of Sarawak’s most impressive natural features.

At its heart is the Great Cave, which is one of the largest caves in the world and is famed for the swiftlets that nest here in huge numbers. It is the nests of these little birds that are the key ingredient in birds-nest soup and the collectors’ bamboo scaffolding can be seen wedged against the cave roof. The caves are also a great place to see some fascinating rock paintings where human habitation dates back over 40,000 years and also large numbers of bats as they swarm out at dusk.