The Mulu National Park located on the island of Borneo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although famous for its world beating cave systems and large colonies of bats, the Park also has an abundance of flora and fauna in various forest types interspersed amongst limestone outcrops and karst formations. One easy walk is along the Sungai Paku (Paku River) Trail that leads to the Deer Cave. Here are some of the things you might see along the 90 minutes walk. At the end of the walk, there is a staging area where you can watch millions of bats take off in the early evening on their nightly food hunt but that is material for a different post. Hope you enjoy the current photos (All photos by LGS).
-
- Paku River
-
- Large Forest Tree Beside Trail
-
- Bertam Palm – Deadly Weapon
-
- Bright Colored Millipede
-
- Lizard
-
- Stick Insect
-
- Red Stink Bug
-
- Caterpillar
-
- Another Caterpillar – watch out for hair (irritant)
-
- The Forest
-
- Small Stream
-
- Jungle flowers
-
- More flowers
-
- Another Stick Insect
Is there any poachingor anything like that goingon there? Just curious about the need for the assault rifle.
Beautiful sights,with danger all around? Danger unknown but scarey when nature can do damage. Thank you for the pictures.
Gorgeous photos! I would not want to wake up and find that millipede on my pillow.
what treasures! I love that millipede! (and thanks for the caterpillars)
Mark,
That isn’t an assault rifle. Look closely or click on image to get a better view but it is just a walkie-talkie. We do have poachers with assault rifles in some of our protected areas but not in Mulu as it is just much more inaccessible by comparison with other locations. There is no road to Mulu. Most people fly in. Otherwise it is a two day journey by boat and maybe a 3 day walk through the jungle.
Joyce
Actually, Malaysian forests especially in Borneo are probably one of the safest equatorial rainforests around. There are no man-eating big cats like tigers there. We have some poisonous snakes but snake bites are rare. Our headhunting indigenous tribes swear they have stopped chopping off people’s heads. The most dangerous things are probably crocodiles in the coastal estuaries and sometimes along the rivers and the wild boars.
Riot Kitty,
Agreed that it would be a bit of a shock to wake up to that creature on one’s pillow but in fact, millipedes are harmless. However, the larger centipede which has far fewer legs has a nasty venomous bite. The millipede’s bright color in this case, warns predators that it is nasty to eat.
kat,
Very welcome. Don’t suppose you knew what those caterpillars were?
Wow awesome, I would like to try it.
Lisa,
It’s not that far away for you.