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What to do

Before you enter the Park, you are required to pay the entrance fees and depending on what activities you are interested in, you can pay at the HQ office. At the Park HQ itself there are several activities:

1. The Canopy Skywalk

This was introduced in 2004 and they claim it to be the longest tree based Canopy Walk in the world at 480m long. To get to the canopy walk, you will be taking the same plankwalk towards the Deer and Lang Showcaves. It’s an easy walk to the turn-off to the canopy walk and will take approximately 25min. The Canopy Skywalk is a guided tour. Pre-bookings are required. Congregate at the HQ office and from there the guide will take you there and back. Just be careful with the items you bring along with you. Once you drop them, they’re lost forever in the dark forest floor below.

Time allocation: Approx. 2hrs.

Cost: RM30 per person

2. Night Walk

The night walk is also conducted along the same 3.5km plankwalk. Pre booking is also required, latest before noon each day. The walk is guided but bring along your own torchlight/headlamp, raincoat and hat. Meet at the Park HQ office at 6.45pm and the walk lasts about 1 ½ hrs – 2 hrs.

Cost: RM10 per person

3. Medicine Plant Walk or Plant for Life Walk

This can be a guided walk or you can follow the trail on your own as there are information boards along the way. However, taking a guide with you could be a good idea. Several of the guides are from the local Berawan or Penan villages. They know much more about the plants than what the boards can tell you. It’s a good insight into their way of life in Mulu.

Time allocation: 1hr.

Cost: RM5 per person.

4. Showcave : Lang’s Cave

Lang’s Cave is an easy 1 hr walk from the Park HQ. The plankwalk is 3.5km long so wear comfortable, non-slip shoes. Necessary items are raincoat/poncho, hat, torchlight/headlamp and a bottle of water. There is a small provisions shop at the end of the plankwalk, by the bat observation area selling bottled drinks and snacks.

Lang’s Cave is named after Lang ~ a tribal hunter who kept his find a secret from his fellow hunters for it was a good hunting ground for him with an abundance of wildboars. His secret was eventually revealed and word got around of this beautiful cave which the Royal Geographic Society documented in 1977. It’s a relatively small cave with pretty scallops lining the walls and beautiful stalagmite and stalactite formations. The walk is easy but a little slippery. Walking into Lang’s Cave is like walking into Santa’s Grotto. There’re all shapes and sizes like toy soldiers standing in a corner, a large spinning top propped up, a mini city skyline in the distance. What is called a Karst formation, the limestone is slowly dissolved by the action of water. This karst is normally found in limestone mountains. Caves such as Lang’s Cave are still growing. The constant streaming of water seeping through the faults along the ceilings and walls of the cave continues to build and reshape the cave. The only thing is, when I say that it’s a small cave, we Asians are fine. But for those taller than the average Asian woman, watch out for the overhangs. These Showcaves are well lit but all the same, try to stoop low otherwise you may end up with a few cuts on your forehead.

Time allocation: Approx. 1hr.

Entrance Fee: RM10 per person to be paid at the Park HQ office before leaving for the cave.

5. Showcave : DeerCave

Deer Cave is an absolute wonder. Ok, maybe one of the many wonders at Mulu. The gaping mouth yawns to a size of over 170m wide, whilst the arch of the roof rises to some 120m; and maintains a height of no less than 90m high all through the cave. A concrete pathway snakes through the ground level before leading visitors up a flight of stairs to the viewpoint…right next to the Adam and Eve shower. The Garden of Eden at the base level sprung up after a portion of the roof had fallen through.

For those looking for more at the cave, there’s the Garden of Eden Pools guided trip. It starts off from the Park HQ office between 12.00nn and 1.00pm. After the 1 ½ hr walk along the plankwalk and through the deer cave, visitors on this route are guided down to the underground river. This will lead visitors to the Garden of Eden and the Adam and Eve shower which means that it’s going to get wet and dirty. Along the pathway, visitors may be able to see glow worms littered in clusters here and there. These worms can only be found in the cave ecosystems. If you pick them up and hold them in your hands, the glow worms emit fluorescent goo. This is a defence mechanism to occupy the predator as it slowly tries to wiggle away from its grasp. Apart from the creepy crawlies found in the cave, it’s also home to some 2 million bats. With bats come guano or bat excrement and with that comes a whole cave ecosystem which includes insects that will send chills up your spine like cave scorpions and cockroaches that fill the floor, making it look like one seething, living black sea as the life forms move in unity to the invisible beat of the cave. In little rock pools, one can also find prawns and fish.
But having handled through all that, the reward is that you will be one of the few who gets to bathe under the natural 30metre shower and swim in a secluded mountain pool! 

Time allocation: Approx. 3 ½ hrs (9km) .

Fee: Garden of Eden Pools 1-5 persons RM200.00 and RM40.00 per additional person to a maximum of 12 people

1. Bat Observatory

The bat observatory is situated about 200m from the Deer and Langs Cave. This is the last stop for all visits to the caves. There is a small provisions shop here selling snacks and drinks at exorbitant prices, a public toilet and an information hall where visitors can red more about the inhabitants of the cave and the surrounding jungles.

The bat exodus is a truly spectacular sight. The bats start leaving the cave from 5pm till dark. Like smoke signals, the bats leave in batches, possibly in family clusters and not as assumed as mass. The clusters could number some 1,000s and head towards the same directions, into the jungle. The bats are voracious insect eaters and can devour up to 9 tonnes of insects in a sitting. These bats maintain the ecosystem of the jungle by keeping the balance intact. Imagine the jungle without these bats! Having said so, the bat exodus is a little unpredictable. During heavy downpours, these bats may choose not to leave the warmth of the cave and so it may be a good idea to stay more than 1 night in Mulu to view this once in a lifetime natural wonder.

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Accommodation and Packages to Mulu National Park

| Royal Mulu Resort | 4 Days 3 Nights Package Mulu and Pinnacles Climbing Package | 2 Days 1 Night Mulu Caves Package | 3 Days 2 Nights Mulu Caves Package |