Niah Caves
Today was another early day as we were hitting the
Niah Caves for a quick day trip. The caves are a few hours away so we had to get a car to drive us out there, leaving around 8:30am. The trek was pretty easy, since even though it was dense jungle there was a clear path and was only about 8km round trip. The first cave we came to was the traders cave which in the mid 20th century was where locals would come to collect bat guano and nests to sell along trading routes. This cave wasn't too spectacular so we moved along to the Great Cave, which covers 10 hectares and is over 75 meters tall from top to bottom. Human remains dating back to 40,000 years ago have been excavated here, making for the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. It was a fun hike through the Great Cave with flashlights in hand as it was very dark inside. At one point we turned off our flashlights and it was pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand that was right in front of me! It was about a 30 minute hike through the cave in total darkness if it wasn't for the flashlights. From there we went on to the Painted Cave which has rock painting dating back 1,200 years ago (although as you can imagine they were quite faded).
We returned to Miri after visiting the Niah Caves and prepared for our flight the next day to Kota Kinabalu.
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| Traders' Cave |
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| Inside the Great Cave |
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| Stairs to nowhere |
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| Rock art |
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| Inside Great Cave |
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