Journey to the fire mountain of Borneo (Mulu Trip)

[kuching]

There are so many insects that I never seen before. Too bad I didn't have much time to photograph each of them as I need to keep up with my team & our guide. Below are some pictures of the insects taken on day one.


Bug.





No idea what bug is this.





The rare lantern bug. Never seen it before!





Froghopper.





Another species of froghopper.





The common lantern bug, Pyrops intricata.

[kuching]

Dragonfly.




The largest stick insect in the world,Phoebaticus serratipes. It can reach 30cm in length!!!





Close-up




Looks like a stick!





....to be continued.

[celticfish]

Breathless!!!
More pleaseeee!!!!

[kuching]

Breathless!!!
More pleaseeee!!!!

Thanks Celticfish.

[Ian Lim]

Really envy you for a great trip, escaping from all the hectic city life with smoke and dust. The photo shots are clear and sharp from a Pro, show us more Bro.

[kuching]

Really envy you for a great trip, escaping from all the hectic city life with smoke and dust. The photo shots are clear and sharp from a Pro, show us more Bro.

Thanks Ian.

[kuching]

There are so many species of wild orchids in Mulu. Some shots of orchids from Day 1 to day 4 in Mulu:

The slipper orchid which grows on the tree, Paphiopedilum lowii.








The most famous & exotic slipper orchid of Borneo, Paphiopedilum sanderianum. Too bad it is not flowering! The flower is very beautiful, check out the link below:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...num=1&ct=title

Paphiopedilum sanderianum grow on the limestone cliff:





Plocoglottis borneensis




The inflorescence of Plocoglottis borneensis

[kuching]

Habenaria lobbii







Liparis sp.





Calanthe gibbsiae ??




Inflorescence of Calanthe gibbsiae ??

[kuching]

Unidentified species of orchid.




Unidentified species of orchid. Probably Eria ??







..... to be continued.

[kuching]

On the 2nd day in Mulu, we took a long boat to visit a Penan settlement near the park.









A Penan boy:





Brother & sister (left):





Take note that Penan people do not build longhouse. Their jungle hut in the jungle is very small & simple. The longhouse is built by the Govt. for tourism purpose. They are the jungle people....but in modern day, they are "invited" to live in the outside world so that those logging companies can chop down the trees in their land.






Penan is the nomads of Borneo. If you want to know more about this tribe, please check out this link:

http://www.rimba.com/spc/spcpenanmain1.html

Below are some pix taken at their market:

[kuching]

Panan's dog.




A Penan market (selling souvenir for tourists):





Things are expensive here because of the tourists.










Bags.

[kuching]

After that, we took the long boat to visit Wind cave & clearwater cave.


Inside Wind cave:




Our handsome guide, Johnny (in the center):




The roof collapsed.....









King's chamber, the most beautiful cave's chamber I ever visited in my life!

[kuching]

Inside the King's chamber is a true wonder of nature!








The walk-way







Flowstone formation

.

[kuching]

Moon milk is caused by bacterial actions which are capable of breaking down stone to form this semi-liquid "milk".








.... to be continued.

[kuching]

En route to clearwater cave....




Walking on the walkway next to Sungai Melinau.





The walkway.





The jetty.





The giant aroid, Alocasia sp.





The river is full of fish....some of them are unknown species to me! Too bad I don't have a waterproof camera to shoot them in the water!

[kuching]

Most of the fish of Sungai Melinau are Cyprinids. Here is the name list of some of those fish which can be found there:

1) Barbodes balleroides
2) Barbodes collingwoodii
3) Cyclocheilichthys repasson
4) Cyclocheilichthys apogon
5) Diplocheilichthys pleurotaenia
6) Garra borneensis
7) Hampala bimaculata
Leptobarbus hosii

....and many more.







The exit point of subterranean river of clearwater cave.





Single-leaf plant, Monophyllaea sp.





Cave mouth









Clearwater cave is the longest subterranean river in south east Asia....it is more than 100km long!!! Inside the river has a lot of cave fish & other interesting cave fauna.....

[kuching]

clearwater cave.









There is so much of water dropping down from .....just like raining inside the cave.







Water temperature is very low & water is deep! Can't even spot a cave fish!






Cave mouth






group photo






Be back next week to continue to post my picture to climb the fire mountain of Borneo. Need to pack my things for tomorrow adventure (3 days) in the remote area of western Sarawak.


....to be continued.

[kuching]

On the 2nd day at Mulu, we took few hours to visit the caves in the southern part of Gunung Api. After that we went to Kuala Litut using the long boat.


En route to Kuala Litut





This is kuala Litut. From here, we need to hike 8.8km to camp 5 which is at the foothill of Gunung Api (fire mountain).





Suspension bridge





The trail is very easy to walk.....





Another bridge

[kuching]

That day, we walked very fast. We reached at Camp 5 about 2 hours later.


Sungai Melinau






Camp 5






Across the bridge is the headhunter trail. You can go to Limbang using this trail (11km)....





Gunung Benarat (limestone mountain, 1615m).

[kuching]

The limestone cliff








Taking dinner at Camp 5





Sleeping place.





.....to be continued.