Another of Borneo's high mountains is protected as a National Park. Gunung Mulu National Park lies to the south of Mount Kinabalu in Sarawak. This incomparable Park protects Mount Mulu, two other large mountains of limestone, several jungle rivers and diverse forested lowlands and tropical swamps. Gunung Mulu is Sarawak's largest national park and is one of the most spectacular parks in all of Asia. Mulu was set aside because of its incredible biological diversity. For example, the Park contains five different types of tropical forests, including montane forests, limestone forests, kerangas forests (on unusual soils) and spectacular lowland dipterocarp forest. The diversity of trees in those forests is very high. One hectare (2.2 acres) was found to have 800 species, more than all of North America combined!

One of the Parks most impressive features are the Pinnacles at the north end of Gunung Api near Camp Five and the Melianau River. These knife-like limestone formations rise more than 50 meters (150 feet) to tower over the jungle like the ramparts of a ruined castle. The two limestone mountains, Gunung Benerat and Gunung Api, are part on the Melinau limestone formation. (see photo at left)

To the north of the Park lies the third limestone mountain formed within the Melinau limestone, Gunung Buda, home of the 2000 Gunung Buda Expedition and the Gunung Buda Project. Both of the two limestone mountains in the Park contain many large caves, but the southern most and largest of the two, Gunung Api, holds the record breakers. This includes the world's tenth longest cave, Clearwater, with more than 70 miles of surveyed passage (see photo at right).Nearby, in Good Luck Cave, is the Sarawak Chamber, the largest enclosed space on the Earth. This gigantic cave room is approximately a half-mile long and a quarter mile wide (800 meters by 400 meters). Also in the same section of the Park is Deer Cave, which includes the largest cave passage in the world. That passage is 700 feet (230 meters) tall and 500 feet ( 170 meterst) wide! (see photo below left) The cave has two huge entrances that allow light to penetrate deep underground and is home to millions of bats from 12 different species. Each evening a grand bat flight lasting up to one hour delights visitors to the Park.

These wonderful caves of Gunung Api were largely explored by British caving groups, with help from the Malaysian government and local people who acted as guides and jungle experts. This work began in 1976 but intensified in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Recent expeditions to this area continue to discover significant new caves and extensions to known caves systems. As well as big caves, the exploration teams found large underground river systems and lots of wildlife. This included several species of birds that live deep underground, many types of bats, crabs, large centipedes, spiders and many other animals.

The British were the first to visit Gunung Buda looking for caves. They spent four days there in 1984 and found a number of caves. However, these caves had much smaller passages compared to the caves of Gunung Api. For more information on Gunung Buda see these web sites:

http://ftp.wcmc.org.uk/protected_areas/data/sample/0522v.htm

http://tourism.gov.my/nationalpark/mulu.html

http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v12n4-4.html

Common animals around Gunung Buda include the ubiquitous wild pigs (Sus barbatus), which are the favorite food of the local Tabuan people. Another jungle animal utilized by Borneans are large Sambar Deer (Cervus unicolor). These have been seen by expedition participants on several occasions. Most of our monkey sightings have been of Maroon Langurs (Presbytis rubicunda) These orange-furred monkeys look like miniature Orang-utans, though they are not close relatives of the great apes. Orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) have not been seen near Buda, but another ape, the Bornean Gibbon (Hylobates muelleri) has been seen in the area on a few occasions. Another rare primate was seen by a group of cavers returning home at night after a long trip underground. The group saw a Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang). These beautiful small animals have big dark eyes. They are from a group of primates known as pro-simians. They are not monkeys, but rather are related to older forms of primates that evolved before monkeys. For information and a photo of a Slow Loris see this Duke University web page, http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/slowlor.html

The birds at Gunung Buda are a delight to watch and many expedition members spend time in the early morning with binoculars in hand watching for birds. One of the most entertaining is the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus). When these black-colored birds are flying it looks as if they are being chased by big black bugs flying just a foot behind the drongo's tail. Actually the black bugs are the birds tail feathers, which go from a narrow, almost invisible shafts to a big round dark feather at the end.

Another beautiful bird found at Gunung Buda and across eastern Asia is the Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi). The male flycatchers have crested black heads, white bodies and meter-long white tail feathers. These birds prefer areas near jungle streams and are a delight to see and watch. Hornbills are frequent companions at Buda. Usually they are seen flying high over the jungle in groups of one to five birds. They are very loud flyers, and we are often aware of their presence even though we cannot see the birds through the thick canopy of the trees overhead. Species seen at Buda include Rhinoceros Hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), the Wreathed Hornbill (Aceros undulatus), and the Asian Black Hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus)

Walking the logging road back to camp at night provides Gunung Buda Project cavers a chance to see wildlife crossing the road. Snakes have been seen many times. Their bright colors and a surprising variety of shapes and sizes makes them interesting to watch. About 175 species occur in Borneo, and 50 of these are poisonous though only a few species pose any danger to people. One of that is dangerous is the Wagler's Pit Viper, related to rattlesnakes in North America. These short snakes are beautifully colored with several shades of green. They seem to prefer low bushes and rocky outcrops. These same areas are also frequented by cavers, and several of these snakes have taken cavers by surprise. Two species of cobra also occur in Borneo. These large snakes are rare and very poisonous, but would never attack a person unless provoked.

On most days only a few animals were seen by members of the Gunung Buda Project on their way to and from the caves. Why? Many animals are active at night, when cavers are sound asleep. Also, many of the animals in rainforests live in the trees far overhead and thus can be hard to see. But every day we do see beautiful new flowers, strangely different seeds or big, brightly-colored insects. These sightings kept us patient in our visual quest for monkeys, pigs, snakes or even rarer wildlife.

Sounds are an important part of the jungle experience. We awake in the morning and fall asleep at night to the sounds of animals in the trees above us. Frogs sing out "what, what, what, what, what" from ponds along the road to camp. Large tropical locusts make a variety of very loud screeching sounds. On the 1997 Gunung Buda Expedition the songs of the locusts reminded us of Skillsaws, imagined nuclear power plant warning sirens, coffee grinders, and chainsaws. Also overhead is the constant "tuk, took, tuk, tuk, tuk" of barbets. These bright green birds with many different head colorings and hide in the trees overhead and are rarely seen, but always heard.

This Bornean profusion of life is possible because of the prevalence of water. Water in the caves, the rivers and lakes; water in hollows in trees, clinging to jungle vegetation and in the drenched hair of people and the matted fur of other animals. But most noticeable is the rain. Most mornings at Buda base camp are sunny and clear. But by mid-afternoon clouds begin to build. Towering thunderheads form as the day progresses. Often by three in the afternoon tremendous downbursts overtake camp. Sometimes the rain fades as the evening begins, but on other nights it rains for hours. Hard, steady rain pours out of the sky. Beneath the tarps at camp we have to yell to talk to each other as the rain pounds the thin plastic, which tries to keep us and all our expensive equipment dry. Bright flashes of lightning and tremendous claps of thunder liven up camp. Often we head off to bed at the end of another great day at Gunung Buda with the rain to sing us to sleep.

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