Gunung Mulu - Day 3

After a fretful night's sleep I woke up at 5:30 am wondering how the day will pan out. Lucy, our guide, explained to us after dinner the previous night what to expect when walking up to view the pinnacles. Statistically speaking the pinnacles walk is only 2.4km long but it rises to a height of about 1,200m. In reality walking up the pinnacles path was like walking up Snowdon or Ben Nevis in a Swedish sauna, only it's a lot steeper! For the first 1000m or so the path angle is about 45°, shortly after this the steepness of the path angle increases to 60°, 80°, and finally about 90° in some places. The really steep bits were the last 400 odd metres or so and the climb is assisted by ropes and ladders.

Dad at the start of the walk.

So after breakfast we set off to conquer the pinnacles walk. In my group there was me and my dad, and a lovely dutch couple, Ronald and Mavis, along with Lucy of course. The first 200m were nice and flat before we encountered our first rope-assisted ascent (although got to admit I didn't think it really needed a rope). After that it was just sheer determination and strength of mind to keep placing one foot in front of the other. Now, I know this is not very lady-like to say but I have never sweated so much in my entire life! I just kept myself focused and made sure I kept a steady pace upwards. The checkpoint was half-way at 1,200m. If we didn't reach this checkpoint by 11am we would have to turn back as we would not have made it up to the top and back before dark. Luckily dad and I reached this point by about 8:45am or so. By now I had warmed up properly (my muscles that is) and felt quite strong and confident about the rest of the climb.

At the half-way mark.

 At the 2km mark the first of the ladders appeared. Got to say that this was easily my favourite bit. Most of this last section was essentially moderate to hard scrambling, if you didn't use the ropes that is. Being an avid climber I decided to use to minimise rope and ladder use. At 9:50am I finally reached the top and was greeted by the amazing view of the pinnacles. It took me 3 hours to climb to the top and as the average was 4 hours I felt I had done fairly well. Dad, on the other hand, took him about half hour more to reach the top because, wait for it, he had to sew his shoes back together! Yup, ya heard me right! Back in Miri, before we flew to Mulu, at the supermarket dad commented that he had to buy some glue for his shoes. OK, I thought, it's probably just a small bit that's come undone. Nope, practically the soles of both shoes were almost off. When we got to the resort in Miri dad realised that the glue did not hold on his shoes. So what does he do, he gets some of his kite surfing line and sews the soles together! You would think that he has no money to spend.

  

 Once we reached the top all I could do is stare and say wow! The pinnacles are spectacular. The pinnacles are a collection of approximately 45m high limestone needles that cling to the side of Gunung Api (Fire Mountain). They are formed by the erosion of surrounding ground leaving behind these hard limestone features. They were definitely worth the climb.




The Pinnacles.

 Posing for photos.

 

 The whole group.

Alas this is not the end of the story. Going up was tough, coming down was even tougher! It wasn't the first 400m, descending down the ladders that was tough. Nor was it the next 1000m, although it wasn't a walk in the park. Nope, it was the final 1000m that really did me in. The stairmaster has nothing on the pinnacle trek, it was hot, tedious, painful on the knees, and by the end of it I had the wobbliest legs around. When I got to the camp it took all my willpower not to just walk straight into the river and cool off, clothes, bag and all! However I'm still pleased to say it took me 3 hours to walk down when the average is again 4 hours. I must admit I was so pleased that not only where my fitness fears unfounded but I did much better than I thought I would. As for dad's shoes, they now have a final resting place at Camp 5!

Gunung Mulu - Day 2

We had an early start to the day as we were travelling up river by longboat to the start of the walk to Camp 5, visiting a couple caves and a settlement along the way. Camp 5 would be our base for the next couple of nights whilst we climbed the pinnacles.

The river levels were particularly low due to lack of rainfall - dry season is May to September. This meant that we had to get out of the boat and push at times, which was hard work! Although the river did cool you down quite a bit. For me, I just was happy to be on a boat in the jungle, feeling like some Victorian scientist/adventurer off to discover the dark depths of the jungle. OK, I have a vivid imagination! :-D

Views down the river from the boat.

 

First stop was to Batu Bungan Penan Settlement to observe the tribal lifestyle of the Penan community. The Penan tribe were traditionally nomadic, and some still are, but most of the 10,000-12,000 Penan now live in settled community whilst still relying on the forest for their existence. I must admit I did feel a bit uncomfortable walking through the settlement, after all this was their home being put up for show. However they did have a small market of homemade goods for sale where all the proceeds went directly to the person selling the goods, and after talking to our guide Lucy, I realised how dependent the Penan settlers are on this income. Also some of the items they made were spectacular. I sorely regret not buying a large reed mat as the quality of the workmanship was really good. Instead I bought a necklace made out of these seeds from a rainforest plant, which dry really hard and a lovely shade of gray, with the pendant-part being a large, split seed. According to tradition this necklace is put around babies as it was believed that babies are able to see the spirit world and thus the necklace protected them from the spirits.

One of the locals washing in the river.

After the settlement we carried on upriver to to Wind Cave and Clearwater Cave. Again, these caves were as wonderful as the previous ones. The rock formations were amazing, and walking through the caves made you feel like you were in a completely different world. Lots of photos below, couldn't resist...


This reminded me of a mushroom cloud.

Clearwater cave from the entrance.

Monophyllaea pendula (meaning single leaf) growing above Clearwater cave. This particular species is only found here at the cave entrance.

Inside either Clearwater Cave or Wind cave (can't quite remember which is which).

 Erosion of rock inside the cave caused by cyanobacteria.

The rock formation that gave Lady Cave its name.

Another shot inside either Clearwater or Wind cave. 

Once we finished the cave tours it was another half hour boat ride (plus pushing) to get to the start of the 8km walk into Camp 5. It was a very pleasant and level walk which I thoroughly enjoyed, until I got stung by a sweat bee! No idea what species it was and don't really care cause the bloody thing hurt! Sweat bee's, like their name, are attracted to sweat and obviously will sting if disturbed. Camp 5 had an abundance of these bees, which meant we had to wash all our clothes regularly in the river to remove the sweat. This prevented the bees from becoming too attached to the sweaty clothing and laying eggs in them (as it was mating season of course). The upside to all this was the plunge pool at the river. Pure heaven! Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the pool as I was far too busy swimming and playing in the river rapids! Got to get my priorities right after all! Camp 5 was very basic but, for me at least, surprisingly comfortable. The beds were dorm-style with shallow canvas-covered mattresses were we hung our mosquito nets over. By now we were all pretty tired and after dinner we went to bed soon after as we had an early 5:30am wake-up call for breakfast at 6am and a start to the walk at 6:30am. I must admit I was pretty apprehensive about the climb and my fitness levels and I hoped that I would be able to keep up and reach the top, especially as Lucy told us that if we did not reach a certain point by a certain time we would not be allowed to continue and would have to turn back. With that in mind I fell into a something that resembled sleep.

Swing bridge on the walk into Camp 5.