Gunung Mulu: Of Snakes and Ladders, Hornbills and Coucals, Squirrels and Fulgoridae, Caves and Bats

Me descending the Clearwater Cave • photo by Ferdz Decena

It's an hour and a half flight via MasWings to Mulu and the World Heritage Site of Gunung Mulu National Park from Kuching.  From the air, mere minutes away from touchdown, you've got to wonder where on earth the plane is going to land.  Literally, there's forest as far as the eyes can see, the deep carpet of green interrupted only by karsts, rivers and dry waterways that stretch and meander for miles.  So much so that landing on a paved short airstrip seemed an anomaly, a modern intrusion into the tropical rainforest.  
 

Common squirrel

Why, even the Mulu Marriott where we will be billeted for the next three days seemed more like a modern, extended longhouse instead of the usual concrete monolith hotel found everywhere on the planet.  Walking to and from our room in Block 15 was, in itself, some sort of nature immersion.  Hey, there's a squirrel scampering over that tree.  Oh, the flooded, temporary pool in the middle of some trees has a catfish.  

Even just sitting on the veranda/balcony is an occasion for meditation/contemplation with the trilling of birds and the view of the Melinau river just some 20 feet or so away.  To say it's unlike any Marriott I've ever seen seems an understatement.  Still, it pays to remind yourself you're not just anywhere ordinary; you're in a tropical rainforest, and most importantly, you're in Mulu.