Having visited the Niah Caves complex same year as Els we have almost “the same story” although with a few differences. The similarities were the Borneo Cultures Museum in Kuching, the Mulu site, the short river crossing with the 3 km hike om the slippery walkway before reaching the Traders Cave and the Great cave, but then some differences.

We rented a car at Miri airport round noon and arrive the visitor center at 1:15. We registered, paid, and went down to the river where the boat was supposed to be, but it wasn’t there. A guy told us to wait 10 minutes, but 10 minutes turned into 45 minutes. The boat was probably on an unauthorized trip to the nearest small town. On the other side at 2:15 the boatman told us that last departure is at 5 o’clock! Just too late we discovered that this would give us about 45 minutes at the site plus one hour back and one hour forth, which was very annoying! This would be a kind of a race!

All alone we were speedwalking on the slippery walkway even if it simply is not possible. After 40 minutes we passed the stall which was without any drinks, snacks, or people at all, we climbed the stairs to the first cave. Continuously rushing we entered the Great Cave on the path towards The Painted cave. We were all alone in the dark as there was no lightning. We were supposed to bring flashlights, which we didn’t. That was a mistake! We had to manage with the phone flashlight which isn’t very good. The amphitheatre-like entrance of the Great Cave was very nice, but proceeding into the darkness of the cave was interesting. The walkway was there to follow, but it was covered of guano and it was hard to see anything. As we continued the walkway, up and down stairs we entered chambers with holes in the “ceiling” so there were some rays of light, but mostly pitch dark! There was a junction in the dark and luckily, we chose the correct one. Further into a narrow passageway and finally came out in the other end – some 40 minutes after entering the Great Cave. It’s 1 hour 20 minutes left and we had to continue 600 meters to the painted Cave. Finally reaching our goal we could study the rock art through a fence. In fact, it was hard to see it, but it was there. After spending 10 minutes enjoying the rock art, we had to speed back through the darkness of the Great cave and then the 3 km back on the slippery passageway. We made it with a one-minute margin.

The museum on the cave-side of the river was closed and the ticket booth (we were supposed to sign out of the park) was also closed. So officially we are still in the Niah National Park!

Naturally there are lots of possible obstacles when just rushing into a site. A site might simply be closed, but losing our time to this annoying missing boat experience is not what you would expect. We were very happy having found the innermost cave, but if the boatman could have granted us an extra half hour because of his late arrival – then we would be a lot happier!

### Randi & Svein Elias