SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

Caves Exploration

On February 1, 2011 by Niza Zainal

By the time we reach Dabong, our guide, Adam is already waiting at the station. Having identified ourselves, we were then get prepared to realize the first item in the itinerary – exploring the caves in the area, or should I say it, spelunking the caves in the area?

Leaving our heavy bags at Adam’s camping booth which is in the train station compound, we were then picked up by van for the short ride to the Gua Ikan Recreation Park (note: ‘Gua’ means cave in malay).

Adam throws a brief intro of what we need to know about caving and the associated terminology, as well as emphasizing on safety measures.

We crossed the road and trudged into the thick bushes in front of us. A bit of trekking is required afterwards.

Soon we arrived at the entrance of the first cave.

Me, inside Gua Batu Pagar. Behind, a giant serpent is about to swallow me alive.

Droplets of water falling from above onto the rocks mould the singular fish-scale like formation. Apologize; my el cheapo compact camera does not do this place its justice.

The plants that inhabit the cave’s floor.

A frog-like rock formation standing guard at the mouth of the cave.

After milling around, admiring the superb limestone formations with our mind drifted from one rock to another trying to imagine their resemblances, we then made a move to visit the second cave, the Gua Keris. There are actually 4 eminent caves in the area namely; Gua Ikan, Gua Batu Pagar, Gua Keris and Gua Gelap but this time we are only visiting two. Gua Ikan, being heavily vandalized by ignorant delinquents, is no longer worth visiting while Gua Gelap is not suitable for our team as it requires extreme crawling and creeping through its narrow passageway; and being 3 hours behind schedule it is highly inadvisable (otherwise we will not have enough time to reach the waterfall summit before dark).

Sharp spikes potruding from the earth on the way to Gua Keris.

Gua Keris majestic cavern

This columns is the cave’s namesake. It resembles a Malay dagger, the keris.

The stalactites inside Gua Keris.

A frozen waterfall or ‘ghouls pool’, according to Adam – if I heard and spelled the name correctly.

A fissure on the cave’s floor.

A shallow ghoul-pool, formed by a mineral deposits precipitated by a slow running water flowing from the flowstone.

A streak of light coming from the opening above us.

Caves drapery, formed when water deposits mineral in thin sheets. This superb formation might have taken a few thousand (or perhaps million) years to be produced.

Shroom-like formation.

The gang admiring the inside of Gua Keris.

The cave’s grotto. Beautiful isn’t it? (can you spot a face here?)

Micheal Jordan left his shoes here.

We were surprised to found out some scattered shells at the cave’s mouth. We were told later that those shells were brought there by a species of a bird, using the rock to crack it open in order to eat the snail inside.