Exploring the Bat Cave - Gua Telinga

For day two in Taman Negara, we decided to do a package tour, taking us down the river on a longboat to one of the indigenous villages and out to a cave system hidden in the middle of the jungle. Our guide was a local from one of the villages, a small, dark-skinned guy with just enough English to try to explain a few things that didn't come out so clearly. Unfortunately, despite living in the tourist village now, he had not picked up the habit of using deodorant, so it was easy to tell when he was around, though it did make me wonder about body odor originating as a sort of insect repellant for native people. Anyway, I imagine I'd smell the same way after a few days in the forest. So, after 20 minutes down the river, we climbed the steep river banks and found the local village, basically just a few thatched huts in a small clearing of trees consisting of about three families, with a few women caring for the children as the men were presumably off hunting and fishing. These people are known as the Orang Asli, meaning Original People in the Malaysian language. Promising to stop on the way back, we passed through the village and into more of the green expanse of jungle, heading for the caves. Not knowing what to expect, we came upon the sign for Gua Telinga (Ear Cave), apparently named for its resemblance to an ear canal. Based on some pictures I had seen back at the restaurant, I was expecting a fairly large cave with large atriums and a few dark corners. As it turns out, this was not one of those kinds of caves. Our nimble guide squeezed into the narrow opening, and Kristen and I did our best to keep up, ducking, crawling and slithering over dark, wet rocks, hoping the small flashlight shared between the two of us would be sufficient.

Passing over a small creek, we went in and out of tiny openings, thinking that they probably should have mentioned that this activity might not be suitable for all people. At times, I literally had to pass through openings about two feet high, trying not to get too dirty or imagine what may lay hidden in the darkness; other times, scraping my back as I squirmed through openings barely larger than the circumference of my body. On top of the claustrophobic aspect of it all, this would be a terrible place for someone with a fear of bats. In the first opening, our guide put his light towards the ceiling, and we saw that we were surrounded by hundreds of bats, most clinging to the ceiling as they slept, some awoken by the noise and flash of flight, passing over our heads to assess the intruders into their cave. It was probably better that I couldn't see a lot of the bats, only feeling the whoosh of air from their wings as they swooped inches away from my head. After a few more small rooms in the cave and many more bats and miniscule openings, we reached the end, a point were we had to push up through a very narrow opening, pulling ourselves up to the rocks overhead and finally seeing daylight streaming through a small opening in the end of the tunnel. It turned out to be quite an exhilirating experience, much more adventurous than either of us had imagined.

Heading back to the village, dripping with a delightful combination of sweat, dirt and water, we once again reached the village, where we were allowed to roam freely to explore the circle of huts, though the few villagers didn't seem too thrilled to have foreigners gawking at them, so I took a few discrete pictures, but I always feel bad taking pictures of local people like that. We were then greeted by one of the young men in the village who spoke a little bit of English and showed us how to make fire and how to make the poison darts used for their blow guns to hunt for food. We were even given an opportunity to try our aim with the blow gun, aiming at a stuffed Garfield tied to a tree about 20 yards away. Both of my shots fell short, but the guide showed us how to do it properly, and that was basically the end of our visit. As I expected, it was interesting to see the local people, but it will never be an authentic experience when done in a sort of package tour where tourists go in and out every day, hoping to find an undiscovered lifestyle.

So, after two days of trekking through the sweaty jungle, I decided it was time to move on, booking a bus trip the next morning up to Kuala Besut, the launching point to Pulau Perhentian, another idyllic set of tropical islands in the Northeast corner of Malaysia. Getting on the bus, I again met up with the three French girls that shared the same itinerary, not all that surprising, as we were both heading to a couple of the 'must-see' destinations of the area. Just as we were leaving, there were a few stories floating around about a Dutch guy seeing a tiger in the jungle the day before, then hearing it roar as it attacked presumably a deer, though who knows if the story is true. I also met a pair of Danish girls who thought they had seen a tiger and turned and ran before realizing that it was just a small, golden jungle cat.

(A few of the Orang Asli people, hanging out amongst the trees.)

(More greenery on the way to the caves, hidden deep in the thick forest.)

(The long roots of the strangler fig.)

(You couldn't exactly tell how many bats were around until you used the flash on the camera, and then you realized that they're basically all around you.)

(More of our little buddies, starting to get annoyed by our flash.)

(This is actually one of the larger caverns in the place, leading to some ridiculously small openings through which we had to squirm and contort our bodies.)

(Back to the village - this is one of the local huts, with a simple thatched rug on the floor for beds.)

(She's either hungry, angry or bored. I don't speak Malaysian.)

(Same mother, different location. Also, nudity alert.)

(Attempting the blow gun used for hunting. I just missed the target - a Garfield stuffed animal hanging from a tree.)