Sarawak - Borneo - page 353

The Painted Cave is famed for its ancient drawings, in red hematite, depicting jungle
animals, human figures and the souls of the dead being taken to the afterlife by boat. At
research time it was closed for maintenance until further notice.

Bats & Swiftlets
At one time, some 470,000 bats and four million swiftlets called Niah home. There are no
current figures, but the walls of the caves are no longer thick with bats and there are fewer
bird's nests to harvest.
Several species of swiftlet nest on the cave walls. The most common by far is the
glossy swiftlet, whose nest is made of vegetation and is therefore of no use in making
soup. For obvious reasons, the species whose nests are edible (ie made of delicious
salivary excretions) are far less abundant and can only be seen in the remotest corners of
the cavern. Several types of bat also roost in the cave, but not in dense colonies, as at
Gunung Mulu National Park.
The best time to see the cave's winged wildlife is at dusk (5.30pm to 6.45pm) during
the 'changeover', when the swiftlets stream back to their nests and the bats come swirling
out for the night's feeding. If you decide to stick around, let staff at the park HQ's Regis-
tration Counter know and make sure you either get back to the ferry by 7.30pm or co-
ordinate a later pick-up time with the boatman.

FLYING CREATURES

Bukit Kasut
This 45-minute trail, part of it a boardwalk through freshwater swamp forest, goes from
near the museum southward up to the summit of Bukit Kasut (205m). In the wet season, it
can get muddy and treacherously slippery.

TRAIL

Sleeping & Eating
Park HQ has a decent canteen (Cafeteria; mains RM5-10; 8am-10pm; ) . Cooking
is prohibited in park accommodation but, except at the hostel, you can boil water to make
instant noodles.
Batu Niah town, 4km from park HQ (3km if you walk), has a couple of basic hotels.

NIAH NATIONAL PARK
Bookings for park-run accommodation can be made at park HQ (in person or by phone) or
through one of the National Park Booking Offices ( in Kuching 082-248088, in Miri
085-434184) - but not through Sarawak Forestry's website. Lodges and rooms often fill
up on Chinese, Malay and public holidays.