Gunung Mulu National Park

Gunung Mulu National Park
Protected Area
Api Chamber in Whiterock Cave, Gunung Api
Country	Malaysia
State	Sarawak
Highest point
- location	Mount Mulu
Area	754 km² (291 miles²)
Geology	Extensive caves including the world's largest cave chamber
Founded	1974
Management	Sarawak Forestry
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Name	Gunung Mulu National Park
Year	2000 (#24)
Number	1013
Region	Asia-Pacific
Criteria	vii, viii, ix, x

Gunung Mulu National Park near Miri, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses incredible caves and karst formations in a mountainous equatorial rainforest setting. The park is famous for its caves and the expeditions that have been mounted to explore them and their surrounding rainforest, most notably the Royal Geographic Expedition of 1977-1978, which saw over 100 scientists in the field for fifteen months.

Description

Within Gunung Mulu National Park is the world's biggest natural enclosed space: Sarawak chamber, found in Gua Nasib Bagus. It is 2,300 feet (700 m) long, 1,300 feet (396 m) wide and at least 230 feet (70 m) high; according to the guides it is big enough to fit St. Peter's Basilica or several jumbojets inside. Other notable caves are Benarat Cavern, Deer Cave, Wind Cave, and Clearwater Cave, which exposes parts of a long underground river going through the park.

Today Mulu continues to retain the sense of adventure associated with its original exploration through the provision of adventure caving and other adventure activities. The primary focus however has shifted to the promotion of an awareness of the significance of the park and its environment through the provision of ecotourism activities that foster understanding and appreciation of the parks values. Accommodation is available at the five star luxury resort Royal Mulu Resort, or there are cheaper lodgings across the river. The park HQ also has limited accommodation.

Mulu is a very inaccessible area; the only practical way of getting to and from it is by air, mainly from Miri airport. It is possible to travel to the area by riverboat, but it requires a chartered long boat for the last part - and the whole trip by river would take around 12 hours to complete from Miri, while the flight takes only 30 minutes. The national park is named after Mount Mulu, the second highest mountain in Sarawak.

Gua Nasib Bagus

Gua Nasib Bagus (Good Luck Cave) or Lubang Nasib Bagus is a cave located in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is one of many caves found within Gunung Mulu National Park, a World Heritage Site on the island of Borneo. The cave houses the largest known underground chamber in the world called the Sarawak Chamber.

Sarawak chamber

The Sarawak Chamber is a huge chamber in Gua Nasib Bagus (Good Luck Cave), which is located in Gunung Mulu National Park, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. It is considered the largest known underground chamber in the world.

The chamber was discovered by three Englishmen in January 1981. Andy Eavis, Dave Checkley and Tony White (all experienced cave explorers) had been exploring the dense, unpopulated area of the Gunung Mulu National Park jungle in Sarawak, in the north of Borneo, in an expedition led by fellow Englishman Ben Lyon. While they were surveying some of the newly found caves in the region, they stumbled into what seemed to be a huge cavern. Even with their powerful lamps, the other end of the chamber couldn't be seen through the thick darkness.

Although they did not know it yet, the three explorers had walked into the largest known enclosed space in the world, which they later named the Sarawak Chamber. It was three times the size of the Big Room in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, previously thought to be the largest underground chamber. The Sarawak Chamber measured 700m (2,300 feet) long, 400m (1,300 feet) wide and at least 70m (230 feet) high. The chamber is so massive it could hold 10 jumbo jets nose-to-tail in it. The chamber is now firmly situated in the record books.

The cave was in a region filled with at-that-time newly-discovered caves in the Gunung Mulu National Park, and this particular one is called Lubang Nasib Bagus or Good Luck Cave. To reach the Sarawak Chamber one must follow the river upstream from the cave entrance. This long passage has a roof of at least 230 metres high, and does require some swimming and a traverse along a ledge. The story of how it was discovered is told in a 1985 book "Underground Worlds" by Donald Jackson and also in "Giant Caves of Borneo" by Meredith, Wooldridge and Lyon.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Chon, K. S. 2000. Tourism in Southeast Asia: a new direction. New York: Haworth Hospitality Press. ISBN 9780789007322.
• Gupta, Avijit. 2005. The physical geography of Southeast Asia. Oxford regional environments. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199248025.
• Reader's Digest Ltd. (1989). Facts and Fallacies - Stories of the Strange and Unusual. Reader's Digest Ltd. Page 14-15. ISBN 0864380879.
• Time Life Books. Earth Series - Underground Worlds. Time Life Books.
• Wong., S. L. 1998. Exciting Malaysia: a visual journey. HK [i.e. Hong Kong]: Periplus. ISBN 9789625933283.

External links

• Mulu Caves Project. Retrieved October 11, 2008.
• Database of the Caves of East Malaysia. Retrieved October 11, 2008.
• Mulu National Park official website. Retrieved October 11, 2008.
• Gunung Mulu Information Center. Retrieved October 11, 2008.
• Benarat Caving Expedition 2005. Retrieved October 11, 2008.

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