“We will leave nothing but our footprints. We will take nothing but our memories.” — Duke, a Mulu localguide. The local guide offers an optional trekking trip to the nearby waterfall. My feet would have said no but, as my curiosity won over, my right hand rises. The two-kilometre path that supposedly takes less than an hour turns out to be more demanding than anyone thought. The path is not steep; the terrain is a big problem, sometimes rocky but mostly muddy. Then we are left on our own, trampling through shrubs on a slippery path. Things get dirtier as we go farther. We start to slip and slide. Leeches become common visitors to our legs. At one point, I simply step off a log and then — in the blink of an eye — find my leg sunk into the chocolate-coloured mud up to my knee. After a few twists and turns, I get back up and laugh it off. I finally take off my overstretched rubber flop and pad my way barefoot, which makes my final quarter mile bliss. The waterfall, though small, is quite rewarding. Folks seem to have a good time bathing in the natural Jacuzzi after a full hour of uphill trekking. Light goes down faster than we anticipate — with a sky full of clouds, it is very hard to gauge the sun’s position. Light rain showers start to spray upon us as we pick our way down the mountain. With the guide staying back, looking after the last person, I am far ahead
of the main group. It is getting dark. With no one pointing the way, we take a few wrong turns and, to our surprise, exit through a different path which brings us to the other side of the longhouse.
muLu Canopy skywaLk Gunung Mulu National Park has gradually gained popularity as an adventurous destination over the past few years with numerous cavern systems waiting to be explored. Most show caves are open to the public while some of the more advanced passages require a license or a certificate from any accepted caving club. Additionally, alternative trekking and nature study routes are also available, such as the canopy walk — not for the faint-hearted, even if you are not acrophobic. Platforms of the canopy walk are placed as high as 30 metres above the ground and sustained by systems of ropes, wooden planks and bolsters that ingeniously suspend the boards in the air without dipping into the trees. With a total length of 480 metres, Mulu Canopy Skywalk is one of the longest tree-based canopy walkways in the world. It is almost unimaginable that all of these were built by slingshots and tree-climbing workers.
Opposite page: Natural foot spa on the Long Lesat river walkway. This page (clockwise from top left): A view from the jungle trekking path at Long Iman, where the muddy ground is hidden beneath a covering natural shrubbery; Mulu Park’s wooden walkway strongly resembles an anaconda slithering through the jungle; the dense canopy of the rainforest can reach as high as 45 metres above the ground; a quiet moment by the Long Iman Waterfall.
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