Post by anakvr on May 15, 2006 8:48:37 GMT -5
Get Close To "Winged Tenants" Of Mulu's Gua Rusa
By Edward Subeng Stephen
MIRI, May 15 (Bernama) -- Visitors to Mulu National Park can expect to see a breath-taking aerial performance by "winged tenants" of the Deer Cave or "Gua Rusa" at this world-famous park.
The view from an observation platform is certainly awe-inspiring as millions of bats fly out in search of food from Gua Rusa as dusk falls.
The observatory is built at the mouth of the cave, hence visitors can witness bats flying in a tight stream heading for the Kalimantan-Sarawak border in search of edible jungle fruits.
"Not all visitors are lucky enough to see the bats flying in a highly coordinated pattern as these nocturnal creatures will stay in the cave during bad weather," said Mulu National Park manager Brian Clark.
Deer Cave is home to a huge population of bats, mostly the wrinkled-lipped species or "Chaerephon plicata", estimated to number close to three million!
Now the park management has come out with an ingenious initiative to enable visitors to "get real close to the bats".
MONITORING SYSTEM
Clark said a remote-controlled monitoring system would be installed in Gua Rusa by end of the year.
"Visitors can then conveniently observe the bats in their environment, on a big monitoring screen within the cave itself.
"They can see for themselves how the blind creatures behave and interact in their natural habitat...in short their entire life cycle will be for all to see," said Clark.
He said this would be an important scientific tool for studies and research work on the bats.
"I am all for more of such studies, for us to know more about these blind mammals," Clark told journalists who attended a four-day ecotourism writing course at the park near here recently.
BAT SPECIES
Clark said out of 28 bat species found at the Mulu National Park, a dozen were found living in Gua Rusa.
"This is very peculiar. It may be due to the sheer size of the Deer Cave itself which measures 174 meters wide and 122 meters high at its biggest point".
He recalls only seeing such happening in a cave in Southeast Australia.
Gua Rusa boasts of having the world's largest cave passage.
Its sister cave -- Clearwater Cave (Gua Air Jernih) has the distinction of having honey-combed passage running some 110 km underground, making it Southeast Asia's longest cave passage.
As for the bats, Clark said they are crucial to the park's ecosystem.
"The bats help to control the insect population and in pollination process. Their droppings are the life force for hundreds of other living organisms on the floor of the cave which in turn supports other life forms".
GUANO
Clark said each of the bats can consume 10 gms of insects or about two thirds of its body weight.
"So each day when they return to the cave before daybreak, the entire bat population brings home between 10 to 20 tonnes of food. This eventually turns into huge piles of guano on the cave's floor".
"But without the bats, the park will simply be swarmed by mosquitoes and other insects", he said.
He said the bats had been known to fly to as far as the coastal areas of Miri and Brunei, some 100 kilometres away in search of food.
BIRDWATCH TOWERS
Clark also said several birdwatch towers would be built around the park.
"I have to consult my five most experienced guides on suitable locations for these towers", he said, adding that the park has 262 bird species including eight that belong to the hornbill family.
Clark said for the past 25 years, the Mulu National Park had been promoted as a destination for high-adventure and extreme sports challenge.
He said the park's management is now expanding its focus to include education and discovery.
"We have in place, since July last year, the 480-metre long Mulu Canopy Sky Walk which is the longest tree-based canopy walk in the world."
Some 20 metres of the walkway is "not about adventure alone but also on medicinal forest herbs among others."
Clark said last year alone, about 24,000 visitors visited the 52,865-hectare primary rainforest park, which is criss-crossed by fast flowing rivers and clear jungle streams, that offers a whole range of nature-based activities.
About two thirds of the visitors are foreigners. Most of them tourists from Europe, New Zealand, Australia and East Asia.
The number of locals visiting the park is on the rise, he said.
FLORA, FAUNA
The park has various flora and fauna -- 4,000 species of fungi, flowering plants (1,500), mosses and liverworts (1,700) and some 3,500 other plants.
Its wildlife is equally impressive. These include 75 species of mammals, frogs (74 species), fish (47), butterflies (2,810), reptiles (52), 20,000 other invertebrates.
Clark said he expects about 26,000-27,000 tourists at the park this year, with the figure reaching 40,000-45,000 in 2010.
"If a tourist spends RM1,250.00 for a two-day/one night's stay, the Mulu National Park can be turned into a money-spinner for the state", he said.
Clark is not comfortable with the idea that the government may one day builds a road to link the park and the "outside world". At present the only way in is by flight or a one-day journey by river from Miri town.
"Mulu's isolation is also its attraction as well as its protection. A sudden huge influx of people is detrimental to the park.
"We will be saddled with problems like providing accommodation, facilities and infrastructures. In short we will not have the caring capacity concept as practised now," he said.
He said as the Mulu National Park is the only World Heritage Site in Sarawak, every effort must be made to conserve and protect its beauty, its bio-diversity and caves in their pristine state.
It is also, after all Sarawak's "jewel in the crown".
Source-- --BERNAMA
By Edward Subeng Stephen
MIRI, May 15 (Bernama) -- Visitors to Mulu National Park can expect to see a breath-taking aerial performance by "winged tenants" of the Deer Cave or "Gua Rusa" at this world-famous park.
The view from an observation platform is certainly awe-inspiring as millions of bats fly out in search of food from Gua Rusa as dusk falls.
The observatory is built at the mouth of the cave, hence visitors can witness bats flying in a tight stream heading for the Kalimantan-Sarawak border in search of edible jungle fruits.
"Not all visitors are lucky enough to see the bats flying in a highly coordinated pattern as these nocturnal creatures will stay in the cave during bad weather," said Mulu National Park manager Brian Clark.
Deer Cave is home to a huge population of bats, mostly the wrinkled-lipped species or "Chaerephon plicata", estimated to number close to three million!
Now the park management has come out with an ingenious initiative to enable visitors to "get real close to the bats".
MONITORING SYSTEM
Clark said a remote-controlled monitoring system would be installed in Gua Rusa by end of the year.
"Visitors can then conveniently observe the bats in their environment, on a big monitoring screen within the cave itself.
"They can see for themselves how the blind creatures behave and interact in their natural habitat...in short their entire life cycle will be for all to see," said Clark.
He said this would be an important scientific tool for studies and research work on the bats.
"I am all for more of such studies, for us to know more about these blind mammals," Clark told journalists who attended a four-day ecotourism writing course at the park near here recently.
BAT SPECIES
Clark said out of 28 bat species found at the Mulu National Park, a dozen were found living in Gua Rusa.
"This is very peculiar. It may be due to the sheer size of the Deer Cave itself which measures 174 meters wide and 122 meters high at its biggest point".
He recalls only seeing such happening in a cave in Southeast Australia.
Gua Rusa boasts of having the world's largest cave passage.
Its sister cave -- Clearwater Cave (Gua Air Jernih) has the distinction of having honey-combed passage running some 110 km underground, making it Southeast Asia's longest cave passage.
As for the bats, Clark said they are crucial to the park's ecosystem.
"The bats help to control the insect population and in pollination process. Their droppings are the life force for hundreds of other living organisms on the floor of the cave which in turn supports other life forms".
GUANO
Clark said each of the bats can consume 10 gms of insects or about two thirds of its body weight.
"So each day when they return to the cave before daybreak, the entire bat population brings home between 10 to 20 tonnes of food. This eventually turns into huge piles of guano on the cave's floor".
"But without the bats, the park will simply be swarmed by mosquitoes and other insects", he said.
He said the bats had been known to fly to as far as the coastal areas of Miri and Brunei, some 100 kilometres away in search of food.
BIRDWATCH TOWERS
Clark also said several birdwatch towers would be built around the park.
"I have to consult my five most experienced guides on suitable locations for these towers", he said, adding that the park has 262 bird species including eight that belong to the hornbill family.
Clark said for the past 25 years, the Mulu National Park had been promoted as a destination for high-adventure and extreme sports challenge.
He said the park's management is now expanding its focus to include education and discovery.
"We have in place, since July last year, the 480-metre long Mulu Canopy Sky Walk which is the longest tree-based canopy walk in the world."
Some 20 metres of the walkway is "not about adventure alone but also on medicinal forest herbs among others."
Clark said last year alone, about 24,000 visitors visited the 52,865-hectare primary rainforest park, which is criss-crossed by fast flowing rivers and clear jungle streams, that offers a whole range of nature-based activities.
About two thirds of the visitors are foreigners. Most of them tourists from Europe, New Zealand, Australia and East Asia.
The number of locals visiting the park is on the rise, he said.
FLORA, FAUNA
The park has various flora and fauna -- 4,000 species of fungi, flowering plants (1,500), mosses and liverworts (1,700) and some 3,500 other plants.
Its wildlife is equally impressive. These include 75 species of mammals, frogs (74 species), fish (47), butterflies (2,810), reptiles (52), 20,000 other invertebrates.
Clark said he expects about 26,000-27,000 tourists at the park this year, with the figure reaching 40,000-45,000 in 2010.
"If a tourist spends RM1,250.00 for a two-day/one night's stay, the Mulu National Park can be turned into a money-spinner for the state", he said.
Clark is not comfortable with the idea that the government may one day builds a road to link the park and the "outside world". At present the only way in is by flight or a one-day journey by river from Miri town.
"Mulu's isolation is also its attraction as well as its protection. A sudden huge influx of people is detrimental to the park.
"We will be saddled with problems like providing accommodation, facilities and infrastructures. In short we will not have the caring capacity concept as practised now," he said.
He said as the Mulu National Park is the only World Heritage Site in Sarawak, every effort must be made to conserve and protect its beauty, its bio-diversity and caves in their pristine state.
It is also, after all Sarawak's "jewel in the crown".
Source-- --BERNAMA