sign in a cave in Laos

20 November 2011

Gua Kanthan, Perak, Malaysia

Gua Kanthan is a large cave in Perak, Malaysia. It is located in Gunung Kanthan which is the northernmost limestone hill in the Kinta Valley.

I revisted the cave in Nov 2011 after an absence of 8 years. It was also my 8th visit to the cave.

The normal route up to the cave was "blocked" by water from the nearby pond so I found a different way up, via the abandoned temple up on the hill. This photos shows the temple in 1997

I managed to easily find the cave and Jan took this photo

The entrance is very impressive with some nice fluting.

The cave is also called Cathedral Cave due to its size. The main cave is a large single chamber with a river running through. However there is no need to get wet as the route through the main chamber is above the water level.
There is graffiti

Going down a climb

At the place where the river crosses the chamber, the way on is by traversing a ledge

At the next part of the chamber we were slightly too late to see the sunbeam - these pictures are from 1993 !

There are some nice gour pools just beyond, Jan took this photo
and a view of the flowstone

The cave is home to a trapdoor spider, Liphistius kanthan, which is found nowhere else in the world.

Looking back up towards Gua Kanthan

Gunung Kanthan is heavily quarried. The cave is on the south end, in a currently untouched area.

Gua Kanthan register number Prk 47/02.

See more on Liphistius kanthan and the Kanthan quarry.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

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