Judi Dench visits Gomantong

In July 2019, ITV on English TV showed a 2 part documentary on Dame Judi Dench's visit to Borneo. I wrote about it on my webpage, "Judi Dench's wild Borneo Adventure". In the second part of the programme, there was a few minutes coverage of Judi's visit to Gomantong.

I took some screenshots :

The famous guano pile that every documentary covers

A photo taken from my Gomantong blog, showing the same guano pile

Gomantong Caves 3D Model fly through

A stunning fly through of Gomantong Caves

Published on Oct 12, 2013          
Standard YouTube License

donaldmcfarlane

This work is the preliminary product of an international collaboration of cave scientists which combines state-of-the-art laser scanning with aerial  drone photogrammetry. More details at: http://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/dmcfarlane/Borneo/index.htm

Gomantong Caves 2012 with gatewing and faro 3D scanner

Borneo - survey Gomantong Caves 2012 with gatewing and faro 3D scanner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIaoWjeH7TM&feature=player_detailpage#t=340

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Gomantong Caves in Borneo, overview of the 3D scan reconstruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhPadSFZ-U

Gomantong bugs on video

Interesting piece with a video on the cockroaches and other bugs at Gomantong Cave, Sabah, See International Business Times UK, 31 Oct 2015. Donald McFarlane has been doing research there.

Gomantong Caves, Sabah

Gomantong Caves in Sabah are famous for the birds nest collection, as well as the sheer size of the caves.

I wrote an article on Gomantong Caves for The Brunei Times in 2007, Gomantong bat caves awash in guano.

Entrance to the lower cave.

A boardwalk is in place around the area where tourists go.

View of the back of the cave

swiftlet and a skeleton

Houses for the nest collectors

and coiled ladders












It is estimated that between 600,000 and two million bats live in the cave. With each bat eating its own body weight in insects each night, this results in several tonnes of insects being consumed per night.

Some of the invertebrates that feed on guano

long legged centipedes

cockroaches

Dead bat being eaten by cockroaches

Back entrance
and front entrance

Guano mountain made famous by David Attenbourough

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Madai Caves hidden depths - Star

STAR Weekend
Saturday July 3, 2010


Exploring the hidden depths

By LIZ PRICE



The Madai Cave proves to have interesting treasures outside, as well as inside.


To reach the main entrance to Madai Cave, you have to walk through a dark tunnel where there is a grave of an unknown person. None of the villagers know who was buried there.


Then you pop out of the tunnel and are surprised to see a cluster of wooden houses in front of the entrance. These belong to the nest collectors, the guardians of the cave.


Madai Cave is not as well known as the nearby Gomantong Caves in Sabah, or the caves in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak. However, Madai has long been an important site for the birds’ nest collectors and is slowly becoming better known to tourists who are looking for adventure.

Leisurely life: A young villager does what comes naturally to him, chill.


Situated between Lahad Datu and Tawau, the hill containing Madai Cave rises steeply from the forest floor. It can be seen from far away, and you get tantalising views of it standing above the oil palm plantations. The final approach is interesting as you drive down a steep hill into the kampung.


A collection of wooden houses line both sides of the road, and the cliff acts as a scenic backdrop. You can see the gaping mouth of the cave from here. There is little activity in the village, except for women carrying buckets walking to and from the river to do the washing.


As we were on a research trip, we already had a guide arranged. We followed him along the narrow path between the houses. I was surprised to turn a corner and see a new mosque in the centre of the village. A collection of children appeared from the various houses, curious to see the Mat Salleh (Caucasian) visitors in their village.


However, none actually followed us up the staircase to the cave tunnel.


We assembled at the houses outside the main upper entrance. Washing was hanging out to dry, and there were wooden tables and benches in the central area. There is also another grave. This one supposedly belongs to Nenek Apui, who was one of the earliest inhabitants here.


There are more than 25 caves in this area, but Madai is the biggest and best known. It has a long history. The caves were first visited by scientists 60 years ago. They reported that the phosphate deposits from the bat and swiftlet guano were collected for use as fertiliser. However, a far older industry is birds’ nest collection. The local Idahan people have had the rights for collecting for many generations.



One of the houses near the Madai Cave.

The harvesting of birds’ nests is a well-known industry throughout Borneo. There are many limestone caves which are home to the swiftlets that build the edible nests. And nowadays, swiftlet farming is becoming a big business, whereby existing buildings are converted in “bird hotels”, and in some places new purpose-built structures are being constructed.


There is an ever increasing demand for birds’ nests for the culinary and medicinal markets.


In Madai, the collection is controlled by the villagers who own the rights. The houses at the cave entrance are mainly used during the collecting seasons. The locals are the guardians of the birds’ nests and use the buildings for sleeping and for guarding the caves to keep out unauthorised people.


Walking into the cave, I was struck by how big it was.


The ceiling is really high, maybe 130m, and the chambers are large. There are several openings high in the roof which allow a small amount of daylight to enter.


The boardwalk soon ended, and we were walking in guano. It was really quite slippery walking across these sticky, wet droppings, deposited by bats and birds. If you didn’t watch every step, it was easy to sink ankle-deep in this gooey waste.


And there were lots of small cockroaches running around in the guano, feeding on smaller invertebrates. Quite often, I had to brush them off my legs as they climbed up. All around I could hear the clicking of the swiftlets and chirping of insects.


There were a few swiftlets on the floor, and although they presented a good photo opportunity, it was sad to know they would not survive.

But in turn they would help to support the food chain within the cave.


I was quite surprised at the number of men inside the cave, considering it wasn’t yet collecting season. The collection is controlled and restricted to twice a year so as not to deplete the swiftlet population. There were few ladders hanging in the cave, but more would be installed when the collection began.


There are also one or two huts deep inside the cave, used by the collectors for rest and relaxation during the collecting season.


From this part of the cave, we slithered our way down to the lower river passage, where the river comes pouring out of the hill.


This was quite a spectacular sight as there are not many river caves in Malaysia. We were able to explore inside for a short distance. The cave is also an archaeological site. Pottery and stone tools have been found, dating back 8,000 years.


Pleistocene mammal fauna have also been found, showing that large mammals roamed the area all those years ago.


Madai Cave was used during one of the stages of one of the world’s toughest endurance race, the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000, when participants had to climb the rattan ladders. The cave is certainly worth a visit if you are in that part of Sabah. However, bear in mind that it is not freely accessible to casual visitors — you need to get permission, and a guide from the village.


It’s worth the effort, though, if you are interested in seeing this little visited piece of Sabah’s history and nature.



Madai Cave

Getting there



Madai Cave is located between Lahad Datu and Tawau, near Kunak. Kunak is roughly 80km from Tawau. Turn off the Lahad Datu-Tawau highway at 69 km from Lahad Datu. Watch out for the signpost to Gua Madai. From the turn-off, it is about 2km to the village.



All buses between Lahad Datu and Semporna or Tawau will pass the turn-off to the caves. If you are lucky, you may be able to find a minivan to take you to the cave. But be prepared to walk back up to the highway on your return.



Permission



To get permission, it’s best to go to the District Office in Lahad Datu town. Alternatively, you can go to the Forest Dept in Kunak. You can also make arrangements with the Idahan elders in Madai village. They will arrange a guide, for which you should negotiate the fee payable.



Accommodation



Unless you happen to be passing close to the caves, it’s best to visit as a day trip from Lahad Datu and Semporna or Tawau, where there is a choice of accommodation.

Madai Caves - Brunei Times

Local tribesfolk nestling among the Madai Caves

Brunei Times 27 Sept 2009

A river runs through it: The Madai Cave is one of very few in the region to have a river running through it.

The Madai Caves are not as well known as the nearby Gomantong Caves in Sabah, or the caves in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak.

However, Madai has long been an important area for birds' nest collectors and is now becoming better known among tourists looking for adventure.

Situated between Lahad Datu and Tawau, the hill containing Madai Cave itself rises steeply from the forest floor. There are more than 25 caves in this area, but Madai is the biggest and best known. The caves were first visited 60 years ago by scientists who noted how the phosphate deposits from the bat and swiftlet guano were collected and used as a fertiliser.

Madai village

A much older industry is that of birds' nest collection. The local Idahan people have had the rights for collecting birds' nests in the area for generations.

Harvesting birds' nests is a well known industry throughout Borneo, which features many limestone caves that are home to the swiftlets that build the edible nests.

Swiftlet farming is becoming big business. Existing buildings are being converted to bird "hotels", and in some places new purpose-built structures are being constructed. The demand for birds' nests has continued to soar over recent years, especially for the culinary and medicinal markets.

In Madai, the collection of birds' nests is controlled by the villagers who own the rights. As you walk to the cave you pass through Madai village. The locals are the guardians of the birds' nests, and during the collecting season they can offer a place for the nest collectors to stay. There is even a small mosque in the village.

A staircase leads up to one of the entrances. First, you walk through a dark tunnel where there is a grave of an unknown person. This passage leads to the cave entrance, where there are a few houses, used by the men who guard and collect the nests.

house used by nest collectors

There is also another grave. This one supposedly belongs to "Nenek Apui", who was one of the earliest inhabitants here.

grave

Walking into the cave, I was struck by how impressive it is. The ceiling is about 130 metres above, and the chambers are large. There are several openings high in the roof that allow a small amount of daylight to enter.

The floor is covered in guano and it was actually quite slippery walking across the sticky, wet droppings.

There were also lots of small cockroaches running around in the guano, feeding on smaller invertebrates. All around I could hear the clicking of the swiftlets and chirping of insects.

There were a few swiftlets on the floor, and although they presented a good photo opportunity it was sad to know they would not survive.

I was quite surprised at the number of men inside the cave, considering it was not yet collecting season.

The collection is controlled and restricted to twice a year, so as not to deplete the swiftlet population.

There were few ladders hanging in the cave, but more will be installed when the collection begins.

From this part of the cave we went down to the lower river passage, where the river comes pouring out of the hill. This was quite a spectacular sight as there are not many river caves in Malaysia.

We were able to explore inside for a short distance.

Madai Cave was even used in one of the stages of one of the world's toughest endurance race, the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000, when participants had to climb the rattan ladders.

If you want to visit Madai Cave, it is best to get permission from the District Office in Lahad Datu town, otherwise you have to make arrangements with the Idahan elders.

The cave is certainly worth a visit if you are in that part of Sabah.
The Brunei Times

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission
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See more photos on Madai album.
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Gomantong Caves - Malayan Naturalist

My article in the Malayan Naturalist, 1996

Gomantong bat caves - in WildAsia

Gomantong bat caves awash in guano





Pagan burials, birds nests and, of course, bats intrigue LIZ PRICE as she pays a visit to the Gomantong Caves in Sabah, Malaysia.











[Published on Wildasia published 7 Jan 2008]

IN FRONT of me was a high mountain of bat guano, made famous by the world famous naturalist, David Attenborough in one of his TV documentaries. This mountain of waste deposit has been formed over the years by the caves inhabitants, the wrinkle-lipped bats. It is estimated that between 600,000 and two million of these flying mammals live in the cave. Each night they leave the cave to feed, and with each bat eating its own body weight in insects each night, this results in several tonnes of insects being consumed per night. No need for chemical insecticides here.

The bats share their dark home with cave swiftlets, and it is these birds which have made the caves famous, due to the harvesting of their nests. The Gomantong Caves have long been known for their birds' nests. Birds' nests, a Chinese delicacy, have been sought for centuries in various caves not merely in North Borneo but in Sarawak and other parts of South-East Asia as well. The greatest single source for these birds' nests has remained the Gomantong Caves. The caves are 32km south of Sandakan, near to the Kinabatangan River on the east coast of Sabah.

There are two main caves, Simud Putih and Simud Hitam. The names refer to the principal types of edible birds' nests produced in each cave, white and black respectively. These limestone caves are about 65 million years old. Although the caves have been known for centuries as a source of birds' nests, the date of discovery of the caves is not really known.

The birds' nest trade probably started around the early 15th century. The Chinese admiral Cheng Ho, a Muslim, commanded a great fleet and supposedly visited Sabah on route to the Philippines in 1406. Around the same time, according to Idahan folklore, an Arab missionary Machdom, known as Alawlia (holy man), came to Sabah's east coast with a trading vessel in 1408. Following this visit, local people began to trade in birds' nests. The Chinese bought the nests and trade flourished. Nests were often exchanged for glass beads, brass, gold and iron, textiles, Chinese stone wares and porcelains.

With the arrival of the first Muslim missionaries, many people converted to Islam. But many resisted, and the east coast caves were important places for spirit activity as burial places for the pagan people. Cave burials took place and the locals treasured the caves as their ancestral burial grounds. In the small, isolated caves not containing edible nests, these customs survived into this century. Unfortunately, few caves with burial remains survived undisturbed over the centuries. In the caves economically important for nests, the hardwood coffins, ceramic and earthenware jars and pots became debris over the years, as well as being removed by the casual visitor. In Gomantong nest collectors built villages right over ancient burial grounds. As people became Muslims, they gave up their pagan customs.

Gomantong Caves were investigated by J H Allard of the China Borneo Company in 1889 for phosphate deposits as a source of fertiliser. The caves were mapped in 1930. Today access to the caves is considerably easier than in the early days, when in 1887 the journey was described as "a long tramp through dense jungle". Today a road leads right to the park headquarters and from there a short walk of just a few minutes brings you to Gomantong hill. Much of the virgin jungle has been replaced by secondary jungle, oil palm and cocoa plantations. But the tall menggaris trees have been left as they are said to be homes for spirits, and are also nesting places for honey bees.

In front of the main entrance to Simud Hitam are the buildings used by the bird nest collectors. The harvesting of nests is strictly controlled and limited to twice a year by licensed collectors. A boardwalk leads into the large gaping entrance to the cave and all around is the twitter of swiftlets as they go about their daily lives. The boardwalk follows the cave walls and in the centre of the chamber is thousands of years of accumulated guano.

Looking closely at the guano I could see it was alive with a whole collection of invertebrates. There were cockroaches, beetles and lots of other insects, all playing a role in the cave's food chain. The cockroaches had made the cave walls their home and in some places, sections of the walls were absolutely covered with them.

Occasionally we were able to get a close up view of a swiftlet which was lying on the handrail or floor. The birds which inhabit the caves and make the edible nests are swiftlets of the Collocalia family, locally called layang layang because of their constant movement. The black and white nests are made by different types of swiftlet. The white nests are made purely of saliva, and are much more valuable and costly than the black nests which have feathers in them. The saliva is produced from a tough, glutinous, translucent substance secreted by the salivary glands.

Most of the swiftlets build their nests high up on the cave walls. The nests look like half a saucer, about three inches long, one and a half inches wide and about half an inch deep. They are firm but springy to the touch. The bigger and thicker they are, the better. As they get old, they become drier and tighten and increase in value.

Collection has been carried out for centuries. The right to collect from certain areas in the cave is based on hereditary rights which are still practiced today. Both black and white nests are found in the dark corners of caves, but the black nests are in areas where light penetrates, generally in immense lofty caverns. White nests are found in truly dark crevices, in low roofed caves.

To reach the nests, rotan ladders with hardwood rungs are hung from the ceiling, held tautly to belian wood. Surplus lengths of rope are coiled up at the bottom. At the top of the ladder, the man ties himself to the bamboo and rotan loops fixed to the ladder. His candle is fixed to a bamboo pole. Nests are scraped from the wall and put into a basket hung on the ladder. During collection numerous small birds and eggs fall. Today bamboo ladders are also used. In some places the roof may be up to 90m high. Although I didn't actually see any men working as it was out of season, it was quite scary just looking at these ladders and thinking how the men work so high above the floor without any safety line.

At the back of the main chamber is a large hole open to the sky which let in a lot of daylight. Simud Putih cave is located high above this entrance.

Leaving the boardwalk I detoured to see Attenborough's guano mountain. I climbed a rocky slope made slippery by the guano, careful not to tread on dying swiftlets and bats which were floundering around on the floor. As the slope leveled out I looked up and there it was, a mountain of guano, maybe 30m high, reaching up in front of me. I felt quite humbled having seen it for myself, something most people would only see on television. As I looked around, listening to the sounds of the bats and swiftlets and dropping water, I felt so small standing in this immense dark chamber. Gomantong Caves is a truly spectacular place.

© Liz Price - article may only be republished with the author's permission.

Madai Caves, Sabah

resurgence entrance

Madai Caves in Sabah are famous for the collection of birds nests, as well as being an archaeological site. The collection of nests is controlled by the local Idahan community, who have held for rights to the cave for generations. I was there just before the collecting season started (July 2007) so there were no ladders to see. They collect the nests two times a year.
Archaeological remains dating to around 20,000 years have been found. There are two modern tombs of unknown people.
Madai is accessible from Lahad Datu or Tawau, and is near Kunak.

The village

 House in cave entrance

 tomb

 rubbish

 swiftlet

See my article on Madai.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission