Cave swiftlets found dead in Phattalung caves

 An article in The Thaiger 22 Sept 2021 "5 billion baht loss as birds’ nest producing swiftlets found dead".

Apparently over 1 million birds have been found dead, in 107 caves in Phattalung's 7 islands.

The article says :

"Phatthalung authorities have requested help from the Department of Special Investigation to investigate the death of birds. These were no ordinary birds though; they were swiftlets, the birds that produce the saliva that make birds’ nest, prized as a health delicacy. And it wasn’t a few birds, it was over a million birds found dead in caves where Siamnest company has the authority to collect their birds’ nest.

And the financial loss of these birds and the birds’ nests they produce has been estimated at about 5 billion baht.

The company has permission to access 107 caves in Phatthalung’s seven islands and they sent their collection teams to gather the birds’ nest between September 9 to September 17. When they arrived to the last cave, they discovered the remains of more than 1 million birds instead of the nests they were tasked with collecting.

The team found the remains of a fire and various trash strewn about including shoes and plastic bottles. After Siamnest involved the Phatthalung authorities, the Royal Thai Police joined the investigation of the mass death of the swiftlet birds.

Unlike most birds that make nests out of twigs or similar materials, swiftlets make theirs completely out of their unique saliva which solidifies to form the nest. These saliva nests are considered a delicacy, especially in Asian regions, for it’s believed healing powers. Birds’ nest soup is often made by steaming and soaking the saliva nests.

The nests are said to help with kidney health, phlegm reduction and are desired as an aphrodisiac as well. Harvesting companies have become big businesses due to the high price the unique birds’ nest can fetch, with companies like Siamnest getting exclusive access to areas the swiftlets nest or even creating artificial sanctuaries for swiftlets to nest.

Of note, disgraced police officer Pol Col Thitisan “Jo Ferrari” Utthanaphon, whose shocking wealth was revealed upon his arrest for suffocating a suspect in custody, was said to have made part of his fortune by trading birds’ nest.

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The source of the above Thaiger article is The Nation , which has lots of photos:

Horrifying Phatthalung bird massacre costs Siamnest THB5-bn in lost revenue

A Royal Thai Police (RTP) team visited Phatthalung province on Monday to investigate the case of missing birds’ nests and the mass killing of swiftlets.

Siamnest company, which has the concession for collecting bird’s nests from the 107 caves in Phatthalung’s seven islands, sent its teams off to collect nests from September 9 to 17.

However, when the collectors arrived at the last cave, they found no nests but instead, the carcasses of more than a million birds, the remains of a fire and trash including plastic bottles and shoes.

The damage from this bird massacre has been estimated at about 5 billion baht.

Phatthalung authorities, meanwhile, have contacted the Department of Special Investigation to see if they will consider taking on the case.

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I've been to several caves in Phattalung province mainland, but not islands -  see labels on the right.

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.

Gomantong Caves - Malayan Naturalist

My article in the Malayan Naturalist, 1996

Sumatra 2000 caving - CSS jnl

Published in Cerberus Spelaeological Society journal
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 4, January 2001
Also on CSS , see the article in the Cerberus jnl .

SUMATRA 2000

“Sumatra 2000” was a follow up to previous French expeditions to the area of Lintau Buo in West Sumatra, Indonesia. A French expedition has been going to Sumatra almost annually in the 1990’s, following the first visit in 1991. They realised there was good potential to find long river caves in the large karst areas. In 1991 and 1992 they went to Bukitinggi and Krui in West Sumatra, then in 1993 explored the Batang Sinamar area at Lintau. After the 1993 success, they returned to this area in 1995, 1996 and 1998.



The Indonesian archipelago consists of over 13,000 islands and is the world’s most expansive archipelago stretching almost 5000 km. Sumatra is a huge island which straddles the equator, lying just to the west of Malaysia and Singapore. West Sumatra, is known as Sumbar to the locals, and is known for its heavy rainfall. Unlike the densely populated island of Java, Sumatra is relatively underpopulated, but it has a lot of natural resources such as forest, oil, rubber, pepper and coffee.



Our expedition was based around Lintau which is populated by the Minangkabau people, who are Muslims. Indonesia has been suffering from a lot of bad press reports in recent years, since the economic collapse in Asia in 1998 and also because of the fighting in certain areas. But Sumbar is very safe, there is no problem there, in fact most of the areas we visited seemed quite well to do, with nice houses and no obvious signs of poverty.



The karst


There are two karst mountain ranges south of the Lintau area, Gunung Ngalau and Gunung Seribu. Our area was just to the north, around Batang Sinamar, in the plain of Lintau Buo. The limestone is permo-carboniferous, and there are some fine cone hills and towers 100 to 300 metres high. In many places the limestone ranges are bored by tunnel caves with allogenic streams. The longest of these in 1998 was Ngalau Surat, explored for 6.5km and still going.



We also looked at a karstic area near Bukitinggi,



The expedition took place in July 2000 and was the largest French expedition to date. The first members arrived in early July, and I joined them on the 7th. For me coming from Malaysia it was only a short hop across the Straits of Malacca. I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, in a small propeller plane, which took about 1½ hours. There I became an instant millionaire, as the Indonesian Rupiah stands at about RP13,000 to the £.



From Padang I took a private van to Batu Sangkar. The price was very cheap, just Rp25,000 (less than £2), which was the same price I had just paid to do the 9km from the airport by taxi. I was also told the French had done the same trip a couple of days earlier and paid Rp125,000. I thought there was a catch, but there wasn’t. The following morning I took the local bemo (bus) for the final hour’s journey to Lintau.



Lintau Buo is the name of the area, and is divided into smaller parts. Balai Tengah is the market place where the bus stopped. By this time everyone within earshot knew who I was and what I was doing as I asked for directions to Wisma Santy to meet the French. I arrived at this house at 9am, and had obviously just missed the French, and had to sit there the whole day until they showed up at 8pm for dinner. Admittedly I was 1½ days earlier than they expected me, due to my flight having been changed at the last moment.



Many of the caves in the area are superb river caves, one is 7km, another 5km etc, and most have large passages. They are also home to the sarang burung, or birds’ nests, the collection of which is a valuable industry. This gave us a few problems because we had to get permission to enter certain caves, either from the police or from the Koperasi which manages the collection. I had arrived at a bad time because the team was waiting to get a permit, and we also having a rest time having been doing some exploration prior to my arrival. So it was 3 days before I managed to get underground.



Saturday 8th

My first day with the expedition. The 9 of us set off in the local bemo towards Halaban, which is on the road to Payakumbuh. We got off somewhere on the roadside and walked to a couple of depressions that they knew about. However we only managed to find one small cave there, this was a sink taking a small stream. The entrance was a pitch which Franck bolted and went down to a second pitch which became too narrow. Total length, about 27m.



Sunday 9th

2 members went off to explore Air Lulus in the Halaban area, leaving the rest of us to go to Bukitinggi to buy provisions and look at some caves. But our transport didn’t turn up, so the landlady and I went off by motorbike to try and arrange another van. This took most of the morning, and we were only able to set off after lunch. Bukitinggi is a tourist town, accommodation there is very cheap at about 70p a night in a hotel. We then took a taxi to Baso, which is actually back on the road we had just come along to look for some caves.



Louis had managed to get some old Dutch maps dated from the 1880’s of the area, and they were remarkably accurate, and showed all the river sinks etc, so were invaluable for locating potential caves. We went to Ngalau Baso but were told we couldn’t enter it. We found out why when we walked to the entrance: a bamboo fence and locked gate surrounded the whole area, and the entrance itself was totally blocked by a concrete wall with 4 small holes for the birds, and a slit about 2m from the floor. This was my first experience of a Sumatran birds’ nest cave.



Monday 10th

We returned to Baso and headed for Ngalau Simarasop or Dog Cave. We walked to the resurgence entrance and saw many flat-bottomed boats moored outside. They are used to collect sand from the riverbed inside the cave. We negotiated with Safrizal to take us in by boat and 6 of us set off, using our carbide lights and also a damar torch attached to a bamboo pole. The boats are about 4m long and just fit through the narrow parts between rocks. We went a distance then got out and walked and were surprised when we waded past a couple of hot water inlets. We were even more surprised later on when the guide told us in Indonesian to beware of the dogs. I thought I'd misheard, but we rounded a corner and sure enough there were 2 dogs. They and their owners guard the birds’ nests. They change shifts every day or two, so don’t have to stay underground for too long at a time.



From Dog Corner the river became deep and a swim was necessary, so just two of us went on to explore. After about 400m we came to a small cascade, and beyond it we came to an area of breakdown, with enormous boulders filling the lower half of the passage. We decided to stop here as we’d been gone quite a while, and hopefully would be able to survey the cave at a later date.



Tuesday 11th


Ngalau Simarasop Liz Price
After a morning of washing and writing, 5 of us set off in the afternoon to look at an area within walking distance of the house, near the Ranting mosque. The limestone mountains form a scenic background to the green rice paddies in the valley. We started climbing up into the hills, and upon asking some rubber tappers, we were told of a 50m deep cave with a river about ½ hours walk. It was called Ngalau Kota Dalam.

Finally we did reach a small cave, but we don’t know if it was the right one, as it was only about 30m long, and were was no sign of a pitch or a river. But I did see some birds’ nests at close quarters, and was surprised as they were mossy nests, which in Malaysia don’t have much value. And I also saw the only cave racer snake of the whole expedition, it was a small one, and was neatly coiled up on top of a nest, I guess the previous occupants (the chicks) were now in the snake’s stomach.



Wednesday 12th

We split into 2 teams, one to go to Bantar, and the other to Pelayangan. I chose the latter. We set off by van for Halaban, where we turned right and headed for the Batang Sinamar. We crossed the river and were able to drive quite a way before having to stop and walk. It was an hour’s walk from here to the cave.



The cave is a resurgence, but we used a high level dry entrance, where the nest collectors have a shelter or pondok. After lunch of instant noodles we set off with our guide Ujang. A steep descent to the river then a fast stomp through the water. The water was bum deep in places, although was lower than normal, as this is the dry season. Many of the water inlets had dried up. In about 3 places we had to leave the water and climb over massive mountains of boulders and other obstructions. Much of the dry area was covered with guano and the associated cave fauna such as the huge egg-eating crickets, and equally big huntsmen spiders, thousands of millipedes, and long-legged centipedes etc. To get an idea of the size of these crickets, they actually eat swiftlet eggs and young chicks.



After Bamboo Hall I made the mistake of following the guide and Franck up a veritable mountain of ancient guano. It was horrid. We reached the top and then had to descend, which was no easier. Then at the bottom we couldn’t get down the last couple of metres to the stream, so had to do a slippery traverse. The 2 guys had to hold my feet in place to get me across – it is impossible to traverse when one’s shoes are completely hidden in a parcel of gooey bird guano. Oh to be on Mendip, where there is no guano! (only Cowsh! Ed.)



Meanwhile 2 more sensible members had reached this point easily by following the stream. The 5 of us continued upstream to the second inlet which was found in 1998, and spent the rest of the day surveying this. Again we had to leave the river in several places because of the boulder obstructions, and at one point I ended up in the roof on top of a very unstable looking earth choke, which was not pleasant. Once we regained the main river passage, we stopped at 300m. We didn’t get out of the cave until about 9.30pm, had more instant noodles, and settled down for the night on the cave floor. The swiftlets were really noisy all night flying in and out.



Thursday 13th

Not much sleep with the swiftlets, and also one of the dogs that barked at every noise he heard. Breakfast of baby cereal (the French have strange eating habits, don’t know what happened to the famous French cuisine) and climbed into our smelly wet caving clothes. We headed back to the inlet and continued surveying. We went a further 200m until we were stopped at the bottom of a 10m high waterfall. It was in a very pretty chamber with beautiful formations everywhere.



I was glad of the reflective survey markers to find the way back through the chokes.



Friday 14th

I discovered that I had had some things stolen from my bag yesterday, which we had left at the cave entrance. It must have been the nest collectors. It was only when I got home and had my films developed that I discovered that the same thief had opened my camera, and therefore ruined about 8 shots. I suppose I was lucky that he didn’t actually steal the camera.



Saturday 15th

2 guys went off alone again for an overnight trip to Air Lulus. This involved SRT and no one else wanted to accompany them. Unfortunately they were stopped by a sump. The rest of us set off for Sisawah. Firstly we had to stop at the police station at Pangian, and also bought a take away lunch in the village. Sisawah is about an hour’s drive from Balai Tengah, and is basically the southern end of the limestone massif, with Pelayangan at the northern end.



We dropped off a team of 4 who were entering Ngalau Mantu via a tributary. The rest of us drove onto Sisawah, where Louis and Anne plus a local boy Indra went to look at a cave they had found last week, leaving 3 of us to enter the resurgence of Mantu. The entrance entailed a swim, so we had a problem of where to leave our packs, as the other 2 had their large rucksacks with them. We wanted to hide them from the locals but they came in to watch so that defeated the whole object. We began surveying and I swam up to the first bend and discovered the cave finished around the corner. There was a nasty looking climb leading up to a possible hole, but we didn’t want to risk it.



We followed the water to the exit and fortunately the cave continued the other side of the wang (enclosed valley), and this time entered the main cave. Meanwhile the locals had just swarmed up and over the climb that we had refused to do. They are fearless, and cave barefoot. Inside the main cave we soon met the other 4 who had come to look for us. It was at this point that I had a close encounter… I was surveying and standing thigh deep in water when I felt something brush my bare leg (I was wearing shorts). I assumed it was the end of my belt, but when I looked down, there was a snake curling itself around my leg. I realised it wasn’t the normal cave snake, and I surprised myself at the speed I moved through the water.



The other team headed back and then started surveying out to their entrance, and we continued surveying in up to their start point. Ngalau Mantu is a really beautiful cave, not as large as Pelayangan, but with some good formations.



Sunday 16th

Another rest day. In the evening we watched the total eclipse of the moon which lasted almost 4 hours.



Monday 17th

We finally got permission to go to Sangki. Firstly we had to go to the police station, and 2 young police boys accompanied us to Sangki. This is in the direction of Sisawah, but is slightly north. From where the van could go no further, we had an hours walk to the cave, down the steep hill to the valley, across the rice fields and up the hill to the cave. We arrived at Ngalau Ikan and found there was no key to the cave. Sounds like Mendip all over again.



One team set off for the other entrance, Ngalau Sapan Kijang. The rest of us sat and waited as we wanted to avoid the trek, and also Sapan Kijang has no water, and would be a much further route into the upper reaches of Sangki. When it became apparent the key wouldn’t arrive today, we had no choice but to follow the others. At the entrance we dumped our overnight gear, and found someone to unlock the cave for us. Apparently there was a fight here last week amongst the nest collectors, and one man was killed. Inside we soon reached the first wooden ladder installed by the nest collectors. It was only about 8-10m so we negotiated it OK, and also the 3 that followed. It reminded me of Lamb Leer.



We then entered an enormous chamber and found the other team members standing at the top of a wooden ladder. They informed us it was 70m long! It was held in place on either side by 2 hemp ropes, when a caver pulled them to test, one rope broke. The 3 who had SRT prepared to descend using their own ropes, whilst the rest of us beat a retreat and went out. We decided to return to Pos Ikan and await the key in the morning.



Tuesday 18th

It was a noisy night, and a relief to get up. Everyone wanted to murder the cockerel. We discovered the wild boars had trampled the tapioca planted outside. More baby cereal for breakfast, then we had to sit and wait and wait and wait. The key was there, but there was a big discussion about the guide fee. We finally came to an agreement, and set off in 3 teams.



The entrance is a deep hole with a huge tree growing out. A steep descent into the cave, which is locked by a true Mendip size gate. I was amazed. Once we reached the main river passage, we rushed along so fast I had no time to see anything, following our barefooted guide. It was hard work against the current. I went ahead in the first team to push and survey the end of the known cave. However soon after the 1998 terminus, we were stopped by a boulder choke. There was a possible way on at water level, but it didn’t look too nice, as we didn’t know about the stability of the boulders, and also it had been raining (the first rain of the expedition) and we didn’t want to get caught in a flooded choke. There was also a barrage of barbed wire, presumably from the nest collectors. We made our way out slowly, finishing the survey and this time I had a chance to look around. The cave river is about 23°C.



Wednesday 19th

Another rest day for washing and writing and entering data on the computer.



Thursday 20th

Two members departed, leaving 3 people to go and look for Guci Cave near Bantar, 3 to stay at home with the computer, and the remaining 3 of us to go to Ngalau Indah. This is a tourist attraction, but I wanted to see it and we could do some collecting at the same time. It is down the road towards Pangian, then a 3km walk to the cave. We found the entrance resurgence has been dammed since 1998, and the water is piped away to the rice paddies. This meant there was a deep pool behind the dam wall, so we had to get wet up to waist level, whereas the main river beyond was only knee deep.



We had ignored a local man at the entrance, and plodded on upstream until we came to a “mine field” of barbed wire. It was strung out across the surface of the water and down to the floor level. At this point the man appeared and indicated we could go no further. We asked why, as we knew the cave continues for another 500m, but he was adamant we had to go back – birds nests again. So that was that. We returned and went up to the hot water inlet (30°C) near the entrance. Here Francoise took water samples, Franck caught some cave fish and I collected cockroaches. The cave name means Beautiful Cave but I wasn’t very impressed.



Friday 21st

6 people went back to Pelayangan which they pushed to a sump, leaving 3 of us to return to Simarasop. Purely by chance we met our guide Safrizal (from the 10th) along the road, and arranged for him to take us in again. This was the first time I have surveyed a cave by boat and it was great. It wasn’t as accurate as normal as we had to tie the end of the topofil to a rock, and then head up river, and it was difficult trying to site back onto the station. After a while we started using the reflective markers which was a lot easier. The French survey using the topofil, which is a thread, as it is pulled out of the box the distance is measured on a meter. They really like this method over using a measuring tape and say it is more accurate, I disagree because if you miss the station you cannot backtrack because the thread is already pulled out of the box and measured.



Anyway we surveyed the cave as far as the cascade, which was 1.2km, and 3½ hours work. Safrizal was excellent and soon caught onto what we were doing, and willingly helped out We paid him well. I thought we would continue the survey the next day, as we had brought our overnight things, but the other 2 decided we had done enough, so we went back to Lintau. It is a shame because we still don’t know how the cave continues beyond the boulders.


Saturday 22nd

Another rest day.


Sunday 23rd

2 more members departed, now we are 7. We went back to the Halaban area for a drive round, to look at any possible sites by the roadside and in an adjacent quarry. But we found nothing. My last day with the expedition.



General notes


Costs:


Sumatra is incredibly cheap now, following the economic collapse, and exchange rates in our favour. £1 is about Rp13,000.

We were able to hire vans and drivers generally whenever we wanted On average we paid about Rp50,000 a day (£4), or Rp80,000 (£6) to drop us off and pick us up the next day.



Guides we generally paid about Rp30,000 a day (£2.30), or Rp50,000 for 2 days. Except for Sangki where we had to pay Rp30,000 per guide/team, and we had 3 teams. A couple of times a local would carry a bag on a trek and be paid about Rp40,000.



Carbide is available, and costs about Rp6000 a kg (less than 50p).



In Lintau we rented a house. This was an old Minangkabau style building, with 3 rooms but no water or bathroom inside Because of the large size of the group, we also occupied 3 rooms in the landlady’s house (which luckily had 3 bathrooms). We were unsure how much to pay her, and in the end gave more than the going rate, and paid Rp800,000 (£60). This was for a month, so worked out incredibly cheaply when split between 11 people.



Breakfast and dinner we ate in Wisma Santy. This is the house used as accommodation on previous expeditions, but was too small this year. An average restaurant meal of rice, chicken & fish, sometimes beef, vegetables and coffee cost 50p – 75p.



Glossary


Minangkabau language :

Ngalau - cave
Batang - river

Indonesian :


Ikan - fish
Layang layang - swiftlets
Lulus - sink
Mata air - spring
Pensi - a freshwater bivalve
Pondok - hut or shelter
Sarang burung - birds’ nests
Sumber - spring
Tebing - big/tall river bank
Terbit - spring
Timbul - spring


Liz Price


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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

Gomantong Caves in Sabah - The Brunei Times

http://www.bt.com.bn/en/en/travel/2007/12/02/gomantong_bat_caves_awash_in_guano

Gomantong bat caves awash in guano

Bat waste: A visitor standing on a millenary mountain of guano in Gomantong (Bottom). 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. Pictures: Liz Price

Liz Price
GOMANTONG, SABAH

Sunday, December 2, 2007

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 swiftest 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.The Brunei Times