Lenggong archaeological gallery, again

Went back to Lenggong Musuem again - or I should say gallery, as that is now its new name.

New sign on the junction to the museum

However at the museum, the new signs have not been put up yet - there is still a blank white space below the roof

 the old name -

It has been 6 months since my last visit (see link above) and 8 months since I posted a general blog.

The upstairs gallery is now open. However it is not especially exciting, it is just a series of posters of Malaysian World Heritage sites and many posters on how Lenggong achieved its recognition. There are just 3 small display cabinets and a video.

There was one "politically correct" poster showing people praying for Lenggong to be inscribed as a World Heritage, and shows people of 4 religions praying - Muslims, Christians in a church, Chinese in a temple and Indians -

At least all the posters are recent and mention Bukit Bunuh at 1.83 myo (unlike the displays downstairs).

As usual the English on the posters wasn't proofread and there are mistakes.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Elephants in and around Merapoh caves

The Merapoh area in northern Pahang is situated on the boundary of Taman Negara, Malaysia's largest and oldest national park. The park is home to large mammals such as elephants and big cats. Of course these animals are not restricted to the park and are found in other places in Malaysia.

Elephants are known to go into caves, the most famous example being the Kitum Caves at Mount Elgon in Kenya. In Taman Negara, Malaysia many years ago I was camping alone in Gua Kepayang Besar and when I left in the  morning there was a steaming pile of elephant dung in the cave entrance. I later saw an elephant as I was trekking.

In Merapoh in Sept 2012 we found elephant dung in Gua Gajah Marah

 and in Gua Putera Mandi in Nov -

Whilst visiting to Gua Hari Malaysia in Sept 2012 we found elephant bones both downsteam and upstream of the cave.

This is the tooth of an elephant -

In June 2013 I visited the Natural History Museum in London, and took this photo of the tooth of an Asiatic elephant.

When we visited Gua Hari Malaysia in Feb 2013, we found a lower jaw and a leg bone from an elephant. I wonder if all the bones came from the same elephant.

 

The leg bone

The bones were taken back to the Merapoh hostel

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Documentary filming in Merapoh caves

From 19-24 Feb 2013, KL Motion Picture Company were filming a documentary for part of the Save Merapoh Caves campaign. Called Misi Merapoh, the object was to portray the Merapoh caves, to show how beautiful and interesting they are.

The first day was shot in Gua Tahi Bintang. With the filming lights the cave looked even more spectacular.

The colours and the bedding showed up clearly

In the evening we went to Gua Seribu Cerita. This is the cave with many rock drawings.

The next day we went to Gua Hari Malaysia. On the way to the cave we found an elephant jaw and leg bone.

Filming in the cave was very slow and we got totally wet in the low section. We all got very, very cold (hard to believe we were in Malaysia!). Also the cold wind from the waterfall made it worse, so we went as far as the first waterfall, then left.

Protecting the camera from drips -

and there were many drips -

On the 3rd day of filming we went to Gua Jinjang Pelamin. We filmed in the entrance, then had a lunch break before going straight to the Twin Towers.

We put a rope on one of the climbs, and this is the "3 man belay"!!! -

Filming the guano which is home to many cockroaches -

I found the bones of a cave racer. See more on xxx.

Other inhabitants -

 Scorpion, and spider with egg sac

A Bufo toad, and a dead fruit bat -

The next day we went to Gua Air Mata Dayang and Gua Kolam Biru. The guys constructed a raft to enable the cameraman to go across the lake and into the cave. I swam this a couple of weeks earlier.

Juki also had a look underwater

Filming at Kolam Biru -

On the final day of filming, the object was to record the team looking for a new cave. We went to Bukit Tekong as Seni knew of a cave in a part of the hill we hadn't yet looked at.

 It was a nice area, with lots of flora such as Monophyllaea, Begonias, ferns etc. We named on cave Gua Tekong Taman from the garden outside.

Inside was a skin from a King Cobra, 

There were also some bones, possibly porcupine -

I also saw a cave racer, it was the largest one I've seen in the Merapoh caves -

The cave had several entrances and an upper level. Looking down on the entrance from the upper chamber -

Next to it is Gua Tekong Terowong, which is a tunnel through the hill and is about 30 m long. Inside were the bones of a wild boar.

And a few toads

Tunnel back door -

At the back of the hill we only found one short cave, named Gua Tekong Jodoh.

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See my blog of the finished film, Misi Merapoh, it was shown on RTM TV2 on 21October 2013.
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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission