Merapoh 2013 - Baja caves

Oct 1 2013 I was with Habli, Juki and Zainudin at Gua Baja. Baja means fertiliser in English, and the hill probably has this name as guano has been taken from the caves. We explored 2 caves and named them Gua Baja Bawah and Gua Baja Atas.

Gua Baja Bawah is a ground level cave. It has some large chambers and passages, nice formations and has been extensively dug for guano. There are several entrances, this is the main one we went in -

 

 

There were plants and snail shells at one entrance -

There was also a lot of graffiti.

There are many pits left by the guano diggers and in one is the dried remains of a bird, presumably a raptor

We then left this cave and Zainudin joined us and mentioned a cave higher up. He then cut down a long thin tree and led the way to a place further round the cliff, with Juki and Habli carrying the tree. They then struggled to get it securely in place against the cliff.

 

I didn't fancy the climb up, so I waited at the bottom whilst the boys in blue went up to explore the cave, Gua Baja Atas. They were gone a long time and eventually came back, full of excitement as it was a very big cave, with huge high chambers and passages, and lot of entrances, some with good views over the surrounding hills.

 

Juki had taken lots of photos with my camera, so I could get some idea of what the cave looks like.

 

 

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Merapoh 2013 - more cave drawings, Gua Lima area

At the end of Sept 2013 I was back in Merapoh. We spent a couple of days caving in the Gua Lima area, which is just outside Kpg Merapoh. We found a few more caves with black drawings on the walls. They are similar to those at Gua Badak in Lenggong, Perak, although those have more recognisable objects such as people, animals, bicycles, trees etc.

It is not known if the Merapoh drawings are the same age as the Lenggong ones, but the latter have deteriorated over the years and are now really faded. It is thought the drawings may have been made by the local orang asli.

The first ones are on the wall of a long rock shelter, Gua Gajah Gosok, this is near a cave we named as Gua Empat Tingkat.

Some of the drawings look like people -

Various human like shapes can be seen as well as one set of squares -

There were also sign of elephants having rubber along the centre hanging rock -

From here we moved onto another hill in the area

and we named the cave Gua Jambatan Batu from this bridge -

There were drawings in the upper section

The one on the top right looks like the sun

One the next 2, the left one looks like a deer from outer space, the one on the right Habli said is a tiger eating a person!

The cave has some nice formations -

 and a few bats -

One wall was blackened from soot from fires. Outside I found a piece of pottery

A short, but interesting cave.

Another cave in the area with drawings. This is Gua Lima, aka Gua Terowong Felcra. I first visited this cave in 1996 but missed the drawings then as they are on the upper level above the entrance. I also came back in Sept 2013 and again didn't know the drawings were there.

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See Feb 2013 blog of Gua Seribu Cerita for more cave drawings.

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October 16 2013, Noel has now blogged about this rock art on his site, SEAArch, and put forward interesting suggestions. See Rock Art from Merapoh, Pahang.

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Blog on Batek orang asli who may have done the drawings

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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Gua Kajang graffiti, Lenggong, Perak

Gua Kajang is a short tunnel cave through the hill Bukit Kepala Gajah, at Lenggong in ulu Perak. My last blog about it was 2 years ago in Sept 2011.

Since then, the Lenggong Valley has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is now more than 1 year since the listing. Little has changed in the area. The main changes have been negative things such as graffiti, broken structures and lack of maintenance.

I went back to Gua Kajang in Sept 2013 and I was saddened to see fresh graffiti in the cave.

Some of the graffiti was quite high. Although I took the next 2 photos on my recent visit, when I checked my older photos I found this graffiti was there in 2012

There is a large piece of rock missing from the wall near the back door, I don't know if it is new, but I don't recall seeing it broken on previous visits -

The sign board in the pondok is broken and several tiles are missing from the roof -

This is the pondok when it was new in Aug 2012, just 1 year ago -

There were large clusters of butterflies in the entrance. Normally when they group like this they are after salts

 

 

This lack of maintenance is not, especially considering that the area is supposedly getting extra visitors now that it is a World Heritage Site.                                                                                 

 

                                                                                    

 

 

 

Stal at the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

One of the newest attractions in Singapore is the Gardens by the Bay, located by Marina Bay Sands. Although I have been to MBS, I haven't been to the gardens.

When a friend told me that there is a lot of large stal on display, I was curiously concerned. My friend said it had been imported from China.

So I googled the gardens and see there is a Chinese Garden in the Heritage Gardens. There are some photos on this site, and I also found this blog that shows some of the stones. They seem to be large pieces of rock rather than actual speleothems. I just hope they have come out of a quarry or were "free standing" stones - I hope they haven't actually been removed from any caves.

But then my concern grew when I continued googling and came across this blog Singapore Actually . It mentions a Crystal Cave and shows photos of stal - click on the link and scroll down to see the photos. The photos show some huge pieces of stal sitting on strangely shaped stands. They look totally out of place.

I continued googling and found these videos on youtube, by liberto , E. Pua and another by Pua showing the Crystal Mountain at Cloud Forest hall. There are mirrors around the hall to reflect the stalactites and stalagmites, see this blog by Alicesg . According to Wikipedia, "The Cavern and the Crystal Mountain contains exhibitions of mineraology and caves".

I don't know how these stal were imported to Singpaore, whether it was done 'legally' or not.
In the past there have been various exhibitions of speleothems in Malaysia, the supply presumably coming from China, or even Philippines.  See more on my website .

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Petition to save Gunung Kanthan, Perak, Malaysia

Petition to save Gua Kanthan and Gunung Kanthan in Perak from quarrying by Lafarge.

 

The hill and cave have very rare flora and fauna, some is found no where else in the world.

 

PLEASE would you sign it - click on the link and go to 'sign the petition'.

 

Click here for the petition .

 

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Also the Indian temple at Gunung Kanthan, Kuil Kanthan Kallumalai Sri Kaliamman, have started their own petition

 

 

Kanthan and Lafarge media & web reports

The last few months have seen a lot of articles in the press and on websites about Gua Kanthan and Gunung Kanthan, since they are being threatened by quarrying from Lafarge.

Gunung Kanthan is one of the most, if not the most, important limestone hill in Perak, Malaysia, in terms of its biodiversity. It has endemic flora and fauna, some of which is listed on IUCN Red Lists. There are several caves in the hill, the biggest and most important being Gua Kanthan. The area of hill where Gua Kanthan is located is in danger of being quarried by Lafarge. This area is also occupied by cave temples.

Since April 2013 a lot has been published about this. I will list some of those sites here -

Mongabay July 22, 2013
Rare animal species and Buddhist monks in danger of losing their home to cement quarry
Read more at Mongabay .

IUCN Red List for Liphistius kanthan trapdoor spider - listed as critically endangered. 

IUCN Red List for  Paraboea vulpina - listed as vulnerable.

IUCN Red List for Capricornis sumatraensis , the Sumatran serow - listed as vulnerable.

The Sun April 17th 2013 
'Save Kanthan Cave"

The Malay Mail April 18th 2013
'Stop Kanthan Cave rock blasting". [Reprinted on MNS www]

The Sun April 19th 2013 
Conserve ecologically sensitive cave.   [Reprinted on MNS www]

MNS Perak blog 19 Apr 2013
Green Alert: Kanthan Cave ceast to exist

NST 04 July 2013
QUARRYING: Gua Kanthan spider endangered

The Star July 4, 2013
Save endangered Gua Kanthan trapdoor spider 

Sun 04 July 2013
Save the Kanthan spider now

Star 31 Aug 2013
Limestone hills and caves: Dead or alive?

MNS 02 Sept 2013 - [from Star 31 Aug]
Limestone hills and caves: Dead or alive?

NST Business Times  2 Sept 2013,
Lafarge expansion at Kanthan

MIDA e-News 4 Sept 2013 [from NST BT 2 Sept]
Lafarge on expansion drive

Nanyang 6 Sept 2013
Rare species going extinct

The Star  07 Sept 2013
'Do not wipe out Gunung Kanthan'

The Star Property 07 Sept 2013
'Do not wipe out Gunung Kanthan'

AsiaOne [reprinted from Star 07 Sept 2013]
'Do not wipe out Gunung Kanthan'

Malaysian Digest [reprinted from Star 07 Sept 2013]
Lafarge Urged Not To Wipe Out 400 Million Year Old Gunung Kanthan

Wild Singapore [reprinted from Star 07 Sept 2013]
'Do not wipe out Gunung Kanthan'

MNS [reprinted from Star 07 Sept 2013]
Do not wipe out Gunung Kanthan - The Star, 7th September 2013

NST 7 Sept 2013
Protection programme for Gua Kanthan

The Star Business 13 Sept 2013
Sustained demand for cement

The Star 14 Sept 2013
'Mountain must be quarried first'

Ipoh Echo 170, 16-31 July 2013
Liphistius Kanthan Needs to be Saved

Ipoh Echo 173, 1-15 Sept 2013
‘Quarry’s Response to Complaints’

Also posted on Lafarge press coverage, 16 Aug 2013

Lafarge press release , 6 Aug 2013
Preservng [sic] Biodiversity - A Key Component of Kanthan Quarry Scheme

Lafarge Malaysia to set up construction development lab by year-end,
Bernama 13 Aug 2013

Lafarge Malaysia to assist affordable housing growth 13 Aug 2013
World Cement

Lafarge Malaysia to set up construction development lab  
Star Business  14 Aug 2013

Lafarge Malaysia to set up construction development lab
The Edge 14 Aug 3013

Lafarge massive expansion, 2 Sept 2013
Lafarge Embarks On Massive Expansion Plan 

Malaysian Naturalist , Sept 2013
Conservation Management of Limestone Hills in Perak - Gunung Kanthan

China Press - 19 Sept 2013
(Quarry shifts to Zone C: Gunung Kanthan's precious resource threatened)

Sin Chew , 25 Sept 2013
(mining impacts temples. Land Office will take action)

Star , 28 Sept 2013
WWF, MNS asked to join Gunung Kanthan research

MKS [reprinted from Star 28 Sept 2013]
WWF, MNS asked to join Gunung Kanthan research. With comments.

Malaysia Sun [reprinted from Star 28 Sept 2013]
WWF, MNS asked to join Gunung Kanthan research
Sin Chew , 29 Sept 2013 [reprinted from Star 28 Sept 2013]
WWF, MNS asked to join Gunung Kanthan research

Big News Network [reprinted from Star 28 Sept 2013]
WWF, MNS asked to join Gunung Kanthan research

Ipoh Echo No 176, 16-31 Oct 2013
Letter from Lafarge, "Lafarge Malaysia Berhad - Kanthan quarry development".

MNS letter to Lafarge , ' Stop all proposal to quarry the remaining Gunung Kanthan.'
This letter was sent to Lafarge in July, posted on MNS www in Dec.

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Petition by ForceOne to save the cave.

The petition was linked from UK Caving forum  and also the Norwegian cavers forum.

The news was posted on the international site for cavers, CavingNews - 20 Sept,
Spectacular Malaysian Cave in Danger of Being Quarried

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For 2014 I have started a new blog of media reports. See the blog here.

Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site postcards

The Lenggong Valley in Perak, Malaysia, has recently celebrated it's first anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As there seem to be no postcards available, and knowing that people collect cards relating to caves, and World Heritage sites and other themes, I had some printed.

There are 2 designs -

1. The archaeological gallery

2. Gua Teluk Kelawar and replica of Perak Man burial

These cards are now for sale. To order, email me, lizprice@hotmail.com .


© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission