Gua Boni Ayu at Sukabumi in Java

In 2002 I visited Gua Boni Ayu at Sukabumi in Java, Indonesia.

On 6 Sept 2013 the Jakarta Post did a feature on this cave, in the travel section.
 A 60-million-year-old ‘ghost cave’ awaits the brave in Sukabumi

Click on the above link to read the article which has a few photos.
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Caving in Malaysia article in Time Out 2013/14

I wrote an article called "Caving into adventure" for Time Out Malaysia. This is the annual edition, 2013/14 Malaysia for visitors. Published by Mongoose Publishing.

I described caving in general and then featured 5 specific areas, one of which is Merapoh in Pahang -

If you want to read any more, please buy a copy, available in all bookshops in Malaysia, RM38.

Rock art of Gua Seribu Cerita on TV

In Feb 2013 I wrote about some rock art in Gua Seribu Cerita in Merapoh, Pahang, Malaysia. At the same time we were filming in several of the caves for a documentary called Misi Merapoh. This was shown on TV on 21 October 2013.

The documentary is just under an hour long. Here is a segment of me talking about the drawings in Gua Seribu Cerita.

Misi Merapoh documentary on TV

In Feb 2013 KL Motion Picture Co were filming in Merapoh, to make a documentary to try
and save the hills and caves from being quarried. See my blog of the filming.

The film is called Misi Merapoh (Merapoh Mission) and was shown on 21 October 2013, on
RTM TV2 : Dokumentari Hari Alam Sekitar 2013: Misi Merapoh . It is almost an hour long.

You can see the film here (it starts with a cartoon!)
or it is on youtube in 5 parts :

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Rat skeleton in Gua Jebuk, Merapoh, Pahang

We found a whole rat skeleton in Gua Jebuk, Merapoh, Pahang. Surprisingly it had hardly been disturbed by scavengers.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Merapoh 2013 - Gua Jebuk

We have had 2 failed attempts in the past to find Gua Jebuk, on 1 Dec 2012 and 30 Sept 2013. I knew it existed, as a friend had been to the entrance, and I knew it was located on the west side of Gunung Teluk Gunung. At first, none of the locals we spoke to knew of it. Then we heard that the headman of the orang asli village knows the cave, so on 30 Sept we went to find him, but he had gone into the forest.

We had our 3rd attempt on 1st Oct and it was a case of 3rd time lucky. We found the mystery cave. And we realized that on our earlier attempts we had been either side of it, and very close - just not close enough!

1 Oct was proving to be a successful day. Firstly we went to Gunung Rakit, but having climbed some way up an almost vertical slope we gave up as we weren't on a proper wall or cliff. And we were unable to drive around the hill. So we went over to Bukit Baja and explored 2 large caves, Gua Baja Bawah and Gua Baja Atas.

After that success we went to our regular coffee shop for a break. Whilst there a local man came in and he knew the way to Gua Jebuk. So we followed him on motorbikes and he led us straight there.



sawit seedling struggling to survive

Juki pointing at a snake skin

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Some snail shells from Pahang and Perak limestone

I've just spent a few days caving in the Merapoh area of Pahang, followed by a trip to Perak. I saw a variety of snail shells, and took some photos of the larger ones.

This group of shells are the ones commonly seen in photos associated with Perak Man -

The yellow shell is Amphidromus atricallosus perakensis , and is also found across the border in Pahang!

This looks like the African land snail, though they are far smaller than the ones I've seen in Africa -

although this one is bigger -

The next photo shows a shell I collected in Madadascar above one I collected in Perak -

I would welcome any identifications for the above shells.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission