Caves in Sarawak, Malaysia



Malaysia has numerous caves due to its karst landscape that are caused by water eroding the limestone. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. The state is famous for its enormous and fascinating caves. Tourists come to enjoy the scenery of the caves and cavers and geologists come to study the geological formation and topography of the caves. Most of the caves are being mapped using the cave surveying method.

Famous caves in Sarawak
The following are some of the famous caves in Sarawak:


 * Deer Cave
 * Nasib Bagus Cave ("Good Luck Cave")
 * Niah Caves
 * The Great Niah Cave
 * Painted Cave
 * Moon Cave
 * Clearwater Cave

Mulu Caves
Mulu Caves are located at Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, which is a World Heritage site. The Mulu Caves are the largest caves in the world and famous for limestone formations such as pinnacles. It has become a main attraction for tourists who love caving and also for cave explorers that study speleology.



Deer Cave
The 1.6 kilometer Deer Cave is a popular tourist attraction of Gunung Mulu National Park, and famed for its scenery. Every evening, millions of bats fly out from the cave to search of food.

Nasib Bagus Cave
In Nasib Bagus Cave ("Good Luck Cave"), one of the cave chambers, Sarawak Chamber, is known as the largest underground cave chamber in the world. It is measured at 700 meters long, 369 meters wide and 70 meters high. According to BBC’s Planet Earth series, the chamber can accommodate about 40 of Boeing 747 aircraft.

Niah Caves
Niah Caves is located at Niah National Park, Sarawak. The park is well-known as one of the earliest birthplaces of civilization discovered in South-East Asia. It has become one of the most important archeological sites in the world.

The Great Niah Cave
In 1957, research pioneered by Sarawak Museum’s curator, Tom Harrison, found evidences of early human settlement dating to 40,000 years ago at the West Mouth of Niah Great Caves. The excavation site revealed tools, cooking utensils and ornaments made of bone and clay. This suggests a period of settlement in the Palaeolithic Era, an early phase of Stone Age.

Painted Cave


About 150 meters from the southeastern tip of Niah Great Cave’s block, Painted Cave is situated in a smaller limestone block. This site is where the famous Niah cave paintings were found. The rock paintings have been dated as 1200 years old. Archeologists also found an ancient burial site of wooden coffins, or ‘death-ships’. The death ships are the coffins that were used to contain the bodies of the dead, and the painting on the cave’s wall is believed to be about the journey of the warriors after their death.