Gomantong Caves Travel Guide

Still full with impressions of the Gomantong Caves we are on our way again, our destination is not for away anymore, we are getting close to Sukau.

During our ride we saw this artificial cave. I know, I know, it is a very bad picture. But it isn't easy to take photos out of a minivan, while being tossed around like a milkshake because of the bumpy road :-)) But it was interesting to see this artificial cave, so that's why I decided to post the picture anyway.

The Gomantong Caves are protected and it is only allowed to harvest the nests of the swiftlets twice a year. The birds nests are worth a lot of money though, and that's why they started this artificial cave.

There are four species of swiftlets that build their nests on the wall of the cave. But there are only two of types that are edible. The "black " nests are less valuable and they consist of hardened saliva mixed with feathers. The other type of nests are the "white " nests, which are made of pure saliva These 'white' nests can fetch more than US$ 500 per kilogram.

You can read more about the rest of this trip on my Sandakan page!

You absolutely need a good torch when you go inside the cave. It is pitch dark in there and as you probably understood of my previous tip, it is quite nice to see where you are walking. The walls, the board walk, the railing are covered with huge cockroaches. Oh yes, and if you are interested, you can spot some other creepy insects on the walls of the cave as well! The trail follows those walls, so you have lots of opportunities to have a look! ;-)) I can't remember the exact name, but I can recall being highly impressed by seeing a huge poisonous bird-eating centipedes and spiders...... eekss..... can we continue our walk now.... I want to get out of this cave!!!! :-))

Nope, not yet! Hahaha, we have to see 'why' we are in this cave first! It is time to look up! Looking up is interesting as you can see those thousands of bats and swiftlets. Besides that you can see the constructions the local people use to harvest the birds nests. The cave is so high, it is hard to believe they can climb up there just using ladders, ropes and poles. The birds nest are used for the famous Chinese 'bird's nest soup'. And these birds nests is what makes this cave so unique.

How interesting it may be to look up, I have to warn you for doing that at the same time! The swiftlets and bats don't care where they drop there sh!t, and if you don't watch it, it might be on your head. As you can see I am torn between disgust and amazement by this cave. Hahaha, but I 'survived' and I am happy to have dared to have unique and most likely 'one time' experience :-))

As I don't have any pictures of inside the cave myself, I'll give you two links to pics on the web instead. On the first one you can see the cave, on the second one you can see a picture of a swiftlet inside the cave.

picture of the Gomantong Cave
Picture of a swiftlet inside the cave

The cave is a totally 'different' experience, absolutely not something for the faint-hearted. It is dark inside the cave and it is hard to orientate where you are and what's actually in the cave, when you go in....

High above you circle thousands, maybe millions of bats and swiftlets. Most of the swiftlets are out for the day and the bats are sleeping. But at dusk and dawn it must be a spectacular sight to see them enter and leave the cave, as there are millions of them living here.

When you get used to the dark you will be able to spot the swiftlets and the bats. The smell is almost unbearable. But all that for me was not the worst...... The boardwalk was slippery from all the bat- and bird sh!t.... and with every step I took I could see hundreds of cockroaches flee away from my feet. And I am not kidding if I say they are HUGE! And sooo many.... arghhhh.... I was trembling on my feet! The boardwalk was covered with them, I could hardly see the floor because of these cockroaches. But as soon as I moved my feet they all fled to the sides..... and to my relief they did that with every step I took ;-))

There was a railing on the side of the board walk, so you had something to hold on to. Quite a nice idea, as it was so slippery in here and I was rather afraid of falling down. But eehhhh..... again, hundreds of those huge cockroaches called these railings there 'home'. Not something I would like to put my bear hands onto... eeeeeks!

No I did not scream, even if my heart was pounding hard, and all I could think was 'Why am I doing this!!!!!???'.

What can I say, besides that this is a totally 'different' experience :-)) Would I do it again.... hahaha, probably not. But I am glad I did it once in my life, just to prove that I could, but I think I don't need another one of these 'creepy crawler' experiences.

At the parking lot we changed into more appropriate clothes for the caves: long pants, long sleeved shirts and a hat to protect my head. The bottom of my pants were nicely secured by being tugged into my socks..... I had heard about the many creepy crawlers in this cave, and I didn't want to give any of those an opportunity to crawl up my leg! Eeeeeks!

All of these precautions are really necessary to 'survive' this cave without screaming out loud all the time, LOL. The reason for all this is the risk of droppings from the many bats and swiftlets in the cave and of course the threat from ALL sides of the creepy crawlers.

But first of all we need to walk to the cave. The hike is easy as the whole trail is over this boardwalk. It was boiling hot though in the rainforest and the tropical moist heat was hard to bear. When you walk here do keep your eyes open! If you are looking you might spot monkeys in the trees!

The closer you get to the cave, the clearer the smell gets. The odour of bird and bat sh!t is very distinct. No doubt about it where you are going..... the smell says it all!

Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures in and around the cave without paying a camera fee. For a normal camera we had to pay 30 Malaysian Ringgit, which is about 8 USD or 6,50 Euro. A bit too much we thought, Especially considering that it would be hard to take pictures inside the dark cave anyway.

So unfortunately I can't show you any pictures of the cave and of its various 'inhabitants'. But instead I'll try to paint you a picture with words in the next few tips. Hahaha, I have a feeling that is going to be impressive enough, as some of these 'cave-inhabitants' are rather creepy ;-))

Selamat Datang Ke Gomantong / Welcome to the Gomangong Cave! We have finally arrived at the entrance gate of the Gomantong cave. The gate looks old and rusty, hahaha, not the best-looking 'welcome' to the cave. But I guess the ones that drive this far don’t care about the gate, but just want to see this cave. From the gate it was another 5 kilometres on a bumpy road to get to the trail that leads to the cave.

The Gomantong cave is the largest cave system in Sabah. But the reason why it is so famous is that it is home for over one million swiftlets. A swiftlet is a type of bird and their nests are collected for the famous Chinese 'bird's nest soup'.

But this last little bit of the journey isn't easy. We are on an unpaved road now, it is bumpy, shaky and dusty. We still have 25 kilometres to go before we get to the Gomantong caves.

After only 1 kilometre I already feel like a milkshake; this road is so bumpy! But the excitement that we are getting close to our next stop makes us forget about that. 1 more hour of 'shaking' to go and we are at the Gomantong cave!

I visited the Gomantong Caves during a journey from Mount Kinabalu to Sukau. After a great lunch in a little restaurant on the side of the road, it was time to get into the minivan again. The road continues and so do the endless rows of palm oil trees. The journey seems endless. But we finally get to the crossing for our last little bit of the trip. We turn left on an unpaved road that will bring us to the Gomantong Cave and the Lower Kinabatangan area. Our stop for the coming days.