Mulu National Park Sarawak Borneo

Mulu National Park located in the interiors of Sarawak, Malaysia and is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Malaysia. With a excellent variety for trekking, exploring, caving, adventure, Eco tourism with a ton of flora and fauna. Traveling to Mulu will be easiest done by booking ahead with the Royal Mulu Resort or at any of the National Park Lodgings. I usually book my trips with my local travel agent in Kuching where I travel by flight from Kuching to Miri and then change my plane to Malaysia Airlines MAS Wings smaller planes to Mulu.

The flight time from Miri to Mulu is about 30 minutes. Other places you can travel to Mulu are from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. There are no direct flights from Kuala Lumpur, Singapore of Bangkok. Once you arrive at Mulu National Park, you are totally cut off from modern civilization except for the Royal Mulu Resort. Do not expect shopping malls or streets and shops in Mulu. There are also no taxis, buses or highways here.

Mulu National Park - Longboat jetty

There is an alternative method to getting to Mulu for the hard core naturalists and adventure seekers. It is a 10 hour long boat ride from Miri to Mulu. If you are gain for this adventure, then you need to check carefully as the boat system can be unreliable due to water levels along the way.

You can contact these companies for more info on the boat trip to Mulu Park;

• Amiho Travel Services - 085 755025
• Lee Yong Express Company in Marudi - 085 756749

Mulu National Park Local bar and restaurant

Before you reach the park or if you step out of the park, you will see one or two local restaurants and bars. They serve local Sarawakian food and drinks there. Some even serve you a cold beer and all this for a price. Remember, there are no malls or supermarkets in Mulu. I tried several of them and found the food quite interesting compared to the Resort food, which is also quite good. In the park itself, there is a local restaurant and information center.

Main suspended bridge to park entrance

Getting to the Mulu National Park is easy as the Royal Mulu Resort organises daily tours or if you are staying at the park itself, you can just register for the various nature related activities from the park headquarters. The main mode of transport at the Mulu National Park is via trekking or longboats. So you will be seeing a lot of longboats along the Melinau River which serves as the main water way to all the sightseeing including stop overs at some of the local tribe villages like the Penan at Long Iman or the Berawan villages. If you stay at the Royal Mulu Resort, they have a shuttle bus or tuk tuk to take you to the park and back.

Longhouse lodging

General lodging/accomodation is also available at the park with rooms from RM20.00 to RM150.00. The cheaper ones with out air conditioning and dormitory styled while the more expensive ones have single rooms with attached hot/cold shower. Check the type of accommodation you will want. Of course, luxury living would mean staying at the Royal Mulu Resort.



At the Mulu National Park, all guest are required to pay a Park Entrance Fee of RM10.00 (US$3.30) for each day you visit the park. The park also hires local guides who know the parks and its surrounds pretty well. They are highly trained and speak English. The park rangers or guides are from the ethnic tribes or Berawan, Murut, Penan, Klabit, Lun Bawang and even Ibans. So you have a fantastic mix of cultures there and they are very friendly people. For your added info, you cannot enter the park without a park guide here.

Me and a park guide having a discussion

My park guide was very friendly and informative. I had a great time talking to him and asking him about his tribe and also about the Mulu park in general. In the picture above, you see me and the park guide in deep conversation. As mentioned, they are very friendly and knowledgeable about the National Park and related matters. No tipping is required but if you think they deserve it, why not.

First stop, main information hut to park

On entering the Mulu National Park, you will come to the main walkway entrance where there is a list of do's and dont's for the park. You should read it or ask your guide about it. Your park guide will be with you at all times during your exploration at the Mulu National Park.

Raised wooden walkways

The walkways throughout the Mulu National Park is made from rich quality wood and certain parts are concrete. You will see the railed wooden walkways raised above the ground to conserve the floor of the rainforest here. From the walkways, you can observe nature at its best.

Exploring the Mulu Park

Some paths or walkways lead off the main walkway so please check with your park guide and do not wander off. If you have kids, please do keep an eye on them as from the walkways, one can easily slip through and fall.



The Mulu National Park boasts of 52,000 hectares of rainforest and this alone caters to thousands of flora and fauna found here. On occasion, you may even spot the great Hornbills as I did on one of my visits there. Your Mulu park guide will also inform you if he or she hears the local Sarawak Hornbill around the area.

Mulu National Park Wooden bridge

There is a main bridge in the park where the path is divided to two. On the left, you get to explore the Canopy Walk and the right takes you all the way to the Deer and Lang Cave while at the end, there is the Bat Observatory. If you are already here, I would advise tat you take the canopy walk experience as it will be one to remember.

A view of the canopy walk from below the trek

Mulu National Park - A small cave

My guide stopped at one part of the park and showed me a little cave. According to him, there are bone fragments of human remains left in there. How true this is, I cannot be sure as I am no expert. So, we ventured into that came to see it with out own eyes. Usually the park guides will not let you do that, but we we allowed to do so as we had a special park permit while there.

Bone fragments. Human or Animal?

After carefully climbing in to the cave, we found the bone fragments. Above is a picture of it. It could have been human then again, animal. So it is still a mystery till this very day though some claim that these are indeed animal bones.

Amazing flora colours

Mulu National Park - Observing some trees

There are a lot of information boards on wildlife, flora and fauna in the park when you are exploring it. You will see it be the walkways. Also every few hundred meters, there are shelters for you to rest. It also serves as a rain shelter. Do ask your park guide about this when you are there.

Information boards along the walkways

Mulu National Park - Random nature pictures

The best part about the Mulu National Park is that you can just walk for hours and hours admiring the natural beauty of the rainforest taking in the fresh smells and listeing to the jungle sounds. Peaceful and bliss.

Entrance to the Lang Caves

At the end of the main walk in the park, you will come across a couple of caves and signs indicating what cave it is. There are 2 main caves here which are the Lang Cave and Deer Cave. The Bat Observatory is also located here. The place is covered and there are some locals who sell drinks and snacks. Nothing heavy, chips and some chocolate bars.

The Bat Observatory which is the most popular ares also has a Bat Viewing TV mounted on the wall in a metal casing where a live feed is linked to the Bat Cam located in the Deer Cave. On rainy days, a replay is shown to the visitors here.

Mulu National Park - One of the large trees

Mulu National Park - Size comparison

Mulu National Park - Binuang Tree

The picture above shows a Binuang Tree, it spans over 8 feet across the base of the tree and is over 100 feet tall which is aver a hundred years old. Trees like this can be found throughout the national park. Please check with your local guide about them.

A jungle fern called Ekor Kuching or Cats Tail

At the end of the day, you will be lead to the Bat Observatory to view the millions of bats that fly out every evening for their food. This is one spectacular sight you must see. When the sun is almost down, you will be lead out of the park by the guides. And they make sure every one leaves the park before closing it. There is also a night exploration conducted by he park and you can inquire about this at the park headquarters. Other places of interest found here are also the Clearwater Cave and Wind Cave. There is also a review on the Royal Mulu Resort.

Things to bring on your exploration (in no order);

1. Poncho or small umbrella
2. Torch Light or Head Torch for the caves
3. Light snacks and mineral water
4. A mini first aid kit
5. Bug Repellent if needed
6. A basic camera stand for the cave pictures
7. Good walking or trekking shoes
8. Toilet paper or wet wipes
9. Binoculars for bird or critter watching

Things you should not do in the park;

1. No smoking
2. No littering
3. No shouting/cussing

If you have to smoke, there are places you can do so like the huts or the Bat Observatory but please bring your own ash tray and do not litter your buds. I would advice to keep your addiction till you really need it as there are many people there who came all the way to enjoy the fresh rainforest air. With this, I do hope you enjoyed my article on the Mulu National Park. If you plan a trip there, make sure you visit all the interesting places and do drop me a note about your trip. Other than that, have fun when you pay a visit to the Mulu National Park in Sarawak Borneo.