Deer Cave, Mulu National Park

Deer Cave is a cave in the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak. Along with the adjacent Lang's Cave, Deer Cave is the nearest cave to the park headquarters. A wooden walkway links takes you there. Measuring 2.16 km in length and 220 meters in depth, Deer Cave is said to be the world's largest cave corridor. The main cavern measures 173 meters wide and 122 meters high. You can explore them easily by following the wooden walkway and steps. It was given the name Gua Payau or Gua Rusa by the Penan and Berawan tribes, for deer used to be seen sheltering here.

Deer Cave is a gigantic cavity on the mountain side. As you approach it, you will feel the unpleasant smell of bat droppings, or guano, hanging in the air. The floor of the cave is deep in guano produced by the two million or so free-tailed bats that stay in that cave. As you shine your torch, they all appear like a shinny mass covering whole walls of the cave. They roost by day and beging their night shift around 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, when they leave Deer Cave en masse. It is an unforgettable sight to witness these daily departures, and you should attempt to be at Deer Cave in the evening to catch it. The swarm of bats do not fly helter skelter. Rather, even as they leave the cave, they seem to follow an aerial path that make them look like some celestial serpent in the sky.

A short distance from Deer Cave is Lang's Cave.

Postscript: oh yes, before I forget - there's a spot inside Deer Cave which, looking out, gives you the profile of Abraham Lincoln.

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