We woke to the sounds of the river wildlife stirring, soon to be followed by the obnoxious crowing of a rooster outside the window. Then we started out for the source of the river we went up, 27km upriver, to the Gomantong Bat Caves. No Batman, though. The floor of the cave is covered ankle-deep with bat guano. The bats were sleeping upside down on the roof -- at dusk two million bats supposedly come out in a swarm!
The cave we went into was about 300 feet high and 500 feet deep. The maw was fairly large and there were holes in the one we went into, so it was relatively bright and airy... for a cave.
But the focus was the swift birds' nests on the roof. Workers climb up a rickety rope ladder and pulley system to harvest the (old) nests on the roof. These are sent out to a factory to make birds' nest soup. We think that there was an Amazing Race episode that went there. The soup is very expensive, though people were saying it didn't taste good. Maybe I'll try it if I see it somewhere...
Back to Sandakan and the flight to Kota Kinabalu.
Oh, Merry Christmas from the jungle!
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