162. Great Niah cave
It took more than an hour to reach the cave. The entrance was very impressive, especially from the
inside. However, the first thing we noticed was the foul smell from the bat's guano. Local people
collect it from the floor and sell it as fertiliser.
The other "industry" in the cave is nest collecting.
The workers climb on tiny rails up to the roof to collect swiftlet nests,
which are sold to exclusive restaurants for making soup.
At that moment, it was off-season for this kind of activity, but
it looked really unsafe to climb those rails. The cave was more than 50 metres
high at some places, and occasionally a nest-collector would loose the grip and fall down.
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Contents
Miri and around
146
Kelabit Highlands
