Mulu Caves 1996 & 1998

During October 1996 members of the Sarawak Forestry Department together with 8 British cave explorers visited the Hidden Valley area of the Gunung Mulu National Park in northern Sarawak. Seven new caves were discovered and a total of 10.5km of previously undiscovered cave passages were explored and surveyed in the deep dolines beyond the Hidden Valley gorge. The Expedition entered totally unexplored areas of the Park which, due to the inhospitable nature of the terrain, had never before been visited by man.

During February 1998 a return was made to the same area to continue exploration. A camp was established outside Lubang Nasib Bagus. Access to the caves was via Cobra Cave. 8.4km of caves were explored and surveyed and a connection was made between two major systems to bring the Cobra/Cloud/Bridge system to 15.5km in length.

The El Nino year caused a severe drought allowing exploration of both the Invader Streamway, beneath Cobra Cave, and also Clearwater VI Streamway, which had been inaccessible to expeditions since its discovery in 1990.

The harshness of the karst landscape in this area of Gunung Api undoubtedly made these two expeditions the most physically demanding of any in the series of 'Mulu Caves' expeditions. Although there is little doubt that further entrances lie unseen, beneath the forest canopy, it is likely that many may never be discovered due to the impenetrable nature of the surrounding landscape.