[2024 Niah Attraction] Travel Guide for Niah Caves (Updated Oct)
Caves
Address:
98200 Niah, Sarawak, Malaysia
Opening times:
Open today at 8:00-17:00Opening Soon
Phone:
+60 85-737 450
Niah Caves - Niah National Park, MYY
The Great Cave at Niah National Park, Sarawak.
We went to Miri to explore the Mulu and Niah National Parks and mainly to visit the caves that are famous for adventure tours. The Niah National Park of Sarawak is located on the river Niah (or Sungei Niah) 110 km South East of the border town of Miri. Majority of the guests visit the Niah Caves, namely the Traders Cave, the Great Cave and the Painted Cave.
Visitors are made to cross the small river, although a simple bridge will make the crossings much easier and faster. We guess purpose of the little boat is to provide income for the local people. Across the river is a small but informative museum that give the history of the caves. The history of the caves of Sarawak dates from the year 1874. But it was much later in 1954 that human remains was discovered in the Niah Caves. The Great Cave is part of the site where human remains as old as 40,000 years were discovered. Excavation is still going on up to this day.
From the museum, a board walk leads all the way across deep jungle to the entrance of the Traders Cave. The 4.2 km plank walk gives visitors an easy hike above the mud and rough terrain of the deep jungle. There are 5 rest huts for weary legs, on the way, and a wash room next to a hut selling souvenir and drinks, man by Iban women, from the longhouse nearby.
After the short break, we headed to the Caves, starting from the Traders Cave, followed by the Great Cave and ended with a short stay at the Painted Cave. We will write about the Traders Cave and the Painted Cave in the following review.
Unlike the caves in Mulu National Park the Caves in Niah National Park are not lighted by electricity. A good flashlight with new batteries is a must in the Great Cave, so are hats (against bat droppings) and a strong pair of hiking shoes. The plank walk is always wet and slippery with water and bat droppings constantly raining down from the ceiling of the cave. The chamber of the Great Cave (hence its name) is enormous and high. One can imagine the hard task of the workers that climb bamboo poles, to harvest the bird nests, the swifts build, on the ceilings of the chamber. It is a precarious way of earning a living and death from falls do come to pass. Bird nests and guano (droppings of bats) collection provide valuable income for the local communities. There is a rest hut in the west entrance of the Great Cave that provide rest for the workers. Astounded by the weight I had to ask the guy twice.
We were too tired to wait for the exodus of bats leaving the Great Cave for their evening forage and moreover we had seen the bats leaving the Deer Cave, two days before, in Mulu National Park, so we immediately took the long hike back to the Park Head Quarters.
#tripblazers #awesomepic #cave
Fearless_Queen
Gua Niah (Niah Caves) Entrance, Niah, Sarawak
#travellerswonderland
Beautiful cave. Some parts are pitch black, so it's recommended to bring torch lights. The entire trail is about 4.2km long (one way), all the way to the painters cave. May take longer than usual because there are many steps, might be slippery especially inside the caves, timber walking deck with spacing in between restricts moving too fast.
mR. NaiFoS
Niah National Park
Must visit when you're in Miri. A two-hour drive from Miri, Niah National Park can be explored through a plank walk within the lowland forest with a fantastic flora and fauna.
Walk ~3km to reach the trader's cave --> great cave --> painted cave. Amazing place. Visitors need to take their own torch lights or headlamps with them.
Beautiful 40,000 year old caves the trail to reach is around 3Km one way.
I enjoyed exploring this historic place.
Our dream destination is to go to Hong Kong for my family trip as Hong Kong is paradise for food lovers, offering a wide variety of culinary delights. My family will enjoy it very much.
Mel22
Back in time at Niah Caves.
#exploreasia While staying in Miri we decided to go on a day trip to Niah Caves. We took a bus from Miri station to Niah. At Miri station there are plenty of taxis available to take you to the Niah national park. I recommend asking for the number of the taxi driver for later pickup, because there aren't many taxis at the park entrance.
The entrance fee for the park is 20 RM (foreigners). To get into the park you have to watch a short informative video and cross a river with the boat (charge is 1 RM to cross the river). You have to walk for roughly 30 minutes to get to the cave entrance.
Don't make the same mistake I did and bring some shoes with a good profile, because the road towards the cave can be slippery. Along the way there is a possibility to use the toilet and to buy some drinks.
The cave area has multiple archeological sites. To reach the painted cave walls you need to cross a dark section of the cave. although it is possible to cross this section with mobile phone flashlight, I recommend taking a torch light with with you.
The painted cave wall section isn't very large, but still impressive to see. In total we spend about 5 hours in the park.
Definitely would recommend visiting the Niah Caves if you are looking for something to do in the Miri area.
Marc Wijbenga
The Great Cave
📍 Niah National Park, 98200 Miri, Sarawak
Niah Cave holds a lot of history that we learned in school. Niah Cave takes almost 2 hours to walk one way. So make it 4 hours to complete the journey 😅. Make sure you have enough flashlights and batteries. Some part of the cave when entering, it's dark. The destination is not too difficult but it’s a long journey and please expect stairs up and down. Just follow the Niah National Park sign board.
Bring water (even in the middle of the forest there are stalls selling food and drinks ☺️)
Entrance pass RM10 for adults
Boat fare to the other side RM1 one way (another RM1 for a return fare)
Painted cave nothing much to see (the last 2 pics)
Happy trails!
#wecreate #couplestrip #nationalpark
Ajelin Lin
Gua Niah @ Batu Niah, Miri - Sarawak
Getting There - closes airport Miri. Rented a car.
Attractions - Historical wall paintings on cave wall, natural beauty of lime stone cave, National park, hiking and tracking outdoors
Hotels - few small hotel at Batu Niah itself. I stayed at Miri which was 1.5 hours drive to the caves (90km). There are also chalets at the park grounds
Food & Restaurants - reasonable priced chinese restaurants in the small town and local restaurants a plenty
Shopping - nil
Experience: one of many beauties of the Sarawak’s natural forest and caves. The park was reasonably maintained with proper walk paths which run over the mangroves on most area. Sections of the cave is pitch dark, wet and slippery. One way in and one way out walk path design. Total time need to complete the entire cave and exploration is roughly 3-4 hours. The topography can be challenging which requires climbing steep steps for 50m up and down for a few times.
Advice: Bring a long a flash light fully charge. Mobile signal is non existent in the cave. You need to be fit to explore this site. I clocked 23K steps on my Fitbit. There is 1 half way stall selling drinks, no food. I suggest to reach the park early when there is plenty of light. The sun beams are really a sight when shining through the openings of the cave. Wear proper tracking shoes for your own safety. The caves will smell of bat and swiftlet poop, smell will be more intense during the afternoon when it is hotter. #awesomepic #tripblazers