Niah Caves, Sarawak

Niah National Park, located within Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the site of the Niah Caves limestone cave and archeological site. Niah National Park was 31.4 km² when it was gazetted in 1974.^[1] Nomination for World Heritage status of the Niah Caves was sent to UNESCO in 2010. The cave is an important prehistorical site where human remains dating to 40,000 years have been found.^[7] This is the oldest recorded human settlement in east Malaysia. More recent studies published in 2006 have shown evidence of the first human activity at the Niah caves from ca. 46,000 to ca. 34,000 years ago.^[8]
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The caves are also well known for the birds' nest (Swiftlet) industry. They are a popular tourist destination in Sarawak. Every section of the ceiling in the caves where there are birds roosting is privately owned and only the owner has the right to collect the nests. Collection is done half-yearly (usually in January and in June). The collector climbs up hundreds of feet on a single pole to the cave ceiling and scrapes off the nest in flickering candlelight.

Another activity is collecting guano. the droppings of these birds that fall down the cave floor. This job is not for the weak hearted. Climbing up and down is dangerous especially when you are strapped to have sacks of heavy odorous guano.

I have not been to Niah Caves. my guides tell me that the smell of the guano it very strong and will make the trip unpleasant. So I went to the Mulu caves. There are bats but the smell is not that bad.

Photos by my friend Noel Balan. He captioned them Local’s carrying kilos of guano everyday to earn a living. What are your excuses? Complaining about tired? hot weather? trafic jamm ? wifi slow ? 

Guano (from Quechua "wani" via Spanish) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: nutrients essential for plant growth.


Quechua /ˈkɛtʃwə/, also known as runa simi ("people's language"), is an indigenous language family, with variations spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Andes and highlands of South America.^[3] Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 8–10 million speakers.^[4] Approximately 13% of Peruvians speak Quechua.^{[5][better source needed]} It is perhaps most widely known for being the main language of the Inca Empire, and was disseminated by the colonizers throughout their reign.

Thanks: Noel Balan.