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Some items from the press relating to caves Contents :
Gua Kelam
Book on Perak cave temples
Gua - a board game inspired by Mulu caves
Wind Cave reopened after floods
Niah Cave human remains to return to Malaysia
Mulu Caves Project 2017
Dered Krian, Bau
Mulu Park to be taken over by a Chinese group
Road to Mulu
Torch run through Mulu
Perak plans to develop largest geological park in the country
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Gua Kelam in disrepair
The year started with a report from NST on 3 Jan about the lack of maintenance at Gua Kelam in Perlis. Dark Future for Gua Kelam. The train into Gua Kelam 2 stopped running some time ago (2013?), see reports in Dec 2015.
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Study on Perak cave temples
Bernama on 6 Jan reported that a study would be done on some of the cave temples in Perak :
Publication Of Study On Chinese Temples In Cave Will Put Perak On World Map
IPOH, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences today signed an agreement to publish a study on Chinese temples in caves around Ipoh which is put Perak on the world map.
State Health, Transport, National Integration, Non-Muslim Affairs and New Villages Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the study would be conducted by UTAR and the Academy.
"Among temples selected are Nam To Ngam and Loong Thow Ngam Tao temples at Gunung Lang, Sam Poh Tong and Nam Thean Tong temples at Gunung Rapat," he told a press conference after the signing here, today.
Dr Mah said he was confident that the publication, expected to be released in July, could attract more Chinese tourists to Perak, especially Ipoh.
"Before this tourists from China will just stop over at two or three temples before travelling to other states.
"But with this book I am sure they will be attracted to see more and will spend a night in Ipoh," he said.
NST 5 Jan "China's publisher set to publish book on Perak's temple caves". The Star on 9 Jan also had an article on this book, "Book on cave temples to be launched".
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Gua - board game inspired by Mulu
The Borneo Post 11 Jan described a new board game called Gua - "BoBs new game inspired by Mulu Caves". BoB or Beast of Borneo is the publishing company that produced Gua.
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Wind Cave reopened after floods
Wind Cave at Bau is affected by flooding most monsoon seasons. In 2017 it was closed at the end of Jan, Borneo Post 31 Jan when water from the river outside flooded into the cave. The reserve was reopened again in Mar according to the Borneo Post 12 March. Fairy Cave was unaffected as it is high on the hill.
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Niah Cave human remains to return to Malaysia
Some 122 human remains from Niah Cave, which were taken to Nevada in the United States in the 1960s, will be returned to Sarawak in 2019. The collection came from Niah Cave excavations by Tom and Barbara Harrisson from 1947 to 1967. They found numerous stone and bone tools, shells and pottery as well as 262 human burials dating from 40,000 to 1,000 years ago. 122 of the burial remains were shipped to Nevada in 1966-67 to be studied by physical anthropologists and archaeologists Shelaigh and Richard Brooks. The collection was taken to the University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV) after their retirement. At Sarawak they are preparing storage facilities to receive the Niah Cave collection, constructing a new museum campus, which will have a special space for sensitive artefacts including the Niah Cave collection. Read more in The Star, 23 March, "Niah Cave human remains to return; The Borneo Post, 23 Mar, |
Dered Krian
Dered Krian near Bau in Sarawak was gazetted as a national park in October 2013 Sarawak Forestry. Some drone footage on travel with drone. The park has limestone hills and caves. Now there is a problem with quarrying. See Borneo Post 26 Apr Stop-work order issued to firm holding licence to quarry Dered Krian, and Apr 25 Reps lead demo against quarrying in national park. It seems the quarry licence was given long before the area became a national park.
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Mulu Park to be taken over by a Chinese group
It appears that the management of Mulu Park may have been handed over to a group from China. The management of the National Park resort is to be taken over by a Chinese company named Beijing Glory without a word of warning or consultation with the indigenous Berawan tribe, to whom the area once belonged before being confiscated. Needless to say there is native outrage, see Borneo Post 21 March "Abang Johari makes first visit to China as CM" and Sarawak Report 5 Apr "Native outrage as Royal Mulu is handed to Chinese management without consultation". Apparently the Marriott Hotel who took over in 2014 have pulled out [it seems the US company has pulled out following criticism over the corruption associated with the project - SR].
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Road to Mulu
In May there was some discussion in the media about building a road from Miri to Mulu. See Borneo Post 16 June "No immediate plan for road connectivity to Mulu" and 18 June "Dennis: Miri-Mulu National Park road will boost tourism".
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Torch run through Mulu
The 29th SEA games take place in Malaysia in 2017 and Mulu is one of the locations. The torch run for the games was partly done in Mulu in June, starting at the airport and ending at Clearwater Cave. The 6km run covered Mulu Airport, Mulu National Park, Kampung Batu Bungan, Wind Cave, Lady Cave, and Clearwater Cave. See more on the Borneo Post 11 June, also The Star 8 June "Mulu to be featured in torch run".
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Perak plans to develop largest geological park in the country
The Star, 7 July reported that Perak plans to develop largest geological park in the country. The state has already identified several areas around the Kinta Valley based on proposals received from the Minerals and Geoscience Department. We will forward our application to obtain recognition from the National Geoparks Committee..... After obtaining recognition at national level, we will then proceed to apply for the Global Geopark status from Unesco.... The identified areas include caves, mountains and hills located in the Kinta Valley. We have unique caves, mountains and hills in the valley and if all these places are promoted and developed properly as new tourist destinations, we can attract more people to visit Perak. Some of these identified areas are well-known places like Gua Tempurung, Gunung Kanthan and Gunung Korbu, while some are lesser-known areas, but have equally interesting features and traces of heritage from ancient times." |
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