Mulu National Park has to be my favorite park I have stayed in, not only because it offers so much nature, variety of activities, amazing professional staff, but also because the limit of guests that can visit the park makes this a safe and enjoyable experience. Plus if you aren't into homestays or the only official guest house from the park offices (it was fully booked) there is a 5 star Marriott a few minutes drive off that boasts luxury accommodations without breaking the bank. They offered a shuttle to and from the park but you may have to wait a little for it to pick you up. The park offices has a nice cafe with affordable food if you don't want to eat at the Marriott.

Getting here is also easier than expected. Coming from Brunei I took the bus to Miri, had lunch, took a taxi (unfortunately costs more than I think it should, and whereas it is a little far I tried to carpool with others and the taxi drivers won't hear any of that), then fly directly to the park. I heard the flights may easily get canceled due to the weather, mainly fog, so I assume some people could have a nightmare experience getting stranded in Miri where there isn't really anything to do. The views from the plane are beautiful.

I reached the park in the afternoon and immediately signed up for the night tour. Good idea too because they only do two tours with ~10-15ppl each so it can easily be sold out. Having only so little people on the tour means you can actually see everything the tour points out such as frogs hiding in pipes, snakes not getting immediately scared off, tarantulas stuck on tree branches etc. I have had horrible night tours (e.g. Taman Negara) with literally hundred of people on small boardwalks and only the first few people in the line behind the guide would see understand what is going on and lots of selfish people hogging the front for the entire tour. Plus the jungle at night with nobody around chatting or making otherwise loud noises is an experience of itself.

The next day I signed up for 2 cave tours. The first one, the wind cave, was rather mediocre but the guide was really good so even if you see an average cave they really help you understand everything rather than just pointing out the generic "cauliflower" drippings or "a couple hugging" if you imagine really really hard. Afternoon I went to the massive Deer Cave. Now here's a sight. It is apparently a deer cave because before the deer would live in the area and find shelter. It is a massive chamber and it's full of bats, so much that you don't want to look up to the ceiling and say "ohhhhh" else you...you'll figure it out. Reaching the middle point and turning back you get a great view of Abraham Lincoln's profile (see picture). You can also find several naked bats clinging onto light posts for close inspection. At the end of the cave one can see the Garden of Eden, a large sinkhole that looks just beautiful from down here. The name probably does it justice. There are specific tours going into that area should one want to visit but I was fine to believe that the garden is forbidden.

At dusk there will be masses of bats flying out from the cave. Make sure your camera is ready. I thought it was mostly amazing to see them fly in those patterns, and as you just sit outside the cave with a great view the pictures ended up coming out well. There was also many information signs outside the entrance that not only explain what bats are (many people still don't know they are mammals but rather rats with wings), their characteristics and the different kind of special in the park. The guides also claim the low, low amount of mosquitoes in the park are due to the bats devouring them. Yes, it's true, I did not even use repellent during my stay, and this is another reason we need to protect bats around the world.

I have to add that I went in March and it rained for one night, meaning the last day the hiking trail was flooded and less enjoyable to walk. This was one of those hikes without a guide but off the board walks, but once you reach the swimming areas you get wet jumping into the waterfall pool anyway.

I also did not do the multi-day hike the Pinnacle, the razor-sharp karst blades sticking out at the top of the mountain. It's surely a sight but I did not like the itinerary of hiking up during the night and then back to the camp on the same day, camping in the wet forest. I also already filled my share of karst in several places around in the world including Kunming's Shilin Stone Forest.

The way the park is run now is commendable. I really love it. One of those places that I would take the effort of going again for sure.