The Best Of Kota Kinabalu And Mulu Caves

• A courteous English-speaking guide will be at the Kota Kinabalu Airport for facilitating your arrival, transfer by AC vehicle to your hotel of choice and hotel check-in. The rest of the day is designed to give you some time to get used to the tropical climate and to relax away any jet lag that you may experience. Night stay at the hotel.
• Meals included: None

• We enjoy breakfast at the hotel and take the road through the ridges of the Crocker Range to the Southern end of Kinabalu Park.
• At Poring, we will join a jungle trail that will take us to the extremely pictures canopy walk made of a series of bridges built about 40 meters above the ground. The Canopy bridge provides a bird’s eye view of the ancient rainforests. The hot springs are famous for the therapeutic value of the sulfur baths if time permits do take a rejuvenating dip in the hot waters. 
• We now break for lunch and proceed to the Kinabalu Park Headquarters. Your guide will take you to the exquisite Mountain Garden in the park. You will be able to see a large collection of rare orchids and plants endemic to Borneo in this garden.
• After completing the park visit we return to the city and relax at the Hotel.
• Meals included: Breakfast and lunch

• After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we reach the Jetty for a 20 min boat ride that takes us to one of the coral islands within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. The islands have shallow reefs and pristine beaches, spend the day swimming in blue waters or snorkeling amongst the corals or just relaxing on the beach. We have a simple box lunch for the day and after a quick shower return to the mainland in mid-afternoon.
• We will start our journey for the river cruise at 14:30hrs – This starts with a 2-hour long drive to the town of Beaufort. The drive will take us through the beautiful countryside while we pass through small towns and native villages to reach the Klias Wetlands and Mangrove Forest Reserve.
• We stop for some light refreshments and then start on our exciting river cruise where we go searching for wildlife. We can possibly spot the long nose Proboscis monkeys, long tail macaque, silver leaf monkeys, and birds. As the evening sets in and the sunsets, the spectacle of fireflies gathering at the tree canopies gives the appearance of glittering Christmas lights, the sight is spectacular, to say the least (may be difficult to see if full moon or raining).
• Enjoy a local Malaysian dinner at the riverside restaurant before returning back to the luxury of your hotel. Night stay at the hotel in Kota Kinabalu.
• Please note that all boat transfers and always on a shared basis.
• Meals included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

• Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and sometimes at leisure at the hotel before a transfer to the airport is arranged. Take your departure flight to Mulu where you will be received at the airport. A quick transfer to your designated hotel follows.
• Once settled in comfortably, change into your trekking gear. We now move to the Mulu National Park Headquarters for registration. Lunch is arranged at the park’s canteen.
• We start our adventure with a 45 min walk to the first set of caves. This walk is on narrow forest paths made of wooden planks that take you through riverine and lowland forests on limestone cliffsides. The first cave we reach is the Lang’s cave which has an exquisite collection of stalagmites and stalactites. You are observing nature at its creative best, we recommend carrying a good camera for some stunning pictures.
• The next cave we visit is the Deer cave, this is famous for its passage which is the largest for any cave in the world. The Deer cave is also famous for its large (as many as 3 million) populations of bats. These caves are designated as world heritage by UNESCO.
• Once the exploration of the caves is done we move to the bat observation platform. The site of millions of bats coming out of the caves in the dusk is simply mesmerizing. It appears like black streams emerging from the caves. You will require a good camera as the light is low when the bats finally decide to venture out in the evening.
• We return to the park headquarters for a transfer to the hotel.
• Meals provided: Breakfast and lunch

• Breakfast is followed by check out from your hotel.
• The day’s adventure begins with a half hour long boat ride. Our first shortstop is at a Penan settlement. This is your chance for understanding the old nomadic lifestyle of the people and indulge yourself in the local handicrafts market. The boat ride then takes us to the wind cave. A plank walk leads from the riverbank to the entrance of the Wind Cave. This cave is so named because of the cool breezes which you can feel at the narrow parts of the cave. This cave is part of the Clearwater system and has many impressive stalactites, stalagmites, flowrocks, helitites and rock corals. Some of these are illuminated in the ‘King’s” Room. A short walk takes us to the Clearwater springs, we take a short break here. 200 steps lead up through the forest to the mouth of Clearwater Cave. Clearwater is a fascinating cave system to scroll around, it has its own underground river system. Plank walks, paths and small floating bridges make this an easy and enjoyable experience. There are excellent photo opportunities for those who are bitten by the photography bug.
• We now climb down the steps to the picnic area for a quick lunch.
• We now take a one-hour long boat ride to Kuala Litut, this is the starting point for our trek to camp 5. The 2-hour trek will take us to camp 5 which is a large shelter located at the base of Mount Api. Camp 5 is really basic, and you have to carry your own sleeping bag as well. Night stay is arranged at the camp shelter.
• Meals provided: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

• We have a light breakfast and start our climb to Mount Api. Although this is a short distance, it will still take us 4-to-5 hour as this is a steep climb. We recommend that you carry very little (Only essentials) with you along with ample water for the climb. The flora changes with altitude, at about 850 meters you will notice a distinct change in the vegetation. The limestone lowland forest now gives way to the montane forest with pitcher plants and wild orchids. We have now reached the steepest part of our climb. Some metallic steps are placed to help climbers move over the worst of the gaping voids. 
• The summit is 1710 meters above sea level and once you reach it you will be rewarded with spectacular views of the surrounding landscape. The famous pinnacles are everywhere, they are about 45 meters high and appear as huge knives against the trees that form the backdrop. The forest trees are a miracle in themselves, they hold on in between narrow crevices of the limestone landscape. A simple picnic lunch follows.
• We now trek back downhill to camp 5. There is just enough time for a relaxing bath in the mountain river before we have dinner and pack for the day. Night stay will be at Camp 5.
• Meals included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

• We take an early breakfast and start our trek back to Kuala Litut. This is where we shift to a boat for the for the downstream ride to Clearwater Springs. We stop for a simple lunch at Clearwater Springs. We now continue our boat ride to Mulu. A transfer is waiting to take us to the airport for a flight to our next destination.
• Meals included: Breakfast and lunch

Notes

• Due to fluctuations in demand hotels can be changed without prior notice. We do assure you that any substitution will be within the offered category
• The tour detailed itinerary may change due to unforeseen events - we will cover all that we have stated here only the program by day may change. For example, if our program states a city tour on Day 1, it may be postponed to Day 3 instead. This is mostly a last-minute adjustment and will be without any prior notice
• Some package can be booked on a private basis, but certain services may be on a shared basis only. This is to minimize impacts on the natural environment or if other circumstances require so. These services include all land & boat transfers in Mulu may be on a shared basis
• The tour involves overnight camping and steep climbing, we suggest traveling light when on this tour, as you will have to carry your own bags during the trekking. Your hard luggage can be stowed at the hotel in Mulu and will be delivered to you at the airport at the time of departure.
• This is a true trekking tour where long hours are coupled with steep climbs that too under tropical climate conditions. The tour is an effort to complete and would require high levels of fitness and good stamina. Be prepared for some hard day’s work on the tour.
• Always carry some high-energy snacks for the trekking.
• The trek will have night stays at Camp 5. This place has very basic facilities, be prepared for some discomfort. The camps have simple sanitary facilities, you will have to carry your own towel and sleeping bags as this place has no mattresses or beds.