Followtheboat: Going off-grid in a Malaysian national park
What's the opposite of sailing? Jungle walking on a mountain, of course! For us, the main point of this eternal world cruising is to visit new places and get to know a little about the culture and natural environment.
We spent three days walking through the tropical rainforest of Sarawak in central Borneo at the UNESCO site of Gunung Mulu National Park. It was the perfect place for some R&R after days of heavy sailing and boat jobs in the marina.
We walked through the forest lower level and at its top level along a suspended canopy. We explored most of the world-renowned caves (until recently, the cave system was the biggest in the world) but for the real potholing (spelunking) enthusiast there are deep dives into the furthest recesses of the caves where you camp out under the guidance of a local expert caver.
In the evenings, rather than eating at the swanky Marriott (where we were staying because Liz got a stupidly cheap deal) we enjoyed local food from a nearby village restaurant where we tried wild fern cooked in wild garlic. It was delicious. Since then we have found it in markets on Borneo and have learned to cook it ourselves.
The three day break was packed with walking and stunning sights. The only thing which lets down the park is the single-use plastic wrist band you are issued with on arrival. Come on UNESCO stop doing this, surely you can find a more environmentally-friendly way of identifying guests?
Apart from that one blip, it was amazing and we want to go back! For more information, visit the Gunung Mulu National Park website or see their UNESCO listing.