Miri has a number of protected areas pretty much on its doorstep. We hired a car for a couple of days to go and explore two of them.

Niah National Park's forest and caves offer geology, archaeology, and social history in one package. It's really a "must visit" kind of sight.

When you arrive, you need to pay (MYR 20 for foreigners) and register (don't forget to sign out when you leave). You then pay MYR 1 per person per journey to get across the crocodile-infested river (OK, maybe not "infested" -- but there is a sign warning you about them).



Once over, it takes about an hour to walk to the caves. It's boardwalk or paved path all the way, so it's a pretty easy (if sweaty) walk, and the rock formations, huge old trees, and constant presence of birds, cicadas, and butterflies add plenty of atmosphere.



The Traders' Cave, the first you come to, is formed by a huge overhang. The trade the name refers to is the harvesting and selling of the edible swiftlet nests that have been sold as a health-giving delicacy for centuries. You can still see the frames of the huts that were used during the harvesting season.




A little further on is the Great Cave. And "great" it is. Huge, actually. This is basically a hollow mountain, its massive entrance backed by another vast chamber opening onto the other side of the hill.




The play of light is extraordinary here. Beams pour from openings in the cave roof, like ethereal waterfalls.





Most spectacular of all was the narrow beam of light shining through what must have been just a tiny gap. The beam, which disappeared a few minutes later, wasn't actually blue (my camera was being a bit over-dramatic), but it was delicate and beautiful -- and it was humbling to realize that we had to be there right at that moment to see that beam. If we'd come just slightly earlier or later, it would not have been there.



From the Great Cave, you walk the utter blackness of Gan Kira to the opening on the other side (pause and turn off your flashlights to realize quite how dark darkness can be). Gan Kira is quite spacious, but it still has cervix-like connotations, as you move from the confines of the cave through this circumscribed passage to the big world outside.

Further round the hill is the Painted Cave. The rock paintings here (now fenced off) are more than 1,000 years old. They were "refound", in the 1950s, along with a number of "boat coffins" made out of logs. Humans have been around the Niah Caves for a lot longer than that, however. A 40,000-year-old skull is on display in the museum, and recent work points to the arrival of people in this area about 65,000 years ago.


On the way back down to the river, you can stop at the stall run by local Iban women for drinks and snacks (very welcome after several hours' exploring in a very humid environment).

Lambir Hills National Park ranks as "probably the world's most complex and diverse forest ecosystem".

There's nothing quite so humbling as an old forest. Massive trees, rooted like they'll stand for ever, soaring like they're heading for another planet...

We did a little circuit that took in four waterfalls over the course of four hours. (We had considered going to the summit of Bukit Pantu, the smaller of the two main hills, but it was super-super-humid, and we feared running out of water, so we cut out that extra leg.)









Both these parks merit multiple visits. So it's nice to think -- now that we have that coveted visa approval -- that there's one fewer impediment to many future returns.