Niah Caves
UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 2024; A Skull Found Here In 1958 Pushed Modern Human Presence In Island Southeast Asia Back To Roughly Forty Thousand Years · Batu Niah, Sarawak
IN 1958 A SKULL CAME OUT OF THE WEST MOUTH OF THE GREAT CAVE AT NIAH, and when it was eventually dated it turned out to be AROUND FORTY THOUSAND YEARS OLD - AMONG THE OLDEST MODERN HUMAN REMAINS FOUND ANYWHERE IN ISLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA. THE DEEP SKULL, as it is known, pushed the story of people in this part of the world back a very long way, and NIAH WAS INSCRIBED BY UNESCO IN 2024 on the strength of that record - the most recent Malaysian World Heritage listing. WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WALK INTO IS ENORMOUS: a cave mouth you could fit a cathedral inside, reached by A THREE-KILOMETRE PLANK WALKWAY through forest. DEEPER IN IS THE PAINTED CAVE, with rock art and the remains of BOAT-SHAPED COFFINS - DEATH SHIPS. AND MEN STILL CLIMB BAMBOO POLES INTO THE ROOF to cut swiftlet nests for soup, which is as alarming to watch as it sounds. The walkway is three kilometres each way and lethally slippery when wet, the cave is not lit, and nobody should set out here late in the day without a torch.
Niah National Park, Miri Division, Sarawak, Batu Niah, Sarawak, Malaysia
NIAH IS ROUGHLY TWO HOURS BY ROAD FROM MIRI, and the park is entered on a daily fee with a small museum at the headquarters. FROM THERE IT IS A THREE-KILOMETRE PLANK WALKWAY through forest to the Great Cave - flat, but LONG AND VERY SLIPPERY WHEN WET, which is often. BRING A TORCH: THE CAVE IS NOT LIT and the walkway continues through it in darkness to the Painted Cave beyond. THE PAINTED CAVE IS GATED and its rock art is viewed from behind a barrier. A RIVER CROSSING BY SMALL BOAT is needed near the start and the boatman keeps his own hours. BIRDS' NEST COLLECTORS WORK THE CAVE and their poles and platforms are not to be touched or climbed. Accommodation exists at the park and at Batu Niah. It rains in every month.