vol 2 issue 3.pub

Vol. 2, Issue 3
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Caving Softly
Responsible and low-impact caving trips
The main objective of our monthly trip
is to instil among our participating
members an awareness of the areas
under visit. Accordingly, we highlight
human intervention or any pertinent
conservation issue to create an
understanding and appreciation of the
site and its importance. Apart from the
adventure, members would also get to
learn new things about the limestone
features encountered. If not, it was a
mere outdoor adventure and an effort
wasted.
To ensure protection for the
caves, it is utmost important that their
locations remain classified and not
disclosed indiscriminately through the
public media or even word-of-mouth.
No maps are ever given, no routes
detailed. Visits to low-energy caves
with fragile formations, where life
forms have evolved in the absence of
or with little outside inputs can result
in significant change to their biology. In
fact, sometimes, we have to protect
important caves by keeping mum;
sections of caves which are more
‘fragile’ are avoided.
through ‘sustainable tourism’.
We are grateful for the concerns
expressed by some of our members,
particularly the ones who are experts
in different aspects of nature and
conservation. We urge them to come
on our trips to guide us and share with
us what they can teach our members
about the sites.
For those who missed the MKS
Perlis trip, please read in this issue an
introduction to the Perlis caves, which
participants have enjoyed recently. For
those who went on the trip please give
us some feed-back and share your
experience in our Newsletter.
Inside this issue:
Gua Kanthan Revisited 2
Intro to the Karst of
Perlis
2
Outings Reported
4
Coming Trips & Events 5
MKS AGM 2005
6
ACT NOW!
Registration for
Gua Musang trip
closes 24 Aug
For safety and the reasons above,
our MKS visits are to relatively easyto-access caves. Our members are not
caving adventurers, but rather, city folk
with an enthusiasm to visit some of the
numerous limestone caves in our
environment, and to see the very karst
landforms we want to preserve.
Another of MKS’ objectives is to
find alternative economic uses to
limestone exploitation. In line with this,
we lobby for basement quarrying and
explore the potentials in guided tour of
selected caves and sports climbing
July—September 2005
Strictly for members only
APOLOGIES!
Caving softly means going out of the way
to avoid contaminating formations.
Sorry for the delay
of this issue. We
will try harder to
bring our your
KARST NEWS
early.
Page 2
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
Gua Kanthan Revisited
A shaft of light penetrating the
Cathedral at noon
Six researchers from the Department
of Museums and Antiquities sought the
help of MKS to identify pre-historic
sites in the Kinta Valley karst region.
MKS' volunteers, Philip and Ghee Hong
guided them to several caves for their
preliminary survey, one of which was
the Gua Kanthan in Sungai Siput (N).
historic inhabitation but found nothing.
But, in other caves, locations of which
remain classified information, they did
find what they came for - a fragment of
pre-historic artifact.
We have to
protect these caves now for
archaeologists to excavate for their
pre-history.
Gua Kanthan is at the northern tip
of the Kinta Valley; very few people
know the entrance to this impressive
cave, which is 'concealed' in a hidden
wang. It is a spectacular cave with
volumous chambers. Used as the
hideout for more than 300 war
refugees in 1942, it has a 60-metre high
chamber, which features karst
formations resembling a pipe organ.
The chambers are skylighted, as two
shafts of sunray penetrate the cave at
about noon, offering a uplifting
experience, like in a cathedral; hence
its pet name. The researchers scoured
the chambers for evidence of pre-
Ed: Karst is the name of a limestone
region in Slovenia, also used to describe
landscape underlain by limestone, which
has been eroded by dissolution. A wang is
a valley or a basin surrounded by
limestone outcrops with steep cliffs.
Intro to the Karst of Perlis
By Liz Price
Perlis is the smallest state in Malaysia
and yet it has an abundance of
limestone hills and caves.
The biggest stalactite up North
The limestones of Perlis are of
two contrasting formations, Chuping
and Setul. The Setul Boundary Range
runs along the west side of Perlis and
into Thailand. Here are some of the
oldest of the limestones in Malaysia,
dating to the lower Palaeozoic, from
the Ordovician – Lower Devonian
period, i.e. some 450-350 million years
old. It forms a rugged terrain, with
thick soil cover and vegetation,
protruding rock pinnacles, sinks, cliffs
and wangs. The highest peak is Bukit
Pelarit, 553m. There are extensive
caves in the Nakawan Range which is
part of the Setul Formation.
The younger Chuping limestone
outcrops in central Perlis are seen as
isolated cliffs with stunted vegetation
which stand out from the coastal plains
and flat paddy fields. They are from
the middle Permian – early Triassic,
250-210 million years old.
Tin is the only important mineral
to have been exploited in Perlis. The
Setul Range is honeycombed by
extensive caves which contain the tinbearing alluvium. The deposits are
found in valley bottoms, caves and
underground rivers.
They were
worked expensively by Chinese miners
who penetrated thousands of metres
July—September 2005
Page 3
into the hills looking for the workable
alluvium. In contrast the Chuping hills
have no tin, but have been extensively
worked for guano.
Gua Kelam at Kaki Bukit is the
most well known cave. For decades
the locals have used this cave as a
short cut through the hill between
Kaki Bukit and Wang Kelian. The
surrounding area has been mined for
tin since World War 1. In 1935 an
Englishman had a 370m long wooden
suspension bridge built through the
length of the cave, to allow the miners
longest cave is the Gua Baba / Lo Po
Sang system at 2.9 km, which is also a
natural cave that has been mined.
Gus Kelam 1, a popular local tourist attraction.
In 1996 and 1998 a British team
from the Axbridge Caving Group
(ACG) held expeditions in the Setul
range. They surveyed more than 3.8
km of new cave passage, mostly in the
Wang Ulu area. Some of the caves are
very pretty, and had probably never
been entered before. Since then other
caves have been explored during the
work done to set up the Perlis State
Park.
This park encompasses the
Nakawan range and the Wang Mu and
Mata Ayer Forest Reserves. The park
protects more than 5000 hectares of
geological, ecological and historical
importance. The Park is an important
conservation area, as apart from the
caves, it contains some endemic flora
and fauna. Walking trails have been set
up so the visitor can explore the area.
to transport the ore. This walkway
has since been used by pedestrians and
motorcyclists to avoid the long detour
up and over the hills. In later years the
cave was fitted with electric lighting
and turned into a tourist attraction,
and an entry fee is charged.
Gua Kelam 2 is one of the longest
caves in the Peninsula, and has been
extensively mined for tin. The total
length is more than 3.7 km. It has
some huge chambers, a river, deep
pools and relics left over from the
mining days. It is a fascinating place
and the mining artifacts should be
preserved as historical relics. The next
Cave toad © 2002 Perlis State Forestry Dept.
Gua Wang Burma is in the
northern part of the park, located near
the Bukit China Granite, and is popular
Teardrop shaped flowstone and curtain.
A serow © 2002 Perlis State
Page 4
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Malaysian Karst Society
with adventure cavers. A river flows
through the cave, and there is a wide
variety of cave fauna. There is a mix of
graffiti on the walls in both Malay and
Thai language!
MKS group exiting Gua Teman
Lembing
The Setul Formation is more than
35 km long. It runs through Perlis
from Kuala Perlis, and then extends
over the border into Thailand. Here
the range comes under the protection
of the Thaleban National Park.
Although the limestone runs for
several kilometres, there are few caves
– the area was explored by an ACG
recce trip in 2000 but the results were
disappointing. We found nothing to
match the already known Tham Ton
Din, a 400m long river cave.
There are some 35 hills in the
Chuping formation. None of the caves
are particularly long, but some do have
underground rivers, such as Gua
Teman Lembing recently visited by the
MKS.
Some of the caves are
archaeological sites, where bones,
bone tools, pottery and charcoal
drawings have been found. Evans was
one of the first archaeologists to work
there, in 1929. Many of the caves have
also been mined for guano, and some
of the hills are being quarried.
OUTINGS REPORTED
Perlis Trip Reported
The Cave Racer inhabits
limestone
caves,
occasionally venturing to
the cave entrance. It is
considered a specialised
subspecies of the more
widespread Elaphe taeniura.
The anterior scales are
yellowish-brown or beige,
and the posterior scales
black, with a thick, white
or yellow vertebral stripe.
The head is slender and
bears a thick, black eyemask. The top of the head
is bluish. It preys mainly
on bats.
© 2005 Eric Tan
A cave racer encountered at
Gua Wang Burma, Perlis
30 April, 1, 2 May 2005
The journey to the Perlis State Park
was riddled with misadventures. The
anticipated convoy did not materialize
and some cars got lost on the way - we
will have to provide a map next time.
Delayed arrivals meant we had to
make up for lost time with hurried
lunch and check-in.
Our guides, MKS members Hymeir
and Rohn gave a long, informative
briefing before we started eagerly for
our first cave, Gua Wang Burma 2. To
minimize the impact from cavers,
Hymeir laid down the ground rules of
caving and insisted that we 'refrain
from shining bright lights at the bats'.
Yet, when a Mega Watt photo-lamp
was switched on (Eric's),
photographers clicked away
unabashedly. Here, we were stunned
by the Park's biggest stalactite, a huge
50-metre phallic formation dangling
from the ceiling.
The accommodation at the Park
was clean and comfortable. We were
grateful for a hot shower and a good
lie down after the tiring hikes and
caving. Food was included in the
charges by the Park. The Malaysian-
Gua Burma, © 2005 Eric Tan
Thai border morning market was a
treat. Fruits and Thai snacks were the
favourite buys.
All in all, the trip was quite an eyeopener for our 23 members and
friends. MKS has learnt from this to
prepare our members for low-impact
soft-caving. I think we have to agree
that the experience in Perlis will carry
us through many more caves.
© 2005 Eric Tan
July—September 2005
Page 5
Gua Lanno
5 June 2005
Due to the cancellation of the Gua
Musang trip, a replacement trip to Gua
Lanno was organized in its place.
There are at least 42 caves in
Gunung Lanno. However, many of the
caves in Lanno are small.
MKS thanks Liew of MNS for
leading this trip.
COMING TRIPS & EVENT
Gua Musang — 3, 4 September 2005
Gua Musang, a lumber town in the karst region of Kelantan, is only 2.5 hours from
Ipoh along a new highway with magnificent views! In contrast to the Kinta Valley,
the limestone hills of Gua Musang are still pretty much pristine as there is little
quarrying activity.
We will visit Gua Musang, the cave after which the town is named. Then from the
cave, we will get to the top of Gunung Gua Musang, about 250 metres. We will
put up a night at the Taman Etnobotany, a state-run facility in Gua Musang. Their
new chalets are clean with attached-bathroom and air-conditioning.
If you intend to explore the other caves, you could extend your stay at your own
expense.
Meet at
Simpang Pulai Toll Gate
Time
8.30 a.m.
Duration
1 day, 1 night (extension of stay is optional)
Transportation
Car-pool
Price
RM60 per head per night, excluding food
Register by
24 August 2005 with full-payment, non-refundable
Challenge rating
CAVING!
Come prepared
with torchlight,
spare batteries &
bulb, water, lunch
as appropriate
to
Gua Lanno 18/42 a.k.a. Gua Pencuri — 2 October 2005
Gunung Lanno is a large massif with the highest peak, 407m in the North-west. It
has numerous small caves. Gua Pencuri is one of the larger ones.
Meet at
Kek Lok Tong Cave Temple parking lot
Time
9.00 a.m.
Duration
2 hrs
Challenge rating
Liew in Gua Lanno
Vol. 2, Issue 3
Malaysian Karst Society
Syuen Hotel
88 Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Malaysia
Phone: +6(05) 254 2993
Fax: +6(05) 253 5507
Email: [email protected]
Views and opinions expressed in this
newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of
the Executive Committee of the Society.
MKS AGM 2005
The 3rd Annual General Meeting of
the Malaysian Karst Society was
held on 25 March 2005, Friday at
5.00 p.m. at the MKS office, Syuen
Hotel, 88, Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil,
30300 Ipoh, Perak. 31 members
attended our AGM.
The following are the elected
Committee Members for the term
of 2005 - 2006.
President:
Philip C.K. Leong
Vice-President: G. Sivapragasam
Hon. Secretary: Yap Lai Yue
Volunteers Wanted
MKS needs volunteers to:
Treasurer:
Regina K.
Committee:
Kevin Bateman
Law Siak Hong
•
assist on trips,
Mohd. Tadjudin
•
jaga exhibition booth, and
Robin Arumugam
•
contribute to Karst News
Yong Shim Hian
If you have time to spare, please sign up as a volunteer and we will contact you when we need help.
The Cathedral