The large caves of Mulu, such as Clearwater Cave, are just on such a different scale to what I was used to.
My caving experience was limited to squeezing over, under, through muddy, wet, cold passages under the Mendips or under Derbyshire. I started at age 13 or 14, wearing my military grade glasses tied around my neck so I didn't lose them, dressed in a boiler suit with steel toe-cap boots and a construction hard hat modified with a home made bracket to hold a carbide lamp. At some point in time I decided to use a white boiler suit. It wasn't white for long and there wasn't a detergent manufacturer in the universe brave enough to use that to demonstrate the power of their product!
So, having spent years scrabbling around in the cramped, dark spaces under England, I really wasn't prepared for the sheer scale of the caves at Mulu. Although referred to in reports from western explorers in 1856 and 1961, it was the Royal Geographic Society Expedition of 1977-78 that revealed the potential of the area to the world. Expeditions have continued since and more discoveries are made with each expedition.
I wasn't on an expedition, I was a tourist, so I stuck to the four show caves of which Clearwater Cave is one. In the eleven years since their discovery, concrete paths, stairs and handrails had been set to open access to areas of these vast caves. No tight squeezes here, no need even to duck. My guides pointed out where some of the adventure caving routes started and while I was sorely tested, I stuck with my itinerary and schedule.
The photo below is a view of one of the entrances to Clearwater Cave. You can get an idea of the scale by noticing how tiny the 3~4 foot wide concrete footpath, stairs and railing in the lower right corner. When the caves were explored in the 1977-78 expedition, the cavers had to use rock climbing techniques just to get down to the entrance!
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