Bravo! You managed to squeeze through the cracks!

October Monthly Meet was a very highly anticipated monthly meet with more than 50 attendances because this time we were exploring the Dark Cave of Batu Caves. The seats were taken up within a week and many more people were positioned at the waiting list for this adventurous trip. We would like to assure those in waiting list who could not make it in the 50 Raleigh will make another one in the future. Please keep updated yea!

The temple was very crowded on last Saturday early morning because of the Navratri (9 nights) festival where Hindus worship different forms of Mother Durga Devi. That was why we attracted many eyes from the praying crowds and also the tourists when we were having our regular monthly meet beside the pond along the pedestrian road at Batu Caves.

Attracted even more attentions when we did some warm ups with some Indian dance. =)

We had some updates from our fresh venturers from Sabah, too!

Cynthia sharing her experiences from the expedition

Not long after the monthly meet, we split the group into two smaller groups and proceeded to the Dark Cave for briefing from the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) who managed the Dark Cave.

Walking up the steep staircase

Briefing about the history of Batu Caves, the importance of the cave ecosystem and the flora and fauna in the cave

Everyone was given a safety helmet

 

Briefing about the routes of the Dark Cave trip

The Dark Cave was literally dark that we really had to use our head torch soon after we entered the passage. The guide had to shine on the insects which she/he wanted to show us. We saw lots of small creatures in the cave and were told that the cave ecosystem was sustained by the presence of bats because their guano (droppings) is the primary source of food chain in the cave. Snails and cockroaches are consumers of the guano. I can still remember millions of cockroaches in the cave (Eww!!) and also the long-legged millipede and cave spider that can’t build pretty webs.

Snails consuming guano

We also got to see different interesting cave formations.

And finally we were introduced to the nightmare - the tiny tunnels to crawl through like a caterpillar. Caving in the Dark Cave is applicable to our lives. At the starting point, it was not that bad, the tunnel was still easy to crawl. Also, due to our enthusiasm with the activity, we were positive about it in the beginning. Towards the middle, the tunnel got smaller and smaller. It became very mentally challenging when we thought it was impossible, that we could not accomplish it. But with encouragements from others, combined with the external pressures (people from behind was waiting for you to pass) and strong self determination, we managed to pass through every tiny holes which we thought we could not pass. And when we saw the first sunlight shone into the cave, the sense of accomplishment was astounding!

 

We ended the activity with a smelly and muddy body but with lots of great memory from the dark cave and a lot more knowledge about cave ecosystem.