EXPLORING THE DARK CAVE

As you climb up the 272 steps towards the Temple Cave, you will find that at step 204 (roughly), a path branches off to the Dark Cave. Follow the path and right at the entrance into a very dark cave, there are registration tables where visitors can sign up for the tour.

The cave is at least 100 million years old and the limestone that surrounds it was originally formed from shells and coral, from when this entire area was underwater. The cave is also a home to millions of both fruit and insect-eating bats where their droppings (also known as guano) supports an ecosystem within the cave, with cockroaches, spiders, crickets, snakes and other creepy crawlies living off either the guano, the bats themselves of each other.

In this cave, you are free to join the a 45-minute guided tour along 800m of the 2km of surveyed passageways within the cave complex. The tours run every 20 minutes and are organised by the Malaysian Nature Society. To get further into the cave on the tree-to-four-hour Adventure Tour you need a minimum of 10 people.

For RM 35 (adult), you can sign up for the Dark Cave Educational Tour - you don't have to bring any special equipment for the tour as torchlight and safety helmet will be provided. Just make sure you wear comfortable shoes and clothing and keep yourself hydrated.

The tour concludes further into the cave in a towering final cavern (but not at the end of the surveyed system), where shards of light pierce the darkness and you are allowed to take photos. From there you backtrack to the cave entrance.