Gua Naga Mas: The Golden Dragon of Kinta Valley

Nestled atop a typical creeper-draped hill on the side of the busy North-South Highway is a hidden cave with a secret that would entice anyone who stumbles upon it......

Gunung Pua's densely vegetated peak.

As our group (a motley crew of nature lovers and adventure seekers) turned around a strangely silent and empty road with cow manure scattered across it in an industrial park, a small limestone outcrop emerges from behind the metal roof of a warehouse - Gunung Pua (Pua Mountain, which actually is more like a hill) is just a hundred metres away. We pulled into a sandy, uneven road flanked by grass and shrubs typical of Kinta Valley's post-tin mining terrain. A few bumps and splashes of water and we have reached the foot of this forest clad hill. Creepers droop down from the cliffs, blanketing their rugged features from view. Peculiarly low trees and shrubs with patches of bamboo colonies occupy the upper reaches of the outcrop. Perhaps they are signs of human disturbances or forest fires sometime ago?

Trekking up the steps towards the cave.

Our guide made a headway by slashing the undergrowth that covered much of the path leading up to the cave. Rocks have been placed in a manner that resembles a staircase along the steep cliffs. It must have not been used for ages. But who built it? What's the purpose of it? Taking my mind off that matter for a moment, I scanned the boulders and strange rocky features for rare and endemic plants and wildlife.

This herb with blue fowers must be a limestone-endemic.

The peculiar leaf of another plant.

This palm is probably rare and endemic to limestone forests of Kinta Valley.

A cluster of plants with elongated leaves and bluish flowers attracted our attention. Further up the cliff, a large palm and another peculiar plant with paw shaped leaves adorns the understory section of this forest. They must be rare limestone-loving plants, found only on this hill and probably the nearby ones.

A strange yet beautiful rock formation.

Results from a small packet of soil sample shows plenty of small snails including Rhiostoma jousseaumei , Alycaeus perakensis, Discartemon leptoglyphus, Georissa monterosatiana, Philalanka sp., Diplommatina nevilli, Allopeas clavulinum, Opisthostoma megalomphalum etc.

Mosses covered most of the exposed limestone with one little outcrop having flaky, vein-like protrusions across the surfacing reminiscent of Salvador Dali's surrealistic sculptures. There were visibly no large snails around, so I proceeded with collecting a bagfull of dirt at the base of the rockface for microsnail examination back at my "home-lab". We continue up a forest clearing with regenerating shrubs. Before long, the path's bushes gave way to rock and dirt. Looking up, large stalactites encrusted with green algae hangs from a wet, carved rock ceilling above. We've reached Gua Naga Mas which literally translates as Golden Dragon Cave in Malay. Guano spread across the floor into the dark end of the cave chamber where a flight of algae-green, slippery stairs leads to a long abandoned Chinese temple. According to the book "Kinta Valley: Pioneering Malaysia's Modern Development" by Khoo Salma Nasution & Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, this temple and the stairs seen earlier was built in the 1800(?) when the valley below (known as Tekkah) was a hotbed for tin mining activity by the Chinese. A tin economy slump soon brought the industry to its knees and thus, workers abandoned the area including this cave temple. This makes it almost 2 centuries old! The stillness of the air added an eerie feeling to this abandoned religious site.

Beautiful speleoterms at the entrance of the cave. Note the large stalagmite in the centre resembles a sea lion.

The abandoned Chinese Temple.

Loose guano (bat droppings) on the ground across the cave indicates it has been relatively untouched by man for a long period of time.

However, it is not this temple that is the most interesting here. We'll leave this to the athropologist to explore instead. Following our guide up another flight of steps to a smaller chamber off the main cave, we gazed across the rock wall, anxious to catch a glimpse of the well-known attraction. Up here, the limestone abruptly gave way to irregularly shaped brownish ancient mud deposits stretching up to the chamber's roof with occasional exposure of the underlying limestone at eroded and fall-off chunks areas. We used torches to assist our search. An area close to the roof sparkles and shines under the beams of light emitting from our torches. This is the main highlight and the namesake of the cave - an almost complete set of mammalian fossil embedded in the drab rock. It was first discovered by the Malaysian Nature Society when they were on an expedition to survey karsts of Kinta Valley. Since then, there were many views to its possible species including mountain goat, leopard and wild cat. However, no positive identification can be obtained yet as the skull and many other parts are half embedded and eroded. Besides, there's little interests in researching the bones to date.

The mudstone encrusted chamber where the fossil was found.

A general view of the mammalian fossil. Note: the eroded skull below the piled up front limb bones at the bottom-left section of the picture.

After spending some time speculating about its species, I decided to scour the ground instead for other interesting critters. Sure enough, I discovered a "stone-anvil" commonly used by predatory birds to crack snails' shells for their meat. There are also some bat bones nearby, which probably means this cave is home to bat colonies although none have been spotted during our presence there. Another pleasant discovery, a first for me, is a rock containing brochiopod or bivalve like fossils stacked under a pile of limestone.

A predatory bird's victim Cyclophorus malayanus (Benson 1852), smashed into pieces on a rock.

Bone fragments of a bat lying on the dry cave floor.

A fossil embedded rock, probably a group of bivalves or brachiopods.

The sun soared over the hill and it was time for us to bid farewell to this fascinating cave. As we decended, the midday sun shines upon the taller karsts at the distance, exposing vividly every hue of the blasted limestone cliff and reminding us how fragile these beautiful hills are. Hopefully, this rare natural heritage that could be of huge significance in national and regional paleontology will be protected and preserved indefinitely.

Some articles and reports of similar interests:
1.Star Metro (Wednesday October 7 2009)- Good Lord! It's a leopard!

2.Heritage news (November-December 2008)- Rock of Ages: Treasures of Malaysia

3. Liz's site: Gua Tambun & Naga Mas

4. Adi Taha Harnessing Science and technology for preservation and conservation of cultural heritage of Malaysia, Department of Museum and Antiquities.

5. R.F. Muhammad, D. Yoshida, A. Tani & P.L. Smart (2002) Implications of Electron Spin Resonance and Uranium-series Dating Techniques on Speleothems in the Kinta and Lenggong Valleys, West Malaysia Advances in ESR Applications, vol.18 pp.19-26, (2002)

6. Liz Price 2008 A Speleotourism In Peninsular Malaysia Pesquisas em Turismo e Paisagens Cársticas, 1(2), 2008

7. Caves of Malaysia: The Sun (20 October 2008)- No protection for Gua Naga Mas' Fossil

Freshwater whelks, anyone?

Sea whelks from the family Buccinidae has been a common food for many cultures especially those from polar and temperate regions. But have you ever heard of whelks from rivers and lakes? For the aquarium enthusiasts, this may have struck a chord in them. Freshwater whelks (a.k.a. assassin snails) are well-known for their ability to "massacre" almost the entire population of aquarium snails in just a matter of hours! Yes, they are carnivorous and vicarious snail-eaters - the ultimate weapon-of mass-destruction for those who wanted to make their snail-infested aquariums a thing of the past.

Clea helena (Meder in Philippi 1847) from Sungai Jernih, Perlis, northern Peninsula Malaysia. Note its difference from Thai varieties offered in the aquarium trade.

On the scientific front though, little is known about this enigmatic group of snails. However, it is generally accepted that there are two genus of this family that somehow abandoned the sea in favour of creeks and ponds. The African species is categorised into the (sub)genus Afrocanidia while Asia's is grouped into the Clea genus. Now, this may shed some light to its origins. Perhaps, they first appeared from a common ancestor when Africa and South Asia was in one piece (called Pangea) 225 million years ago? or did they adapted to freshwater separately (convergent evolution) since it is more likely to be a recent adaptation?

Steung Saen, Kampong Thom, Cambodia. This is the preferred habitat for Clea species as it has a wide, muddy river bottom. Such habitats are widespread across delta plains of Southeast Asian countries.

Information on the African species is particularly void while Asia's ones received more attention (from the aquarium trade, not researchers!). Clea genus is widespread across Southeast Asia and have not been recorded elsewhere. It's abundance is notable especially in alluvial plains and around large water bodies like the Irrawaddy delta (Myanmar), Mekong River (Indochina countries) , Chao Phraya River (Thailand) and other major waterways and lakes of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan). The question is - how did they managed to reach other rivers and lakes divided by tall mountain ranges and vast seas?

Sungai Jernih, Perlis, northern Peninsular Malaysia. Another typical habitat for many Clea species as they have abundant prey to feed on and nutrient-rich waters flowing from nearby caves.

The possible answer can be found when we turn the clock back to around 20 000 years ago. The waters of South China Sea, Gulf of Siam, Straits of Malacca and Java Sea recede and is replaced by alternating grasslands and swamps. Now, one would notice that major rivers were being drained out of this large peninsula, dubbed Sundaland, by "mega rivers" (much like the present day Amazonian Basin). So, it's possible that the Clea genus or its ancestor have had its early millenias conquering much of Sundaland's freshwater systems before rising sea levels cut off many populations and from there each evolved into seperate species or subspecies.

Alright, the next big question is probably: How does it feed? I have heard many who discovered them congregating around rotting carcasses of frogs, dead swiflets and bats near caves. Personally, I have encountered a group of Clea helena feeding on picnic leftovers of fried fish at water's edge in Sungai Jernih, Perlis, Malaysia. So, these buccinids are no different from their marine cousins- scavengers and predators at the same time. I've brought some back home for further observations of their feeding behaviour. Here's a photo-essay of it:

Clea helena is a very resilient snail. It can lay dormant for more than a month without food. In this stage, it usually buries or half-buries itself in the loose, sandy or muddy substrate.

When food (meat or snail) is detected, it prolongs it's proboscis (siphon) and crawls out to search for its quarry. Occasionally, it will also react similarly when there is movement in the water (especially if it lives in still waters most of the time.)

It will then wander around to locate the prey. However, it takes a straight path towards the prey if there are no others in the vicinity.

Usually, Clea snails can be found in abundance when present in a water body. Thus, when a prey is detected, a large number of snails will search and assemble around it.

The first to reach the prey will grab it with its foot and inserts a thin, fleshy tube (siphon) into the snail and suck the animal within the shell. (Proably excreting digestive enzymes and dissolve the prey alive before consuming it.)

Meanwhile, other Clea snails will try to loosen the grip of the feeding predator on its prey by using their foot to "pull" the prey out, much like a tug-of-war game.

It takes about half an hour for Clea helena to finish its meal but that may be because of the miniature size of the prey. For larger size meals like frog carcasses, it might take a day or more to finish the entire body. Most of the time, they will abandon their meal when they are full and return back when they're ready for the next meal.

After some time devouring its prey, other snails will lose interest and gradually retreats back to their hideouts, leaving the lucky snail and its meal alone. At last, when the meal is finished, the predator will crawl back to its own resting spot, leaving empty shells of the prey behind.

Overally, Clea species feed like their marine cousins. Although Clea helena is the most well-known in the genus, there are plenty of other species. Here's a list from Ocean Biographic Information System (OBIS)-Indo-Pacific mollusc database :
Clea bangueyensis (E.A. Smith 1895)
Clea bocki (Brot)
Clea bocourti (Brot 1876)
Clea helena (Meder in Philippi 1847) synonym C. theminckiana (Petit 1853)
Clea hidalgoi (Crosse 1886)
Clea jullieni (Deshayes) synonym C. bizonata (Deshayes)
Clea nigricans (A.Adams 1855) (Click here for a photo showing a group of them feeding in-situ)
while Clea gemma (Conolly 1929) is the type for the Afrocanidia (sub)genus from Africa.

Not surprisingly, Buccinids aren't the only one which has migrated to freshwater environments in Southeast Asia. There are also genus Nassodonta (East Asia), Pygmaenassa (India) and Arcularia (Lake Chilka, Burma) from Nassariidae, Rivomarginella (Southeast Asia) of Marginellidae, various genus from Neritidae and Morrisoneitta (Thailand) of Pyramidellidae. So, who knows what more lurks in the muddy depths of these tropical rivers and lakes?

(Click here for a link about Clea helena's reproductive cycle.)

Reference and Further Reading:
1. Trew, A., 1987. The Melvill-Tomlin Collection. Parts.50,51,52,53,54. Buccinacea (Pyrenidae, Buccinidae, Galeodidae, Nassariidae and Fasciolariidae).

2. Edlic Sathiamurthy and Harold K. Voris, 2006 Maps of Holocene Sea Level Transgression and Submerged Lakes on the Sunda Shelf. The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University, Supplement 2:1-44, August 2006. (click here)

3. Ellen E. Strong, Oliver Gargominy, Winston F. Ponde, Phillippe Bouchet,2008 Global diversity of gastropods (Gastropoda;Mollusca) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia (2008) 595: 149–166 (click here)

4. Seiji Hayashi,2005. The molecular phylogeny of the Buccinidae (Caenogastropoda: Neogastropoda) as inferred from the complete mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences of
selected representatives. Molluscan Research 25(2): 85–98 (click here)

The Search For Port Dickson's Coral Reefs

Ask any Malaysian diver or beach goer whether Port Dickson's worth a trip and they'll surely laugh at you. Some said the waters there are like "teh tarik" (milk tea), others claimed that they saw more plastic bags than fishes and some even liken the seawater there to those of a sewerage tank.

Yet, if you ask locals of the older generation, you will be surprised at the different picture they paint about Port Dickson (a.k.a. PD). Several decades ago, it was common to see fishes darting amongst coral reefs in clear turquoise waters. Even my trip to the beaches in the 1990s revealed plenty of reef life. I could still recall those days I could easily find colourful flatworms, reef shells, porites corals, brain corals (Lobophylla sp.), carnation corals (Pectmia sp.), Acropora sp. corals and mushroom corals. And the water's visiblility is slightly above 2m. (That's considered rather good in the Straits of Malacca!)

Old shells and corals found during a beach survey in PD. These are proof of Port Dickson's reefs were once a lively ecosystem.

Port Dickson is indeed a unique ecosystem in the Straits of Malacca as it is one of the few places in the straits where corals are able to establish themselves close to the mainland. In fact, this is arguably the only place in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia with fringing corals. This is due to the fact that there are but two major river confluences with silty water flowing into PD's waters: The Sungai Linggi River in the South end and Kuala Lukut in the North. Conversely, the majority of the straits' coasts are sandy or muddy with mangroves for hundreds of miles. This is why PD is the place to go for Kuala Lumpur urbanites for a relaxing short trip for decades.

A typical scene in PD - fields of coral rubble stretching for miles along some beaches.

However, it's common sense to many that years of rapid and uncontrolled development and land reclamation works along the coast have all but reduced the corals to rubble. Silty waters covered most of the reefs and prevented life-giving sunlight from reaching the algae in the coral polyps, which they depend on to produce food to survive. With the daily onslaught of waves and rubbish scrapping on the reefs at high tide, there is little room for development of new coral colonies.

But after a diving trip at Lembeh Straits of North Sulawesi, Indonesia and exploring the reefs of Johore and Singapore Straits, I became aware that even environmentally degraded sites hold a surprisingly diverse ecosystem. With that in mind, I turned my attention to Port Dickson's corals. These few areas share plenty of similarities. They are busy ports, experiences rapid development and industrialisation and all have plenty of coral reefs in the vicinity. The only thing that sets them apart is that all of them are fed constantly by strong, nutrient rich currents while PD is pounded by silty, chemical laden concoction of seawater.

A general view of PD.

Nevertheless, an aerial survey of the coast reveals some surprising findings. PD's corals aren't all that lifeless after all:

There are little corals left in the vicinity of the city centre at northern PD.


Some corals can still be seen on the islands and headlands off Kampung Si Rusa although they are either dead or almost destroyed by shoreline development activities.


The corals of Teluk Kemang are one of the more well-researched areas in Port Dickson.


Another well-developed fringing reef at Tanjung Tanah Merah.


Further south, fringing reefs can be seen stretching for several kilometres off Kampung Siginting and Guoman Hotel.


Tanjung Tuan or Cape Rachado is the most well preserved of all of PD's corals because it is gazeeted as a Permeanant Forest Reserve and therefore limits destruction of the marine denizens. However, lack of adequate patrols made it possible for some to encroach and exploit the fishes and corals for aquarium trade.


The patch reefs off Eagle Ranch Resort could be an interesting study area as they are located rather near to the silty mangrove shoreline on the mainland.

A few years ago, a friend of mine stumbled across a vast field of staghorn corals (Acropora sp.) several miles of Port Dickson on an exploratory dive trip; much like in Pulau Pangkor, Perak. So, there are corals that still survive in PD, divable or otherwise. But once again, the construction works on land will soon pull the plug for these poor creatures if nothing is done. More research and explorations has to be done immediately to better understand and manage the reefs.

Hopefully, some sort of protection will be given to these corals soon to avert the already growing danger of the collapse of the marine-related tourism industry and fisheries of the coast. Steps such as diverting sewerage waters from the sea to proper treatment plants and installing proper garbage disposal system should be considered. It is not too late to regain back what Port Dickson was once famous for - The Coral Reefs.

Some related links of interests:
1. New Strait Times-There's Still Hope For Port Dickson
2. Wild Singapore-Uniquely Singapore: City Reefs!
3. Wild Singapore- Sentosa: a shore doomed to reclaimation
4. Executive Summary EIA of a rest house in Pasir Panjang
5. The Star- Illegally Harvested Corals Seized

Reference and Further Readings:
1.Lau, C.M., and Affendi Y. A., and Chong, V.C. , (2009) Effect of Jetty Pillar Orientation on Scleractinian Corals. Malaysian Journal of Science, 28 (2). pp. 161-170. ISSN 13943065 (click here)

2.Sorokin, Y. I. (1993). Coral Reef Ecology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

3.Titlyanov, E. A. (1981). Adaptation of reefbuilding corals to low light intensity. Proceedings of the Fourth International Coral Reef Symposium, 2, pp. 39-43. Manila.

4.Bhagooli, R., & Hidaka, M. (2004). Photoinhibition, bleaching susceptibility and mortality in two scleractinian corals, Platygyra ryukyuensis and Stylophora pistillata, in response to thermal and light stresses. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A, 137, pp. 547-555.

5.Obura, D. O. (1995). Environmental stress and life history strategies, a case study of corals and river sediment from Malindi, Kenya. PhD thesis, University of Miami,Miami.

6.Glynn, P. W. (1997). Bioerosion and Coral-Reef Growth: A Dynamic Balance. In C. Birkeland (Ed.), Life and Death of Coral Reefs (pp. 68-95). New York: Chapman and Hall. (click here)

7.Anthony, K. R., & Hoegh-Gulberg, O. (2003). Variation in coral photosynthesis, respiration and growth characteristics in contrasting light micro habitats:an analogue to plants in forest gaps and understoreys? Functional Ecology ,17, 246-159.

8.Lee, D. M. (2007). A comparative ecological study of the scleractinian corals (Porites rus) in Pulau Tioman and Port Dickson. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Malaya,Institute of Biological Sciences, Kuala Lumpur.

9.Brown, B. E. (1997). Disturbances to Reefs in Recent Times. In C. Birkeland (Ed.), Life and Death of Coral Reefs (pp. 354-379). New York: Chapman and Hall.

10.Yong, A. L. (2002). An ecological study of scleractinian coral in Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson with regards to different light regimes. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Malaya, Institute of Biological Sciences, Kuala Lumpur.

11.. Hoegh-Guldberg, O. and Smith, G. J. (1989). The effect of sudden changes in temperature, light and salinity on the population density and export of zooxanthellae from the reef corals Stylophora pistillata (Esper) and Seriatopora hystrix (Dana). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology & Ecology (J.Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.) 129: 279-303.

12.Westmacott S.K., K. Teleki, S. Wells, J. West. (2000). Management of bleached and
severely damaged coral reefs. IUCN, Gland Switzerland 37 pp.

13.Charles L Angell (2004) Review of critical habitats-mangroves and coral reefs. Final Report. BOBLME. (click here)

Discovering Kinta Valley's Natural Treasures: Gua Anak Tempurung

"The water in the river is very cold but clear as crystal. Gunong Gaja (sic. Gunung Gajah) comes close down to the river and overhangs. It comes down about 100 feet sheer. It is very striking with caves and stalactites. It must be photographed."

-J.W. Birch, First British Resident of Perak.


Gunung Tempurung as seen from the North-South Highway.

For centuries, Gunung Gajah-Gunung Tempurung complex has fascinated travellers and locals alike. Early Sumatran settlers believed caves in these huge mountains are adobes of genies while western explorers noted and surveyed the karsts' geology, archaeology and biodiversity in awe and wonder. Today, tourists flock to the most well-known of the caves, Gua Tempurung, to get a glimpse of the wonderful stalactites and stalagmites it has to offer. However, little is known about the other dozens of caves that lie off the beaten path. I am about to step into one of them.

The rolling green hills of Gunung Gajah.

Being 6km long, the G. Gajah-Tempurung massif is the largest and southernmost karst in Kinta Valley. Gunung Gajah's summit is 372m high while G.Tempurung's southern and northern peaks are 612m and 497m respectively. This makes G.Tempurung one of the tallest karst in Peninsular Malaysia. To the west, the flat alluvial plains stretch over the valley while the 1234m high granitic Gunung Bujang Melaka dominates the southern landscape. The dome shaped granite mountains facing the eastern flank is Gunung Chantik.

Entering the serene valley of Sungai Siput (South) village, one could imagine how much of Kinta Valley was like centuries ago. There was the characteristic twin-humped Gunung Gajah towering over the western horizon and then there's the sheer dolomite cliff of Gunung Tempurung soaring hundreds of metres above the thick emerald forests which overshadows the valley below. In between these giants stood minuscule wooden shops and houses with reflective pools of water surrounding them, the remains of tin mining in the alluvial flat lands in the heydays. It is here that I met up with the Malaysian Karst Society (MKS) members to gear up before heading into the hills.

Pinnacles on the southern peak of Gunung Tempurung.

We followed the dirt road winding between G. Tempurung and G. Chantik. The vegetation here are mostly of anandara belukar (regenerating bushland). I found some common pitcher plants (Nepenthes gracilis) climbing on trees.

A common pitcher plant Nephentes gracilis growing in regenerating bushland.

A fruit bearing fig tree Ficus fistulosa.

After crossing several kilometres of muddy road with landslides in between, we finally arrived at the entrance of Gua Anak Tempurung, literally translates as the Tempurung Child Cave. There were man made rock barriers on the banks of the stream flowing into the cave, signs of human disturbance. I tried locating landsnails around the thickly vegetated banks. Strangely enough, little was found in this location apart from some broken Dyakia lahatensis (De Morgan 1885) and Cyclophorus malayanus (Benson 1852) shells. After a quick briefing, we entered the cave through the upper dry entrance (there's another wet entrance nearby).

The chamber at the entrance of the cave.

A Cyclophorus malayanus (Benson1852) shell midden. Predatory birds probably used the rocks here to break the shells to extract the animal inside.

The entire cave passage is wet as a stream runs its course across the length of the cave.

Being a river cave, Gua Anak Tempurung is wet throughout its passage although some dry areas can be found in larger chambers. Spanning 1100m, this cave houses myriad of interesting subterranean organisms such as cave crickets, long-legged cave centipedes, the endemic primitive trapdoor spider (Liphistius tempurung), blind cat fishes, bats and possibly freshwater crabs too. Most of these organisms concentrates on the dry guano-sand banks of the cave stream.

A cave huntsman spider Sparassidae species probably feeds on cave insects.

A tailless whip scorpion Sarax brachydactylus (Simon 1892) scurrying for cover. This creature is often associated with wet caves and are fairly widespread across the world.

Silk strands betrays the presence of rare glowing cave worms Arachnocampa species(?) . It is famous in Australia and New Zealand due to them glowing in the dark by their thousands, much like a starry sky.

Another species of tailess whip scorpion? or perhaps a molting form of the same species?

Fungi growing on a rock covered with tiny particles of organic matter.

A common cave cricket Diestrammena sp. .

Surprisingly, there are even cave catfish Clarias sp. here. This fish has evolved its eye to blind or semi-blind conditions due to the absence of light in the cave.

Besides that, the cave's historical significance can also be viewed along its walls and dry stream banks.

A tin bearing vein in limestone fissures. These used to be mined extensively by the Chinese in the early 20th century until it was banned by the British administrators who found them too dangerous to be worked on. The veins here are fondly called Jehoshaphat veins by geologists.

Rocks are piled up to form a bunker as a barrier for the communist insurgents against the government forces back in the days of Malayan Emergency in the mid-20th century.

The highlights of the cave is of course the impressive limestone formations including stalactites, stalagmites, cave straws (thin, young stalactites), cave "teeth" and many more.

A large stalactite in one of the chambers.

The tall but narrow chamber along the cave passage.

Brown stains on the speleoterms are the products of iron oxide mixing with calcium rich water.

This chamber is easily 30m high.

A miniature "cascading" flow stone. This is a rare sight.

The scenery inside the largest chamber in Gua Anak Tempurung.

Black and white wave lines of marble polished by millions of years of flowing stream water.

An exceptionally tall stalactite stretching all the way to the ceiling of the chamber.

These serrated teeth-like stalactites are rather rare in Malaysia. According to our guide, the only other location with several structures like these is in Kedah, northern Peninsular Malaysia.

After two hours in the pitch black with only torchlights guiding our way through the cave, dim sunlight finally breaks from a cave opening. We have reached the end of the cave.

We stumbled out into the sunlit forest beside the white cliffs. There is a swamp near the cave entrance with broken shells of Pollicaria elephas (De Morgan 1885) and Cyclophorus malayanus (Benson 1852) fallen from above. Scanning the algae covered bluish-green limestone wall in the shades of the forest canopy, I could spot some endemic Monophyllaea elongata plants growing in clusters. While far above them, another iconic Kinta limestone endemic flora Paraboea verticillata displays its silver rosettes under the sun.

The scene outside the cave exit is filled with vegetation-typical of the Kinta Karst area.

The endemic Monophyllaea elongata growing on wet limestone.

Finally, we emerged from the bushes and into the logging road and made our way back to civilisation.

The Tempurung-Gajah complex indeed holds lots of fascinating secrets awaiting discovery. The ecological, geological, historical and tourism value of these massifs far outweights the value of cement, marble and other limestone materials extracted from them. Hopefully, they will remain as they are- rugged and majestic, yet serene and beautiful for generations to come.

Reference:
1.Liz Price, 2001 Caves and Karsts of Peninsular Malaysia. Gua Publications, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2.K. Dittmar, M.L. Porter, L. Price, G. Svenson, M.F. Whiting, 2003. A Brief Survey of Invertebrates in Caves of Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysian Nature Journal, September, 57(2)221-233. (click here)