Borneo Headhunter's Trail

Gunung Mulu National Park · Malaysia

Challenging5 daysAsia~£1,400 est.

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Overview

The Headhunters' Trail is the adventurous back door out of Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, following the route along which Kayan war parties once hauled their canoes between the Melinau and Terikan rivers. You go in by longboat and on foot to Camp 5, a riverside base beneath the sheer walls of the Melinau Gorge, and most groups spend a punishing extra day climbing to the Pinnacles viewpoint on Gunung Api, where 45-metre blades of silver limestone erupt from the jungle. Then the trail proper: eleven easily-lost kilometres of primary rainforest to Kuala Terikan, and a long, glorious longboat ride down the Medalam and Limbang rivers, with a night in an Iban longhouse before Limbang town. Leeches, heat and humidity are constant companions; the variable that wrecks plans is river level, because after heavy rain the boats cannot run and after drought they scrape, so build slack into both ends. A Mulu-licensed guide is compulsory. March to September brings the drier months. Around £1,400 for five days including park fees, guides, boats and the longhouse stay - and catch the Deer Cave bat exodus at Mulu before you leave.