More Creepy Crawlies: Cave Cockroaches, Centipedes, and Piles of Poo

 

The Gomantong caves in Sabah, Borneo, have featured on television documentaries, particularly since they are home to swiftlets which produce the nests harvested for bird’s nest soup. Entering one of the caves was eye-watering, for two reasons: firstly, the sight of the vertiginous and fragile-looking ladders used by the harvesters, which probably would have failed any halfway reasonable health and safety test; and secondly, the smell. The cave is a whole ecosystem, as the birds fly in, make their nests, hatch their young, and poo everywhere. Ditto the local bat population. Mounds of guano cover the ground, creating a distinctly musty odour in the humidity, alongside the sensation of a shagpile carpet underfoot (I wore shoes, obvs). Crawling atop these noxious heaps are millions of cockroaches. I was told (naturally, I asked) that the ‘roaches would not attempt to enter my trousers and would instead run away at my approach. I decided this was all for the best and that I would in no way be offended by this. You couldn’t really see them in the darkness, but, as my photo shows, a glance accompanied by a flashlight revealed the blighters everywhere (even albino ones!). There were also some rather large centipedes (at least 25 metres long. Well, they seemed that way). 

Lots of bats hanging out. Wasn't very easy to get a decent photo, unfortunately, given the light (or, lack thereof).