LANNO

A small group of us set off towards Gua Lanno after parking at the Kwong Fook Nam Temple. We had to walk for about 1 km to reach the cave entrance. To get into the main chamber of the cave, we crawled through a narrow passage after walking up a short incline. Upon entering the main chamber we were assailed by a flying creature. It made clicking noises as it 'dive-bombed' us, sometimes coming to within inches of our face. At first we thought it was a bat but when we finally got a better look at it, we saw that it was a bird. It was some sort of swallow or swift that was probably nesting in the cave. The audible clicking we heard must be it's own versoin of echo-location to navigate in the darkness of the cave.

The main chamber is quite large, about 40 x 20 m wide and has some large columns. At one end is a small pool surrounded with brilliant white calcite formations and helictites. An opening to the south of this chamber leads deeper into the cave. From here, a short branch to the left leads to a small area where sparkling calcite crystals dot the whole surface. In a dim light , it gives the impression of looking at a beautiful star filled night sky. The 3 dimensional effect of the skarkles makes you feel that you could reach out and catch a few stars in your hands!

To proceed further into the cave, we had to wade through a short narrow passage where the water is knee high. Nearby is an area with many round 'pebbles' coloured brown by the mud. Then we had to get down on our knees as the passage ahead was less than a metre in height. This led to another chamber with many columns. There are 3 large columns rising above 5m to the ceiling. There are also many columns and stalagmites that are only a few inches in diameter but a few meters long. One stalagmite, about 1.5m tall, looked like the raised head of a Cobra ready to strike! Curtain formations also adorned some of the walls in this chamber. The deepest part of the cave is the Tortoise chamber where a huge rock in the shape of a giant tortoise sits in the middle of the chamber.
Apart from the usual cave crickets and whip spiders, we also came across some white millipedes about 6cm long, white spiders and a large grey spider about 8cm across. In one narrow passage, a colony of bats were found roosting.

Gua Ngia is situated in the Southern arm of Gunung Lanno. The land bordering the cave is being farmed as a fruit orchard by some locals who have fenced the area and keep a few dogs to keep unwelcome visitors out. One corner of the cave is also sealed off and used as a monastery by monks. However all these hinderences did not stop us from gaining access and exploring the main section of the cave. The main chamber is quite large with a high ceiling and large opening facing East. The floor of the chamber is covered with dried mud which has hardened and cracked into square blocks  giving it a unique checker-board appearence. There are some huge columns in the chamber and on them can be found the growth of Photokarst(Phytokarst) which is a combination of calcium carbonate and algae which grows as thin fingers towards the light. The sight of the light streaming in from the east into the cave and water dripping from the ceiling is quite spectacular.

Renowned nature photographer, KS Cheang, who came on this trip shared with us his photography techniques and showed us how to frame our shots to get the best visual effects in our photos. Although this is not a long cave , we spent a lot of time inside admiring the unusual features of the cave and learning from Mr. Cheang. The outer wall of the cave is also interesting as it has been cut at different levels by the ancient river giving it a tiered appearence. Some of Mr. Cheang's photos can be seen in our Picture Gallery section.