Wildlifeof Borneo
Gomantong Caves
Limestone caves
A pair of vast limestone caves rising out of the Kinabatangan floodplain, long harvested for edible birds' nests — a trade that dates back centuries and still continues under licence today. At dusk, millions of wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats stream out of the cave mouth in a spiralling column that can take the better part of an hour to fully empty, timed almost exactly opposite the swiftlets returning to roost. The cave floor below supports a guano ecosystem of its own, home to specialised invertebrates and the cave racers that hunt them.
Top highlights
- Wrinkle-lipped Free-tailed Bat
- Black-nest Swiftlet
- Edible-nest Swiftlet
- Cave Racer
- Bornean Orangutan
- Rhinoceros Hornbill
Accommodation
No on-site accommodation — this is a day or half-day excursion from river lodges around Sukau and Bilit.
Getting there
About 1.5–2 hours by road from Sandakan on a sealed road, or a much shorter 30–45 minute drive from the river lodges around Sukau and Bilit. There's no public transport and no accommodation on site, so almost everyone visits as a stop on the way to or from a Kinabatangan river trip rather than as a standalone destination.
Best time to visit
Open year-round, but timing the visit for the bat exodus is what most people come for — arrive by mid-to-late afternoon and stay until dusk (roughly 5:30–6:30pm) to watch millions of bats stream out as the swiftlets return to roost for the night. Licensed collectors harvest the birds' nests twice a year, February–April and July–September, so a visit inside those windows sometimes catches the harvest itself in progress on the bamboo scaffolding overhead.
