Caving Into Gua Batu Maloi

Words and photos by Roziah Adnan, contributor for Virtual Malaysia

When we talk about caves and caving, there are the usual terms one associate with them – cavernous, airy or stagnant and stale air, a light walk or a difficult squeeze ahead etc.

With Gua Batu Maloi (Batu Maloi Cave), it’s a completely different story. Being the only granite cave in Malaysia, the types of ‘excursion’ one would experience, compared to other limestone caves, are very much like comparing apples to oranges.

Batu Maloi Cave is located in Hutan Lipur Batu Maloi in Kg Tanggai, in the town of Air Mawang, Johol, Negeri Sembilan. The easiest route to get there would be to come from Kuala Pilah and head towards Tampin. You will see Air Mawang town before Tampin and the turn off towards the campsite is on your right, in the middle of the town itself (look for Air Mawang Police Station signage to guide you). 

The other route would be to come from Tampin itself and heads towards Kuala Pilah. The turn off is to your left, just as you reach the town’s border (look for SRK Kg Nuri signage to guide you in). Both the cave and the Hutan Lipur campsite are managed by the local Wildlife department, headed by Mr. Rusman. Official trips are usually guided by officers from Wildlife department, but there are also local, certified guides from the surrounding area who, for a small fee, will guide any groups through the cave system. (Please contact and arrange the excursion before you go)

Actually, Batu Maloi Cave is more of a congregation of huge and many, many boulders with a combination of two rivers (from Gunung Tampin and Gunung Datuk), its waters snaking its way through these huge (and many, many) granite boulders. The caving takes you through, up, under, over and around these huge boulders. You will have to snake, climb, slide, crawl, be on all fours, sometimes flat on your back (or stomach) and dive underwater to work your way through the caves.

Word of caution - if you are asthmatic, have the heebie-jeebies with creepy crawlies and big toads, claustrophobic or have fear of being underwater and in tight confined spaces, please decide not to do this. Because you will experience you worst fear there. In my case, getting my big head stuck between two giant rocks whist being submerged underwater. Thank God I am still alive to laugh about it now, though.

What’s so good about Batu Maloi Cave? What sets this particular adventure apart from the other cave explorations out there? What is it about this one, that though I have just arrived from exploring it, yet it already beckons me for another turn inside it? (I am writing these mere hours after the activity).