PCE 2000 - Perlis Caving Expedition

Team Members

Yee Chun Wah, Lim Weng Sia, Alan Lim, 

Siew Eng, Colin Chung & Tony Yap

     By the time the team got ready it was already 11:00am.  The team of six moved quickly to the entrance and proceed to move into the passage.  Before long the encountered one of the residents which was a juvenile snake (Yet to be confirmed at this point in time as we don’t have any snake reference books here but it looks like a Keelback.) It was about 1½ feet in length. The underside of it was orange in colour with checkered sides. 

     Proceeding on further, we encountered 3 more baby snakes of the same species.  These 3 were only about 7 to 9 inches in length and they were hanging on to the wires and spikes on the lower part of the wall passage.  It certainly looks like they came from the same hatch.

     Going on further up to the part where there is a sump on the left side of the passage we found a cluster of  7 white oval shaped eggs on the right side of the wall. They were located inside a crevice.  The eggs were stuck to one another and they were about 1½ cm long. 

     In the sump itself, we saw fishes swimming around.  There was about 2 to 3 of them which is about 4 to 5 inches long.  They were moving about quite fast but they seem to have whiskers indicating it to be some species of cat fish. 

     After this part we came to a section of the passage which requires you to have a good sense of balance as you will need to walk or crawl along 2 to 3 inch wide wooden beams with lots of mud on it.  One slip and it’s into the water.

     A short distance after we reached the first swim area.  Fully equipped with life jackets and tire tubes the team proceed to really get wet.  The water was awfully cold when you first get into it but as you start to move it wasn’t too bad. It was certainly exciting swimming over old wooden planks and going through a small hole (actually a submerged doorway whereby only the top part of doorway it still exposed to air. The swim took about 7 to 8 minutes before we reached a muddy bank with lots of wooden debris.

     Moving on to dry ground (dry as in very shallow running water) we were walking along areas of the passage which has been enlarged by blasting activities.  At one point where we made a sharp right turn I saw a tailless whip-scorpion running along the wall and moving quickly out of sight.

     Next we came to a long section of the passage whereby we were walking along planks which is slightly submerged in ankle deep water.  However when you look over the sides of the planks you can’t see the ground at all.  It is most probably either tens or hundreds of feet down as this is the part where the miners were digging down for the tin.  From enquiries made earlier, certain sections go down as deep as 300 to 400 feet deep.

     Finally we reached a section of the blasted passage where there is an iron grilled gate.  Again from earlier enquires we found out that the purpose of this gate is to segregate different parts of the mines which is controlled by a different company.

     A short distance on we reached the second swim area.  By then it was already 2 pm and we decided to take our lunch break before plunging into the water.  It did not take long before we got into the drink and this time it was even more challenging.  This time there was no clear swim passage as along the way there were wooden beams running across the passageway and we had to climb over the beams.  In addition we had to carefully move our heavy bags which was floating in the water on the tire tubes.  There were at least 3 beams running across the swim way and the water was cold too.

     Once on dry land, we were greeted with a junction.  After taking a short rest we decided to explore the right passage since on the survey map done by Hymeir from WWF there was no indication as to where it leads to.  Taking our tire tubes and bags alongs we started to move in.  Almost immediately we find ourselves going down on our knees and elbows.  Thinking that this tiring effort is only for a short distance we carried on dragging our bags and tubes along.  After 5 minutes of this, I realize that this passage requires you to carry on either on your knees or belly for quite a while.  That was when we decided to drop our tubes and bags and carry on with just our lights.

     It certainly looks like we made the right decision as we carried on, on our knee and belly with an occasional opportunity to stand up right for almost 40 minutes before reaching a circular chamber with water running down on one side of the high walls. There were some iron spikes on one side of the wall leading up but it looks like it requires SRT to gear go on up safely.

     To anyone who wants to try out this passage, you will need to make sure you are equipped with knee and elbow pads otherwise its going to be murder on those body parts.  The passage itself is very, very challenging and interesting.  Certain sections is about the width of a thin person.  People like Suja or Lawrence would definitely have a most difficult time trying to make it through or not at all.  This passage is definitely not for the claustrophobic.

     All along the way there is water flowing down and towards the end there are a couple of Jacuzzi pools. You basically climb upwards one pool to the next pool moving upwards and all long the water is gushing down over your feet.  An absolutely fantastic but very tiring passage to take on.  Along the way I saw a white spider.  It looks like the huntsmen spider.  Shortly after I saw a cave cricket on the wall while flat on my belly.

     By the time we move back towards the entrance of this exciting “Doggy crawl/Thin man’s passage” it was already about 5:00 pm and we decided to stop and take some food.  Once out at the junction again we decided to spend some time to do a quick trip towards the other passage on the left.  We soon came to an area whereby we were faced with 3 different passage ways. 

     Quickly choosing the center passage to check out, we came across a fantastic formation we called the “Milkyway”.  It was milky white calcite forming along the floor of the passage with lots and lots of little gour pools and cave pearls forming within it.  Walking on a little further we can see that the white formation is flowing down from the right wall and it continues to flow down to ground level and continues along the ground for some 20 feet or more.  It really looked like somebody threw a pail of milk against the wall and the milk is flowing down the wall and along the ground.

     Walking along further we came across a broken ladder on the left side of the wall which has been calcited over.  By then we decided to turn back and start making our way out.  The time was already 6:10 pm.

     Moving back quickly towards the exit we saw some more interesting creatures.  Tony suddenly discovered a big fat leech stuck to his tire tube.  It looked like those big ones that was stuck to Rambo in the movie Rambo II.  At the point where there is a cross junction near to the exit, we came across a black coloured snake with grey bands across the body.  In Hymeir’s WWF report he mentioned a puff faced water snake.  Could this be the same fella?  It was about 2 feet plus in length and it was submerged in the shallow water.

     Moving on further towards the exit as we were crossing the pool with planks there was a huge toad (Bufo asper) sitting motionless on the right side of the wall.  As we went on further our friend the keelback got spooked by the cavers and it jumped into the water. So it was swimming along the wall in the water trying to get away from us. In the process scaring each other.

     Finally at 8:30 pm we came back out to the exit to a star filled night sky.  The Orion prominently standing out since it was the most easily recognized constellation.  By the time we packed up we got back to the basecamp ( a rented shophouse) at 9:00 pm.

     And that was the end of the first day of caving for the Baba Team. 

Reported by Yee Chun Wah