Royal Mulu Resort – this is the place to stay when at Mulu. It is right on the edge of the park and offers everything you need. Spa services, a pool and up-scale accommodations offer a surprising amount of comfort in a jungle location.

Now when I say it is the place to stay, it is pretty much the only place you can stay right near the park, with the exceptional of the actually Mulu National Park accommodations which include a dormitory room and some nice wooden cabins.

 

The resort is actually on the edge of the park and just a few minutes walk from a nearby town, where beers are much cheaper and snacks can be had for a bargain price, so you can splurge as much or as little as you want if you stay at the resort. Personally, I thought the buffet dinners at the Wildflower Restaurant in Mulu Resort were great. They had different options each night, including some unique specialities like sea urchin and manta ray. The manta ray was delicious, one of my 10 Surprisingly Tasty Animals selections!)

 

There was a cafe here that had snacks and ice cream too, which go down really well when you’ve been hiking around in the humid forest all day! This is a muggy part of the world, where you can sweat simply by sitting. The resort has pretty much everything on offer from ATV rides to kayaking and caving adventures that can last for 15 hours. I was kind of sad that I didn’t have more time here as I was only able to choose a couple of the activities and chose mostly to explore the park by foot, which allowed more time for photography….at the expense of not doing some more exciting adventures.

 

The canopy walk was probably my favourite activity in the park, even more-so than exploring the famous caves. Overall, you need a few full days to explore the park and I’d suggest 4-5 days in case you get some bad rainy weather, which can happen.

It’s not the cheapest place to stay if you do hang out for 4-5 days though, so perhaps splitting your time between here and the park’s dorm accommodations is the way to go. That’s what I did (stay at the dorm first, then splurge at the end). There are tons of hikes around this part of the park, including the Head Hunters Trail and a challenging hike to the impressive Pinnacles – jagged limestone peaks carved out by rain and weather.

 

 

I really liked visiting Mulu in Sarawak, Borneo but the only thing I was slightly disappointed about was the lack of wildlife. Aside from small creatures like lizards, geckos, butterflies and bugs, the most exciting thing I saw was some monkeys far away in the distance. If you’re going to Borneo for wildlife, I suggest heading over to the Kinabatangan River for your fix, instead of Mulu National Park.