Deer Cave, located near Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, is a show cave attraction of Gunung Mulu National Park. It was surveyed in 1961 by G.E. Wilford of the Malaysian Geological Survey, who predicted that Mulu would yield many more caves in the future (Wilford, 1964). The cave, which is also known as Gua Payau or Gua Rusa by the local Penan and Berawan people, is said to have received its name because of the deer that go there to lick salt-bearing rocks (Tsen, 1993) and shelter themselves.
An explanation of the cave's formation is strongly interconnected with the geological history of the island of Borneo itself. Between 40,000,000 B.C. and 20,000,000 B.C., a 1500 m thick layer of sedimentary rocks known as limestone, composed largely of compressed sea shells, developed in lagoons created by coral reefs. The movement of the Asian and Australian tectonic plates caused the crust to buckle and elevate the land once more, giving birth to the island of Borneo and the Mulu mountains, around 5,000,000 B.C. Since then, the landscape was hacked by constant erosion from precipitations and winds. The mountain’s surface is composed mostly of limestone, which dissolves when in contact with fresh-water, and thus has been slowly sculpted into a karst. Rainwater also infiltrates the porous sedimentary rocks after going through the soil and progressively dissolves the limestone, widening the pores and cracks and creating caves of impressive dimensions such as the Deer Cave. This natural process, which is still working, will cause the cave to widen even more in the future.
Source: Wikipedia
A pleasant surprise to receive these two postcards in the mail.
As I always buy stamps out on the first day issue, I met this nice
Uncle Paul who flew especially to KK from Sibu (in the neighbouring state)
to prepare special cancellations for the First Day Covers. Thank you!
Sent: 29 October Received: 3 November 2015 Travelled: 5 days
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