You Need To Visit This Mystical Fairy Cave Now! Best Sarawak Guide
If you’re someone who is actively seeking new adventures and experiences, then you definitely need to visit Fairy Cave/Gua Pari in Bau, Sarawak. Locally known as Gua Kapor, this cave sits approximately 30m above the ground and believed to be the home for Chinese gods and goddess. The unique cavern and rock formations at Fairy Cave is unlike any other limestone caves that we have been to and simply amazes us at how beautiful mother nature is.
Fairy Cave Sarawak
When should you visit Fairy Cave ?
The Fairy Cave Nature Reserve is open daily, every Tuesday – Sunday, including public holidays. For maintenance purposes the caves are closed every Monday. Before you make your journey here, make sure to check the latest weather forecast as the weather is quite unpredictable here in Sarawak.
Fairy Cave exploration – Bau, Sarawak
Come and discover Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
One thing you should know is that Kuching is the wettest place in Malaysia, on average having 279 days of rainfall annually. As Bau is located not far off from Kuching, you can expect the weather to be very similar. During our recent trip, we visited the Fairy Cave around 1pm and left around 3pm. Just as we left the cave, it started pouring heavily and the authorities had to shut down all visits to the cave.
Fairy Cave Nature Reserve entrance – Bau, Sarawak
Limestone formation at Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
In our opinion the best time to visit Fairy Cave is between 9am – 1pm. This will give you enough time to explore the caves and provide an extra buffer in case it rains. The last thing you would want happening is to get stranded in the caves when it is raining heavily!
Fairy Cave existence – Bau, Sarawak
Entrance fee:-
Non-Malaysians
Adult (18 – 59 years old) – RM 5
Child (6 – 17 years old) – RM 2
Child (Under 6 years old) – Free
Malaysians
Adult (18 – 59 years old) – RM 1
Child – Free
* Senior citizens (above age of 60), disabled (OKU) will get free entrance to Fairy Cave
Fairy Cave tickets – Bau, Sarawak
How to visit Fairy Cave?
Similar to Tasik Biru/Blue Lake, as Fairy Cave is located at the outskirts of Kuching, there is limited choices when it comes to transportation. To get here you either rent a car, take a taxi/e-Hailing or find a connecting bus to Bau town. Alternatively, you can also contact the Sarawak Forestry department as they do provide shuttle and lodging services as well.
Best way to explore the area is to rent a car – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
How long is the journey to the Fairy Cave?
This mystical cave is located around 50 minutes away from Kuching (42km from the city centre). If you’re planning to drive here yourself, there’s nothing much to worry about as the roads here are quite straight forward with signboards leading to the cave. To make it easier for you, we’ve included the Google Maps directions here for your reference.
Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak – Google Maps directions
Useful tips
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The Fairy Cave Nature Reserve is closed during heavy rain, thunderstorms, lightning occurrence and strong winds. So check the weather before coming here
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If you plan to drive to Fairy Cave, ensure that your car tyre and brakes are working well
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No vandalism, littering, smoking and destructive behaviour will be tolerated
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Use a reliable footwear when visiting the caves, as some parts of the trail are slippery when wet. You won’t be allowed to enter the cave if you’re using sandals. There’s a booth just beside the entrance which rents out “Adidas Kampung”, a locally made footwear often used for outdoor activities
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Mind your head as certain parts the cave have a lower ceiling and watch out for falling rocks!
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Take along your gloves if you have them as the handrails here are often coated with bat guano
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Carry along some drinking water as the caves can get pretty hot and humid
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The most important thing to take along is a torchlight. You won’t want to be relying solely on your phone for lighting in case your battery runs out when you are walking in a pitch black cave. In case you forgot to bring your own torchlights, you can rent them from the counter for a small fee
Fairy Cave Nature Reserve Notice Boards – Sarawak
Mind your steps – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Bat guano – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Mind your head – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Beware of falling rocks! Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
We even used Adidas Kampung during our hike to Sarawak’s Jurassic World
Adidas Kampung for rent – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
So getting that out of the way, let’s find out what you can discover at Fairy Cave ?
1. Go for an adventure of a lifetime
Enter a whole new world of darkness as you venture deep into the caverns of Fairy Cave and experience it with your friends, family or even on your own. There are 3 different trails for you to tackle here, Twilight Trail, Dark Trail and Gunung Kapor Summit Trail.
Fairy Cave Nature Reserve Trail Map – Sarawak
After purchasing your tickets at the entrance, you will be given a brief on what to expect during your trails by the staffs here. To get to the caves you will first have to climb up the 5 storey high stairs. As you make your way up, you will notice various signboards educating visitors on the flora and fauna available at the nature reserve.
Registration at Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
The 5 storey stairs at Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
Hornwort plants that can be found here – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Fern Allies plants that can be found here – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Depending on your stamina, it could either be an easy climb or a tiring one up the flight of stairs. At the very top of the 5 storey building is the view point of the surrounding area with a beautiful backdrop of the nearby terrains.
Beautiful artwork – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
View point of the mountains – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Once you get to the entrance of the caves, you will start off on the Twilight Trail which takes 30 mins on average, covering a distance of 343m. Although it may not seem very far, the trail compromises of various narrow entrances, vertical steel stairs and uneven ground, so take your time and don’t rush.
Twilight Trail – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Narrow cave entrance – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
Very narrow stairs leading deeper into Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
Twilight Trail – Fairy Cave, Bau – Sarawak
The Twilight trail will continue leading you into an even larger cave entrance with plenty of walkways for you to explore.
Amazing views inside Fairy Cave – Bau, Sarawak
Fairy Cave Nature Reserve – Bau, Sarawak
Plenty of walkways to explore – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Beautiful views inside Fairy Cave Nature Reserve – Bau, Sarawak
For those wants to experience the Dark Cave Trail proceed onwards for another 15 – 20 minutes along the 250m unlit pathway. There are reflectors along the way so make sure not to stray away from the route to avoid getting lost.
Trails to the Dark Cave and Summit Trail – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Unique looking stalactite structure – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
A cave guide on standby inside Fairy Cave – Sarawak
Follow the reflectors into the Dark Trail – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Feels like you’ve entered another universe – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
At the end of the Dark Trail, you will reach the starting point for the Gunung Kapor Summit Trail. This is the most challenging trail amongst the others and requires a guide and permit beforehand. As we didn’t have a permit to visit the summit trail, we just explored the 2 popular trails whilst we were here.
Captured only using the camera’s flash (Dark Trail) – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Alien looking structure (Dark Trail) – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
The other end of the Dark Trail – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
2. Discover the stories and myths of Fairy Cave
As you enter Fairy Cave, you will notice a lot of stalactites and stalagmites present. These limestone stalactites takes so much time to build up – approximately 10cm every thousand years!
Explanation on the limestone formations – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
There are several legends and stories on how Fairy Cave got its name. Amongst the most common theories are :-
Kingdom of Chinese Deities
According to the Chinese community, they believed that the stalagmite structures here resembles deities such as Kuan Yin (The Goddess of Mercy) and Buddha. This has drawn many local Chinese people to visit the cave to offer their prayers.
Stalagmite structures resembling Kuan Yin – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Titisan Air Fairy Fountain
Translated from Malay, “Titisan Air Fairy” means “Fairy Water Droplets”. This man-made fountain was constructed due its similar appearance to the fairy. The fountain of the statue still remains here today, even though its has dried up for quite some time.
Titisan Air Fairy (Fairy Water Droplets) statue in Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Bidayuh folklore
A popular Bidayuh folklore tells a terrifying story of a poor boy and his mother who lived at a nearby Bidayuh village called Kampung Kapur. The story begins during a Gawai celebration (Dayak harvest and thanksgiving festival in Sarawak) which was held at one of the villagers house. The boy who was wandering around the area was curious and peeped in on their celebration, which upset the host.
Gawai celebration in Sarawak
Instead of chasing the boy away, the host played a prank on the boy and collected all the sugarcane waste and passed it to him. He told the boy that there was delicious pork inside. Excited, the boy went back to his mother to show her the gift he had received from the villagers. When his mother saw nothing inside, she was furious and began plotting her revenge on the nasty villagers.
The delicious pork inside the bamboo – Sarawak
She took a cat, dressed it beautifully and then threw it in the middle of their neighbours Gawai celebration. Bewildered, all the villagers began to laugh at the cat in the dress. Their laughter brought upon a storm which turned them into the stalagmites and stalactites which you see inside Fairy Cave today.
The stalagmites and stalactites believed to be the cursed villagers
Japanese Fortress
During the Japanese occupation in World War II, it was believed that they used the cave as a shelter and fortress.
Believed to be used by the Japanese as a fortress in World War II – Sarawak
3. Go rock climbing
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned climber, Fairy Cave is well equipped to cater for your needs. There are 8 walls with various difficulty for you to try out here, all being certified by the IMCF (International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation).
Rock climb at Fairy Cave – Sarawak
4. Explore the flora and fauna
Both the Fairy Cave and the Wind Cave are gazetted as a nature reserve park by the Sarawak government to protect the numerous bio diversities here. There are around 14 different bat species, 12 species of snails, black nest swiftlets and various rare orchids and palms at the nature reserve.
Black nest swiftlets – Fairy Cave, Sarawak
Bats – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Fungi – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Monocotyledon – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Dicotyledon – Fairy Cave, Bau, Sarawak
Have any experience or tips on visiting “Fairy Cave in Bau? Let us know and share your thoughts and questions in the comments section. We’d love to hear from you!
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