batu caves guidebook (2020)

Towering to a height of 329 metres above the surrounding plains, some 11 kilometres north of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) as the crow flies, a solitary limestone hill has stood watch over the northern periphery of the Klang Valley since time immemorial.

To locals and visitors alike, this hill is Batu Caves - a cave temple set within an awe-inspiring cavernous chamber; an iconic 272 steps leading straight up to the temple; the final destination of the spectacular Thaipusam procession.

Beyond its cultural and religious values, Batu Caves is also a conservation site of immense scientific importance - a repository of natural history, an extraordinary web of life set within perpetual darkness, a rock garden adorned with special plants that cannot survive anywhere else but here.

This 116-page Batu Caves Guidebook furnishes readers with a glimpse into the hidden and not-so-hidden gems of this magnificent hill that is so important to so many people in many different ways and the path ahead towards a common vision for its sustainable use and conservation.

Malayan nature journal vol 75 (1) : batu caves (2023)

"This Special Issue of Malayan Nature Journal (MNJ) confirms the national importance, as a resource of geodiversity and biodiversity, of the Batu Caves karstic limestone massif and the caves within and around it. For many thousands of years, people in Malaysia have approached limestone hills and caves with respect and awe. In Sarawak, Gua Subis (the ‘Great Cave’) is the largest of several caves in the catchment of the River Niah, that were occupied, for long or short periods from 40,000 years ago (Barker, 2013). Like many other Malaysian caves, Niah Great Cave became an important cemetery during the Neolithic era (the New Stone Age). In Kelantan, Gua Cha was also chosen in the Neolithic period as a special place for the respectful burial of departed individuals and their prized possessions (Tweedie, 1940). Altogether, in Peninsular Malaysia 45 caves of archaeological importance were recognised by Peacock (1965). Batu Caves was among these, first investigated for archaeological potential some 70 years ago by Williams-Hunt (1951, 1952). This latest Special Issue of MNJ, asserts that, through zooarchaeological research, the complex of caves at Batu still retains value in providing insight into past changes in the local fauna over a long time period. Nevertheless, there is also an alarming warning: that opportunities for investigation and study have been hugely compromised by the removal of original cave floors and by the impact of encroaching development on known fossil sites in peripheral locations."

Gathorne, Earl of Cranbrook 

Life Member and Honorary Member, Malaysian Nature Society