It’s almost Halloween, and it’s therefore the perfect time to share my pictures of the night walk in Mulu National Park with you. If you’re not a fan of creepy-crawlies, it’s time to avert your eyes.

Night Walk Mulu National Park

This is a bit of an in-between post, because I have so many photos to show and stories to tell about Mulu National Park and this generally means two things: one that I start procrastinating and two that the post would be way too long for readers to enjoy. That’s where this little post comes in. I feel like I’m making a dent in the size of my next post, and you can enjoy the photos with all the animals I spotted during the night walk.

I had booked the night walk for my first day in the park and I’m happy I did, because when I went to the meet-up spot donned with a rain coat & waterproof bag I found out the tour gets cancelled during torrential downpours. I understand the reasoning behind it, since it would indeed be difficult to spot animals in the pouring rain, but I like wildlife tours so much that I couldn’t help but feel sad.

Luckily, the guide booked me on a tour for the next day. Others weren’t as lucky as I was, because they were leaving the park the next day.

There was no rain the next day, and even though I had to run to make it to the tour (I had booked two other tours that day, but more about that in the next post), I’m happy I made it.

The sounds of the jungle are really special, especially at night when you feel safe with a guide by your side while having your vision reduced to the beam of a flashlight.

Enough talking, it’s time for the photos.

This is a leaf bug. The only way to spot this bug is when it makes a sound, because that’s when it moves and you can distinguish it from an actual leaf. You can see it next to the brown leaf.

This little bird with its cool name is sleeping underneath a leaf. I hadn’t noticed sleeping birds before this trip (is that strange?), so to see this little fluff ball made me much more excited than I should have probably been. Seriously though, how cute is it? Just sleeping peacefully underneath a leaf.

And then there are frogs in many different sizes (and partaking in various activities).

At first, the people on my tour became excited when they spotted a spider without the guide pointing it out. They called the guide back every time he “missed” an animal. I saw him give a cheeky smile whenever he went to check the animal he “didn’t see”. At the end, I asked him why he thought it was amusing. He gave us his secret to spotting animals, and I can tell you that we all walked back to our cabins with newfound awe.

If you hold a penlight to the tip of your nose and shine straight ahead, you’ll see twinkling in the background. Those are the eyes of animals; even spiders’ eyes will twinkle back at you. It won’t work on snakes, but it will work on mammals as well. So when you head to a forest, try this. Or don’t if you’re really scared of spiders and creepy crawlies because a new world will open up to you.