Natural bird's nest site in Sabah is also home to a nightmarish amount of cockroaches

Don't think of this while enjoying your bird's nest soup.

Fasiha Nazren | January 27, 2019, 10:13 PM

It's safe to say that cockroaches are not the most well-liked animals.

Caves filled with thousands of cockroaches

But there's a cave in Malaysia where you can tour and see the ecosystem in it, which includes a lot of cockroaches.

And by a lot, we really mean a lot.

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If you are scared of or disgusted by cockroaches, then Gomantong Caves are not the place for you. We first did not know why the guide was handing out plastic gloves, but later on in the cave we realised why: in case you slipped and had to hold on to the railings. They were full of cockroaches. They will leave you alone if you let them be, but it is really hard to avoid them. #cockroach #gomantongcave #sukau #borneo #malaysia #creepycrawly #insect

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RM30 per entry

Gomantong Cave is a limestone cave in Gomantong Forest Reserve, Sabah.

The entrance fee to Gomantong Cave costs RM30 (S$9.85) for non-locals and RM5 (S$1.64) for locals.

Although the cave is dark, you can still can see cockroaches and hear their loud hissing.

Hear it for yourself below:

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Promise, this is my last roaches video ): in #gomantongcave with #wongsiewte @wongsiewte @sabahtourism

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Tourists are also advised to cover themselves from head to toe, or else this might happen:

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Shaking out your boots before putting them on is advisable! Wellies left behind by workers harvesting birds' nests have been turned into a cockroach colony. #gomantongcave #borneo #malaysia #cockroach #insect #creepycrawly #sukau @sabahtourism #world_bestanimal #awesomeearth #postcardsfromtheworld #natgeoyourshot #bbc_travel

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Home to centipedes and bats

Apart from cockroaches, Gomantong Cave also has other creepy crawlies like centipedes:

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Other creeps in the caves : cave centipedes #creeps #insectes #insects #insekter #caves #grottes #cavecentipedes #gomantongcave #gomantong #borneo

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And the cave apparently reeks of bat faeces because it is home to a colony of bats too.

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Look at that cute face! #bat #bats #flyingfox #cave #gomantongcave #borneo #sabah #jungle #malaysia #tourist #travel #sabahtourism #travelphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #animalphotography

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Throw Back to filming the massive ‘Bat Exodus’ for Sir David’s Conquest Of The Skies on location in Borneo #onlocation #sabah #borneo #gomantongcave #bats #stoked #bestjobever #blueplanet2 #filmcrew #filmaker

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Which are sometimes eaten by cockroaches:

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Circle of life, Gomantong Caves. Amazing place with a large population of the wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat. The guano of the bats (and the bats themselves ;-)) is a good habitat for cockroaches. #bat #borneo #sabah #Malaysia #nature #circleoflife #cockroaches #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #gomantongcave

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Natural bird's nest site

Creepy crawlies aside, the cave is also home to one of the biggest natural bird's nest sites in the world.

The harvesting season is between February to April and July to September.

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今天刚刚洗好的洞燕盏... Just cleaned today! Absolutely worthy! 联系我 Wechat: sabah-birdnest 货在马来西亚,可以运到中国香港台湾等地哦... #洞燕 #birdnest #ediblenest #gomantong #sabah #pregnant #lactating #afterbirth #哥曼东 #沙巴 #燕窝 #怀孕 #孕期 #备孕 #产后 #哺乳 #哺乳妈妈

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There are two kinds of birds nest available, the black nest which can go from RM3,000 (S$984.78) to RM4,000 (S$1,313.04) for a kilogram

And the more expensive white nest, which contains mostly bird saliva and can fetch between RM7,000 (S$2,297.82) to RM12,000 (S$3,939.12) per kilogram.

Harvesters will camp in the cave, surrounding themselves with cockroaches and bats, so that no one will steal their allotments of bird's nest.

via TripAdvisor

Yikes.

Top image from @gbackerra and @christa.gockel on Instagram