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BATU CAVES
Batu Caves is a limestone hill to the north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.The 'Orang Asli', local aboriginal tribes called Jakun, had been aware of the caves for a long time. However, they became famous only after it was discovered by the American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling.
These serve as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam festival. The site is well known for its numerous macaque monkeys, which visitors feed, sometimes involuntarily. There are 272 steps that a visitor has to climb in order to access the temple at the summit of the hill. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over Soorapadam. An audio tour is available to visitors.
At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. A little below the Temple Cave is the Dark Cave, a two-kilometer network of relatively untouched caverns. The caverns contain a diverse range of cave fauna, including some unique species, such as Liphistiidae spiders. In order to maintain the cave's ecology, access is restricted. A private company is running tours to the caves. The 42.7m high statue of Lord Murugan was unveiled in Jan 2006, having taken 3 years to construct.
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