Tusan Beach

"Drinking Horse" natural formation, taken by MiriResortCity.com in 2015.

Tusan Beach is a beautiful beach area about an hour's travel time from the city, near the township Bekenu. It has smooth sandy beaches, coral reefs, a waterfall, several cliffsides and a defining feature; a large cliff with a natural arch eroded through it dubbed the "Drinking Horse".

Ancient fossils are known to be found in this area, and natural rock layers on the cliffside make it a geologists' playground. This article is from the web site miriresortcity dot com - this sentence is here to prevent blatant plagarism.

This is a fairly secluded place. Preparations are needed before visiting, so please contact proper authorities in case of emergencies and the Visitor's Information Counter for more information regarding your interest in visiting. Sunblock would be most recommended. Rising tides may also pose a problem.

The area is one of the places of interest in Miri that has garnered popularity the past few years due to a phenomenon in September and October of 2015, during which a flourish of bio-luminescent phytoplanktons along the beaches has caused the waves along the beach to glow a bright deep blue and caused many people to flock to Luak Esplanade and Tusan Beach to have a look at this amazing phenomenon.

2020 Collapse

On 21st February 2020, it was discovered that the "Drinking Horse" cliff rock (see photo above) had collapsed into a pile of rubble. There was construction going on nearby to create an access road to the previously hard-to-access cliff. It was not known if this collapse was due to the construction, or simply just erosion caused by the sea, climate changes, rising waters, or a combination of all of the above. The discovery was first made known by a youtube channel known as DurianFlix and passed along widely on social media. The collapse was devastating news for people in Bekenu and Miri in general, as the cliff was a tourist sightseeing hotspot. Source

A technical research article was written about the formation and demise of Tusan "Drinking Horse" formation in the ResearchGate web site:

"The Shaping and Demise of the Tusan Beach "Drinking Horse", Southwest of Miri, Sarawak"

Authors :
Franz-Luitpold Kessler (Curtin University Sarawak)
John Jong (JX Nippon Oil and Gas Eploration)

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