Escape to the Lun Bawang highlands

Story and photos by D. DEVANESAN

BA’KELALAN in the heart of Borneo is a Shangrila.

It is tucked away about 180km from Miri in the deep mountain valleys of Borneo’s rainforest. Its picture-prefect scenery and friendly Lun Bawang people make departing from the place very difficult.

The weather is crisp and cool. The gentle wind and blue skies take tourists into a new world to stroll among verdant rice fields set against towering mountains.

Great hospitality: The village women of Buduk Bui staging a welcome dance for visitors who came for the Apple Fiesta in Ba’Kelalan.

Ba’Kelalan is a group of nine villages about 1,000m above sea level in the highlands of Sarawak, about 4km from the border of Indonesian Kalimantan.

The villages are Buduk Nur, Long Langai, Long Lemutut, Long Ritan, Long Rusu, Pa Tawing, Buduk Bui, Buduk Aru and Long Rangat.

The name Ba’Kelalan is derived from the Kelalan River which has its source in these highlands. Ba means wet lands in the Lun Bawang language.

The main economic activity here is agriculture, essentially the growing of padi, and it is home to the famed adan rice.

This rice fetches as much as RM15 a kilo in the main towns of Borneo, and is famous for its fragrance and nutritional value.

The many buffaloes here are friends to the villagers. They are crucial for farming as they break up and turn over the soil during their playful exploits, and enrich the soil with their droppings.

The padi is planted once a year in July and harvested in January.

The cool climate averaging 20°C enables folks here to cultivate fruits such as apples, mandarin oranges and strawberries, and vanilla.

Traditional way: Villagers sounding the gong as a signal to meet and plan a community event or musang (gotong royong). In the background is the village of Buduk Bui.

The Lun Bawang people are said to have originated from the central highlands of Borneo.

They have oriental features and many of the men are named Balang, meaning tiger. Tigers are not known to exist on the island, but is a respected creature that is generously featured in the local language and folklore.

Over a century ago, the Lun Bawang people lived in longhouses and were involved in headhunting, said Alfred Padan, a Lun Bawang who owns the Merarap Hot Spring Lodge located half way along the Lawas-Ba’Kelalan timber track.

In the old days, in the aftermath of tribal wars, the victors collected the heads of the defeated.

Many of the villagers were fond of rice wine, known locally as tapai, he added.

After their attacks, they would take to drinking to celebrate their victory, and it was during these drunk­en sprees that they were most sus­ceptible to attacks by other neighbouring tribes.

Indeed, they were attacked, and those who had taken the heads of others, would themselves lose their own.

Alfred added that living in longhouses in unsanitary conditions also made them susceptible to diseases.

Exotic produce: Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus research student G. Sivarajah explaining the intricacies of cultivating apples.

In fact, their tribal wars, drinking and diseases brought them to the verge of extinction.

The era of the Raja Brooke and the coming of Christian missionaries changed all this. Their history is well documented in the book Drunk Before Dawn by Shirley Lees, said Alfred.

Today, the Lun Bawang people are well-known for their strong religious inclinations, friendliness and hospitality.

Many aspects of the culture such as dancing, singing, handicraft and the oral tradition are very much alive - and are a tourist attraction.

Ba’Kelalan has a population of about 1,500, but as many as 8,000 call it home.

Most of its youngsters leave home for Lawas on the northern coast of Sarawak where they board at secondary schools.

After that, they attend college in various parts of the country and are soon lost to the world.

Working together: The villagers of Buduk Bui demonstrating how the padi fields are prepared for sowing.

Ba’Kelalan seems sad because of this, as it has a lost generation. This is clearly apparent in the villages, where youths and young people from the age of 13 to 30 are hardly to be found.

The people here speak their native Lun Bawang language, but many speak English and Malay as well, therefore, visitors will have no problem communicating with the people.

Ba’Kelalan is a unique place offering something for everyone. Adventurers in search of the beaten track can expect the challenging terrain here to live up to their expectation.

The highest mountain in Sarawak, Mount Murud, is a few days of hike away.

The villagers often scale the mountain, a popular choice for retreats and spiritual contemplation.

One can go for buffalo rides, visit the apple farm, walk to salt springs, go fishing, engage in a night safari, abide in homestays, visit longhouses, go caving, climb rocks, try a blowpipe or embark on river tours in the heart of Borneo.

This central part of Sarawak is remarkably free of tropical diseases and even malaria is known to be eradicated.

Here, crime and vandalism are hardly ever heard of.

From Ba’Kelalan, one can hike to Bario in three to four days or motorcross to Long Bawan in Kalimantan, Indonesia, in a day.

In 1990, Ba’Kelalan became the first place in Malaysia to successfully cultivate apples on a commercial scale.

Every year in May, local hospitality goes on overdrive as the community hosts visitors from all over during the Apple Fiesta

In Be’kalalan, roosters crow joyfully in the misty mornings, villagers holding blowpipes cross rippling rivers with their hunting dogs, and the majestic mountains beckon with a thousand mysteries yet to be told.