Local history and culture Borneo

Husband husband in the local language means "follow me". The reconstituted village is located 25 minutes from Kota Kinabalu. It includes traditional houses from five Sabah tribes, each with its own specificities. You can visit the inside of a longhouse, familiarize yourself with the customs, taste different dishes, make fire, blow in a blowgun... The visit ends with an impressive show and a meal. The visit lasts 4 hours.

The best way to discover the daily life and culture of the Iban or Orang Ulu peoples (Kanyan, Kenyah, Sekapan, Kejaman and others) is to stay in a longhouse. These sturdy wooden structures built on stilts, with a row of separate rooms and a common open corridor for meetings, are the traditional habitat of the Dayaks of Sarawak. Some longhouses in Kapit still proudly display the skulls of enemies hanging from the roof, testimony to the Iban's warlike past. To visit or stay in a longhouse, it is traditional to first ask permission from its chief, the tuai rumah. Nowadays, you can also ask the Kapit Division Residents' Office (number indicated), which will act as an intermediary.

The best time to visit a longhouse is during Gawai, the annual festival of the Dayak people on June¹, and on a special occasion when you can attend a traditional welcome ceremony with a miring, a blessing ceremony performed to honor the spirits and ancestors of the tribe. This ceremony is usually followed by traditional dancing and singing, and accompanied by copious amounts of tuak, the local rice wine.

The nearest longhouse to Kapit is Rumah Richard Engking, just 4 km from town.

Further inland, in the Tunoh region, lies Rumah Laso, the last remaining Iban longhouse along the Baleh River. It can be reached by boat (3-4-hour journey).

The Rumah Killau longhouse, also in the Tunoh region, is located near the Panchur Mabong waterfalls. Tunoh is also home to Bukit Mabong, a 2,000-meter-high mountain in the Hose Mountains. This area, which boasts several Iban camps along its waterways, is renowned for the beauty of its natural landscapes formed by mountains, forests, rivers and various waterfalls. This undiscovered region has great potential for eco-tourism, and should be discovered before it is overrun by visitors.

Travellers interested in the ancient art of pua kumbu weaving can visit the Rumah Gare longhouse, located along the Sungai Kain river. The pua kumbu woven by this longhouse 's craftsmen is renowned for the quality of the materials used and the originality of its designs. The longhouse is accessible by road (approx. 1.5 hours from Kapit) and by river (approx. 3.5 hours).