Adventures in Borneo (Part 2) - Batang Ai, Nanga Sumpa and the Iban People

Located 250 kilometers west of Kuching, Batang Ai National Park was established in 1991 around a 24 square kilometer man-made lake dammed in the early part of the 1980s.  Just outside the park, along the Ulu Ai, is one of the traditional communal homes of the Iban headhunters, the Nanga Sumpa longhouse.  For 2 nights, we were their guests.  During that time, we talked for hours over shared bottles of homemade rice beer, learned some of the tribe’s weaving techniques and were privileged witnesses to an Iban wedding.

 Longboats and the lake on Batang Ai

Our travel adventure started with an uneventful 4-hour drive from Kuching.  Once at the lake, we loaded our longboat, headed across the water to the mouth of the Ulu Ai, and began the arduous journey upriver.  Its shallow waters made the going difficult.  In some areas, the pilot lifted the motor and poled us along, and when that didn’t work, we got out and pushed.  We traveled past boulders and through logjams, eventually reaching Nanga Sumpa in the late afternoon.

 Poling up the Ulu Ai

Nanga Sumpa is not a display for tourists.  It is a working collective of some 30 families living in a communal house the length of a football field in the middle of the rainforest.  They only allow tourists to visit in small numbers.  For the most part, tourists do not sleep in the longhouse but stay in a rustic and minimal lodge nearby.  It is really no more that a collection of shacks with shared ablutions and a kitchen.  For us, the accommodation wasn’t important.  We were there to meet the Iban.

 The Nanga Sumpa 

Longhouse

The Iban living at Nanga Sumpa do not wear costumes, and most have little to do with visitors.  By tradition, when you first enter the longhouse you are introduced to the chief elder and are expected to present him with a small gift (cash is always acceptable).  He will then invite you to sit on a mat on the floor.

 Our Guide with a Bottle of Homemade

Rice Beer

Within minutes of sitting down, we had several people joining us; some carried old plastic drink bottles filled with homemade rice beer.  Few spoke any English, so we depended on our guide to translate.  As the bottles of rice beer passed from person to person (don’t expect your own glass), we spoke about American politics, movies, and music.  They told us about employment and the economy of Malaysia, and as the day drew to a close, the old men reminisced about the glory days of headhunting and their many tattoos.

 The Communal Room in The Longhouse

The next morning we traveled farther upriver to swim in the pools of the Enseluai waterfall, and upon returning, one of the tribe’s teenagers showed us around the longhouse.  It turned out, he had a collection of American rock albums, from which he learned his English.  Needless to say, the conversation was comical, but he did teach us about longhouse etiquette.  Here are the two most important rules:

1. Don’t take anyone’s picture without asking first.
2. It is impolite not to drink when someone offers you rice beer.

 Poling to the Enseluai 

waterfall

In the afternoon, we rested on mats, drank more rice beer and watched the women at their weaving.  We tried to make a small mat, but neither of us had the dexterity to do a good job.

 Weaving new sitting mats

That evening, the chief elder had invited us to a longhouse wedding.  It was really more of a contract negotiation behind closed doors.  Occasionally, someone would come out with an update.  Our guide explained to us that marriages only occurred between couples living in different longhouses.  A prospective groom would live with the prospective bride’s family while they got to know one another.  Then, if they decided to marry, it was a temporary agreement that either party could annul in the first year.

 Cooking the Wedding Feast in Green Bamboo

Eventually, the happy couple appeared along with their parents and community elders.  That’s when the party started.  There was plenty of singing, dancing, food and bowl after bowl of rice beer.  The party was still going strong when we left and the noise continued until morning.