Borneo adventure

As a guest of the Iban, one writer braves the Malaysian jungle

Perched on the toilet seat, I am not alone. A marauding army of ants are charging through the gap beneath the door on some SAS-style raid. Above me, a red and black spider tauntingly sits in its web less than three feet from my head.

It's poisonous. I know this, because our guide ominously warned us about the effects of being bitten by a similar-looking arachnid found lurking outside the shower cubicle door yesterday. Despite this, he failed to remove the deadly eight-legged foe. And now it's back, staring at me malevolently from its new lair as I frantically pull up my trousers.

Welcome to the jungle

We're deep within the Borneo rainforest, a four-hour car drive and a 30-minute dugout canoe boat trip up the murky-coloured Lemanak River from Kuching, the capital of the island’s easternmost state of Sarawak.

My husband and I have booked a three-day excursion to the Serubah longhouse in order to experience the culture of the Iban, Sarawak’s largest ethnic group.  The previous night, we’d been warmly greeted in the longhouse – a stilted wooden building with a 600ft long hallway at its communal heart. Around us, daily life unfolded. A toddler banged a drum, two kids played badminton, a man strummed his guitar, dogs padded around, and women, young and old, chatted on woven mats. To one side, 22 doors led to private family quarters. As we walked down the hallway, admiring tribal masks, knives and spears on the walls, a door occasionally swung open to reveal the glare of a TV screen or a sofa. Modern comforts may be part of today’s longhouse life, however, a 200-year-old blackened skull hanging from a rafter in the roof – a trophy from the Iban’s head-hunter days – proved there was still a healthy respect for the past.

Meeting the Iban

Sitting cross-legged on the floor as we drank tuak (home brewed rice wine), the 97-year-old former chief appeared wearing a magnificent feather headdress, yellow tunic, silver bangles, beaded necklace, and a large knife attached to a belt.  His arms were decorated with faded tattoos while a striking cobra design snaked up his throat. To a melodious drumbeat, the wizened chief danced, waving his hands elegantly and occasionally uttering a shrill cry.

Next morning, we discover how the Iban have survived life in the jungle. The rainforest is their “supermarket, pharmacy and hardware store”, explains our guide. Using a machete, he slices bark from a tree, revealing a milk-white sap that is sticky to touch: rubber – one of the Iban’s main income sources. Over the next two hours, we explore the rainforest’s myriad wealth: bamboo and rattan for household ware; trees that produce wax for candles, barbs for blowpipe darts, water-filled vines safe enough to drink, cotton-soft bark for clothes, leaves that create soapy bubbles for cleaning, and others that can be used to quell bleeding. A natural larder too, we're shown countless mango, guava, durian, pineapple, cocoa and black pepper trees.

We pass small clearings in which ancient Iban graves are scattered with the personal belongings of the dead from transistor radios, kettles and bowls to giant vases. “Antiques,” says our guide, pointing to a tall brown jar, “from the days when the Iban traded with the Chinese.”

Monkey magic

We're keen to explore the jungle again – this time, unaccompanied. Returning to Kuching, we head 45 minutes north by bus to a jetty where we negotiate a boat to unspoilt Bako National Park offering several self-guided hiking trails. Signs urge us not to feed the “naughty” macaque monkeys that loiter outside; we select the 5.8 kilometre Lintang loop, setting off along a boardwalk above the mangroves where we immediately spot one of Borneo’s rarest inhabitants – a proboscis monkey, foraging on leaves. With its pendulous pink nose, reddish-brown body, fat belly, grey limbs and long white tail, it definitely has presence rather than beauty.

We eventually reach a steep trail bordered by towering trees. As the symphony of birds and insects envelop us, we clamber in the thick, clammy heat over densely gnarled tree roots, spiky trees, and past scenic viewpoints overlooking the South China Sea. Occasionally we emerge from the canopy onto bald sandstone escarpments, home to red and yellow pitcher plants with their distinctive tubular-shaped cups for trapping insects. In three hours, we encounter only one other couple. Thrilled with our solitude amid such pristine jungle, I feel like an intrepid explorer.

That is, until my eyes fall on a long green and yellow twig lying across the trail ahead. A faint alarm bell tinkles in my head. Suddenly, the “twig” moves, slithering off into the undergrowth. A jungle trip is unmissable but if you see something scary, don’t sweat – just run.

Costs

Borneo Fairyland Travel & Tour borneofairyland.tripod.com run a three day, two night stay with the Iban: Around £118pp, including food, accommodation, transport, jungle walk, blow pipe demonstration and river swimming.

Bako National Park – £1.80pp park entrance fee; £8.45pp boat trip single (based on six sharing) from Bako Jetty to park headquarters.

Flights in June from London to Kuching with Malaysia Airlines cost from around £750 return.