Sustainable ecotourism holidays in Borneo.

Getting off the beaten track is more difficult than you would think in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.The main road trade route runs east to west along the top of Sarawak into Brunei and onto Sabah. Transport by boat or air is the only other option to get further into the interior of Borneo and venturing into the jungle requires a lot of time, patience, and often money. A lack of public transport or transport routes further into the middle means things can become costly if you want to delve further south.

Redmond O'Hanlon we were not but I and my travel partner were keen to try and at least experience some Iban culture and visit a traditional longhouse, which is a must on a trip to Sarawak whether or not you manage to avoid the crowds. We decided to head up river towards a small village called Belaga where we had heard the possibility of being invited into a longhouse was quite high. En route we stopped off at a non-descript kind of town called Kapit and so far on the beaten track we were, we bumped into some fellow backpackers Jenny, Dave and Sonia who we had hooked up with before in Sarawak's capital, Kuching.

"You have to stay here!" cried Jenny. Kapit? Hardly New York we both thought. "It's the annual raft safari this weekend and apparently we won't die and it's perfectly safe so we're doing it." Perfect. Not quite the convincing we needed but our curiosity won us over and we graced our presence in Kapit for the next few days waiting for the raft race.

Jenny and Dave explained that the event runs over two days. All teams take a motorized longboat 50km up river. We stay in a longhouse overnight (yes!) then paddle back on bamboo rafts the next morning to Kapit. Easy.

Our visit through sleepy Kapit had coincided with the annual Kapit-Baleh Raft Safari 2007. The safari has been running since 1996 to encourage community links, to celebrate the significance of the river and its heritage and history plus increase tourism to the area.

Although the event is marketed as fun, for some it's an extremely competitive sport. Rafting in Sarawak goes back years to when tribes from the Orang Ulu used to fight the Iban using basic rafts as their form of transport to head up or down stream. Kapit was, in fact, the garrison town founded by Rajah Charles Brookes in 1880 to prevent the tribes fighting. In 1924 a peacekeeping ceremony between the Iban, Kenyah, Kayan and Kajang was held at Kapit at Fort Sylvia, where all the teams would eventually finish.

"Being fit and strong and good at rafting means you're respecting the history here and keeping traditions alive. We may not need to raft anymore but this annual celebration means we continue to remember our heritage." said one beefy looking policeman.

The safari is non-discriminatory. Locals or tourists. Young or old. Men or women. Competitive or not. It's open to all. Our team entry was to be a milestone - the first full tourist entry that our main rivals, the Tourist Board of Sarawak, were very excited about.

So Kapit was our home for the next few days and during that time it revealed itself to be quite a charming, friendly place. We discovered the local school where children would take sports lessons in the early evening to avoid the humidity, the one and only watering hole where the choice was between Guinness and Tiger Beer (choices choices...) plus a bakery to die for that served hot garlic bread on non-sweet bread, sticky buns filled with red bean paste and large coconut rolls. Local people soon recognised us as generally tourists didn't linger long in Kapit, so we were greeted warmly wherever we went.

The weekend rolled round and us five eager virgin rafters joined forces with advanced Malaysian rafters plus some Sarawak Tourist Board crew who we traveled up stream with plus 40 cans of Tiger beer, three tubs of sun cream, two spare pairs of trousers and life-jackets plus a week's supply of egg fried rice and sticky red bean buns.

The Batang Rajang is Sarawak's life-force and the longest river in Malaysia; its 350 mile long course runs from the Iran Mountains southwest to Kapit where it turns westwards to the South China Sea. It supplies thousands people for washing, power, drinking and transporting. The river itself is clean but a mucky muddy brown unfortunately due to the continual deforestation along the slopes of the banks with resulting unstable soil leaching into the waters.

Our journey up to our host's home took a little over three hours. We stopped a couple of times to stretch our cramped legs and sore behinds, once at a small logging site where huge lengths of timber sat, an uncomfortable reminder of the rapid destruction of Borneo's forests to make way for more lucrative palm oil plantations.

On reaching our abode for the night, the longed for longhouse, our status rose to that of celebrity. Reporters from the Borneo Post interviewed us, families plied us with tuak rice wine (surprisingly moreish - like sherry) and we tucked into feasts of rice, chilies, bamboo shoots, pork and mushrooms; all eaten communally along the long living area that over 20 families share. The famed Iban hospitality was not exaggerated.

Later the Minister of Sarawak, arrived via helicopter (our large celebrity heads soon shrunk), killed a pig in sacrifice, gave a speech and joined in the festivities. Throughout the night, our glasses were endlessly refilled, new friends were made, dances were danced and the piece de resistance was brought out - the karaoke machine. Watching Dave, our traveling partner belt out "Sweet Child of Mine" to the applause of the longhouse, including the Minister, was a definite highlight as was meeting an 85 year old former headhunter who looked like butter wouldn't melt.

Sleep was non-existent that night. We shared a living area with one family including the grandmother, mother and father, aunt, daughter, 10 month old baby (who did not stir the whole night) plus about five drunken refugees. The usual humid stickiness was intensified by the overcrowding in the longhouse.

The morning of the race came all too soon and we donned our bleary-lidded selves with life jackets, ate egg fried rice and scrambled upon our raft.

Old ladies dressed up in matching flower hats and boarded their flower roofed raft, policemen serious in competition wore matching go-faster stripes and hi-vis vests upon their streamlined boat - the bamboo speared into a v-shaped point for added glide.

Our raft paled in comparison but to us, it was great. About 4m by 3m of hollow bamboo lashed together with cord, plus two poles sticking up out of the raft with our banner "Dream Team Tourist 2007" shouting out whom we were. Our mascot, a plastic Tyrannosaurus Rex was strapped to the front of the raft and so became our nickname - Team T-Rex.

The early morning mist still low in the sky created a mythical, ethereal feel. Early morning birds, sat watching curiously as the spectacle unfolded. Looking back up to the longhouse and the surrounding jungle reminded us of just how remote we were - miles away from anywhere save for the river. At that moment I understood just how important the river is to the people - it means life.

Paddling the raft was more difficult than it seemed as we had no back or foot support plus our disorganized crew paddled inconsistently; a distinct lack of coordination present. Frequently we collapsed into fits of giggles as our rafts veered off towards small rapids, other rafts sped past us in superior coordinated style (often happened) or we dropped our paddles in the water. I also managed to claim a war wound by wedging my leg in between two of the poles which caused more amusement than necessary.

The race was extremely well organised even if we were not. We all wore lifejackets plus had a support longboat that followed us smugly downstream should we want to get out and rest. Our crew was supplemented by able-bodied seamen if we decided to rest for a while.

During the five hours it took us to paddle back the 50km down the Baleh tributary and onto the main Rajang artery, we were passed by approximately 80% of the rest of the teams but we did manage to pull it together to overtake at least two teams along the way. Towards the end of the race we spotted our main rivals, the Tourist Board of Sarawak, having difficulty around a particularly turbulent bend. Spurred on Team T-Rex ploughed on through the chocolate waters whipping up enough speed to frighten even the most devout rafter and we nipped past them about 50m before the finish line, utterly exhausted but ecstatic. We may have come nearly last in the race but we did it with pride!

Later that evening all teams congregated in the town hall for dinner, prize presentations and speeches. Our team won the tourist prize, although we decided to donate the money to the local Red Cross as coming nearly last technically deserves a booby prize rather than anything beneficial.

All that week we appeared in the national press - our 15 minutes of fame at last. Even hostel owners further on down our travel route recognized us. A local man we had befriended prior to the rafting texted us. "You Ang-mo! (slang for foreigner - meant endearingly) I open the paper and what do I see - you guys! Can you not keep out of trouble for one minute here?!"

Being involved in a national event such as this was a fascinating way to experience the local culture, get to meet people and enjoy the Borneo environment without feeling like it was an event purely for tourists. Just staying in a place that guidebooks dismiss (or don't list) often proves to be an eye-opener as Kapit did.

Getting off the beaten track is becoming harder to do as travellers become more adventurous and more organisations offer extreme tours to lesser explored regions. Doing some research and finding local events before visiting a place can change a good trip into the trip of a lifetime and the best experiences can sometimes be found nearer the beaten track than you think.

Find out more

Kate flew to Sarawak with Air Asia . A return flight from Kuala Lumpur costs from 30GBP.
(Flights from the UK to Kuching cost from 500GBP)

Try browsing our directory of companies operating in Malaysia -click here.

• Sarawak Tourism Board
• The Kapit-Baleh raft safari
• World Festivals
  
• Worldwide events guide
• World music guide

Or check out your country or district's tourism or community website to see if there are any up and coming events when you get there.