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Tour 3Visit the Penan People in the Rain Forest of BorneoThe Penan are almost the last of the Nomadic, Hunter Gatherers left in the world. Their culture has neither permanent houses, nor agriculture. They live in temporary shelters while the jungle around them provides them with an enormous variety of animals, birds, insects, fruits, roots, berries. When these run short they move onto another area of virgin jungle. Purely nomadic Penan groups probably still exist deep in the rain forest but we cannot promise to find them. By nature they are shy and cautious of outsiders, and they hear us coming long before we could know they are there. We will do the next best thing. We will take you to a recently settled group whose men still go out on long foraging trips with all their jungle skills still intact. The next generation, sadly, will lose some of their knowledge. We depart from Kapit early in the morning by fast speedboat – 2 hours of exhilarating rapid running and dodging floating logs at an incredible 40 knots. A travel pill (e.g. Stugeron) will help those who suffer sea sickness. Sit inside and out of the sun. A few can sit on the top (hang on tight) for the best view. We arrive in the afternoon at a Kenyah longhouse with electricity and piped water, home to your Kenyah guide, and stay overnight with his charming family. We depart early by longboat up a completely different river in a separate giant watershed of the Rejang River. Expect two hours of rapid running and virgin jungle with occasional Kenyah "ladang" (hill rice farms). This will bring you, water permitting, into another logging camp. We catch another Land Cruiser, once the road is open, for the 45 minutes trip to the Penan settlement very close to the Indonesian border, on the main watershed of Borneo. Here live sixteen recently settled Penan families and ten newly migrated Kenyah families who live next to each other in mutual benefit. The first night we meet people and watch Penan dancing, marveling at the gorgeously
decorated festive clothing which they make in the jungle and carry with them in their
nomadic life. The next morning we follow Penan hunters with a dozen dogs, blowpipes and spears. Men and dogs alike crowd into a tiny, unstable Penan longboat. Be prepared to sit still and share a seat with a swarm eager canine. These are highly prized possessions, but they are not pets. They sit eagerly pressing you from behind, urging you on. It may be best not to pat them: they are not used to being fondled. Our trip down river lasts less than one hour. We walk briskly for hours, up hill and down precipitous dale along knife-edged crests, and cross clear tumbling streams, while the Penan saunter and the dogs dart about. This is absolutely virgin jungle where the only footprints ahead are those of Bavui, the pig, or Payau, the deer. Don’t leave film wrappers along the way. Watch the hunters hunt monkeys or birds with the blowpipe. If you are squeamish about killing such creatures it is best to stay in the longhouse, and eat only rice. It is not wise to change the basic patters of life of another people! The hunters will stop to smoke their coarse tobacco leaves (or your Marlboro gifts). This will give you a chance to scrape the leeches from your ankles with a knife and cut them to pieces to stop them leaping (inching) back on you. Armouring yourself will result in the newly invisibly thin leeches crawling all the way up and under your clothes, to gorge on you in much more alarming and unsanitary places than on your ankles. Leeches are essentially harmless as their anticoagulants are also antiseptic, but very sensitive skin may show small marks for sometime. The Penan do not even bother to pick them off from between their toes which is as far as the leeches go if they walk unshod and unclothed. "They will drop off when they are full", they say. With luck, distant, frantic barking will signal that the dogs are chasing a pig. The Penana will instantly vanish into the green ahead. The guests will naturally wish to be present when the dogs corner Bavui and the men close in for the kill, but this is almost impossible. A cross-country runner might be able to run as fast in open country but, in the jungle, only the Penan can notice the barbed thorn fronds, exposed roots, and ankle-entangling vines that lie in wait. To attempt to keep up might result in accidents. A guide will normally stay with you but even if you do find yourself deserted (the guides are hunters too!), do not worry. Just follow the skid marks of the hunters and eventually you will reach the scene of the hunt. Here the Penans will wait for you, smoking and discussing the action. If there are two
hunters, the pig will be cut in two; if there is only one he will devise slings from flat
fronds in order to carry several hundred porcine Ask them to show you the Sago Palm. This is a spiny palm with square-ends on the leaves from which the Penan extract sago, their most important food. The Penan fell the tree, cut out the sago from the fallen trunk then start the laborious process of producing a starchy carbohydrate paste. Ask to see the women pounding it with their muddy feet – and brace yourself to try it – the end product IS QUITE TASTY! This sounds destructive, but ask about "malong", their system of selective cutting. They understand "sustainable" better than anyone! The Penan will build, with lightning speed, a sleeping platform and attap shelter from saplings & fronds. You will spend two nights with them beside a clear rushing stream. The nights are cool at this altitude, 1000 feet plus, and cooler still if it rains. Hope that it doesn’t. Insist on the water being boiled; clear water can carry parasites. The flesh of Bavui (pig) is sweet and juicy, especially barbecued over the fire that the Penan will light by striking the stone and metal together. Spend two more days in similar fashion. Return to the luxury of the longhouse in the afternoon to recount your adventures to the admiring audience. Depart on the seventh or eighth day to retrace your steps to the wonders of civilization in Kapit: rain and water levels permitting. This is a trip for the fit and agile who can keep up a brisk walk over punishing terrain for hours. Alternatively one can stay in the forest camp and enjoy nature’s wonders in the Tropical Rain Forest of Borneo. Pricing information is available at chuan7d@tm.net.my. Ready to go? Check out our logistics section for more information.. |
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pounds on his back to
the boat. Do volunteer to help a part of the way. Ask the Penan what is edible, or
medicinal or dangerous in the jungle. Some hanging loops of vine for instance, collect
drinkable water – but some similar looking ones are poisonous! The Penan are truly
lords of their beautiful Green World & the other indigenous peoples of Borneo defer to
them. 
