Everyday life in a Borneo longhouse is a fascinating travel experience for the adventurous.

There are over 4,500 longhouses in Sarawak inhabited by members of more than 20 distinct ethnic groups. The best known, and the easiest to visit, are the longhouses of the Iban, although visitors may also visit Bidayuh longhouses near Kuching or the imposing longhouses of the various Orang Ulu tribes, deep in Sarawak’s interior.

Modern longhouses are busy farming communities, and traditional clothes and ornaments are only worn for festive occasions. If you want to see traditional costumes and rituals, you should come on an organised tour with cultural performances included, get yourself invited to a wedding, or turn up during the Gawai Dayak harvest festival (1st & 2nd of June).

Each of Sarawak’s longhouse-dwelling communities has something different to offer. For most people, their first taste of longhouse life is an organised tour to one of the Iban longhouses on the Skrang, Lemanak, Batang Ai or Rejang river systems. These tours feature traditional Iban hospitality, plenty of home-brewed tuak (rice wine), and a cultural performance or two. Visitors will be invited to join in, but be warned -- the ngajat (warrior dance) is a lot harder than it looks.

The Iban are famous for their handicrafts, and you are bound to see weavers, woodcarvers and blowpipe makers at work. You can try your hand at blowpipe shooting, visit the rubber and pepper gardens, and go for a walk in the nearby forest, learning about the different plants and their many practical uses. Depending on the season, you may witness rice threshing and rice pounding, but whatever time of year you are sure to be shown the skulls hanging from the longhouse roof. There is a wider choice of accommodation than you would expect. You can sleep in the longhouse -- on the ruai or covered verandah, in a tour operator’s guest house, or even in one of the new ‘Longhouse Resorts’ like Hilton Batang Ai (on the Batang Ai Hydro Lake) or Pelagus Rapids Resort (near Kapit). Wherever you stay, the food is invariably great, whether it’s prepared by your Iban hosts, your multi-talented tour guide or a 5-star hotel kitchen. There are a few Bidayuh longhouses within easy reach of Kuching -- Kampung Anna Rais and Kampung Gayu. are probably the best examples -- and Kuching tour operators arrange day trips. Most Bidayuh communities are quite modern, due to their proximity to Kuching, and some visitors feel that the experience is not ‘exotic’ enough to warrant the effort. However, during the Gawai Padi ritual (date varies from place to place, but usually mid-May to mid-June), all the old beliefs and cultural practices make a startling reappearance. If you want to find a traditional Bidayuh community, specialist operators can organise visits to one of the remote longhouses along the Indonesian border, but be prepared for hard trekking and very basic accommodation and meals.

Not many people get the chance to visit Orang Ulu longhouses, as they are located deep in the interior, but the experience is well worth the effort. All of the Orang Ulu groups have strong traditions of hospitality, and guests will be invited to try some borak (Orang Ulu rice wine) and join in with the singing and storytelling, accompanied by the melody of the sape, a mandolin-like instrument with a peculiarly Celtic sound. If you are very fortunate, you may be the subject of a praise song which is an improvised ballad praising your character, attributes and achievements.
sung by one of the aristocratic women in the longhouse.

One of the most popular longhouses where the friendly Iban of Sarawak think nothing of welcoming strangers into their homes is Nanga Nungun.

NANGA Nungun is an Iban settlement in the interior of Sarawak, accessible from Sibu. Originally, there were only three longhouses but during the Emergency between 1948 and 1960, the Federal Government grouped the Ibans together to prevent them from trading food for protection with the Communists.

Today, Nanga Nungun comprises 15 modern longhouses with concrete bases and cement walls.

The Ibans stay in these communal longhouses that take on the names of the headmen. For example, Jabu would be the headman of the longhouse Rumah Jabu or Jabu House. And you may expect everyone in a longhouse to be related to each other.

The Ibans lead relatively simple lives. They gather food from the jungle, fish and plant their own vegetables. Try holding a conversation with the Ibans and you will find them a warm people. Greet them in their own language with Nama brita nuan or “How are you?”.

Older men prefer to be addressed as bapa and older women, ibu. The elderly folks are illiterate and can only speak the Iban language. But those aged between 30 and 50 would have had primary education and speak Iban and Bahasa Malaysia.

If you don’t like the heat during the dry season, it is best to go between December and June.