Borneo Sarawak River

Borneo Sarawak River at Royal Mulu Resort Dock

At 8:30 a.m. (one of the latest departure times I was to enjoy on this tour), we headed to the Royal Mulu dock to board our boat for the thirty minute ride up river to a native village.

From there, we’d go downstream again to tour two more caves. I’d changed some US dollars into RM (ringitt malay) as I hoped to buy local crafts at the Penan Village market.

Steep Cliffs Gunung Mulu Borneo Sarawak River

These steep cliffs line the river for some distance upriver from the Royal Mulu.

At the resort, there’s a boardwalk from the river side of the dining room that goes past the wing that houses the spa and continues along the riverbank for some distance, so you can admire these cliffs without benefit of a boat ride.

This day, we three lifejacket wearing travellers, along with guide and driver, got close views from the water.

Traditional River boats Borneo Sarawak River Tour

These men were gathered at a river side dock with their traditional boats. While much of the riverbank lands seemed uninhabited, we passed a number of houses and small settlements. Each one had a dock out front, attesting that river travel was the only travel option to go any distance easily.

As always, rain threatened, and my rain jacket was close at hand. Even this early, it was quite warm and humid. Some tours go at night, which, again, I hadn’t been aware of when I planned to travel here. You would have an entirely different perspective on a night river cruise.

Traditional Stilt homes Borneo Sarawak River ~ Gunung Mulu

Here’s a fairly prosperous looking home, with neatly kept, large buildings and a few longboats docked.

Kayaks are also available at the resort, though I didn’t see any in this part of the river. Another river boat tour option is through the swift rapids from Melinau River to Batu Mulong. You can also arrange to go board rafting down the river.

River stilt home near Batu Bungan on Borneo Sarawak River

As we headed for Batu Bungan, a native Penan village, we passed a number of these tidy-looking riverside homes.

The Penans were originally hunters and gatherers who lived inside Gunung Mulu National Park long before it was a park.

When the park was established, these peoples were moved to this village as well as another village called Long Iman.

Batu Bungan Penan Village Children Borneo Sarawak River

These children were outside the small market, near a one storey building with a sign that said ‘Evangelical Church of Borneo’.

[In the picture, you can see a visitor wearing shorts (it is always better to dress conservatively) and flip-flops sandals (not  suited for touring caves or walking long trails.). See travel tips pages for what to pack and types of clothing.]

Traditional Beaded, woven native crafts,  Penan Village market

While Sarawak natives can turn bead and jewellery into art, this village offered more homely simple crafts, with wooden beads.

They also make intricately carved baskets from reeds. This village market offered the reed baskets.

I also bought what the guide called a Borneo guitar — a foot-long hollow tube with gut strings affixed lengthwise and held out from the tube by small chips of wood. The strings were ‘tuned’ when the chips were positioned to hold the strings away from the sides, so they could be strummed.