A long, long time ago, headhunters and cannibals lived deep in the jungles we now call Borneo. Back then there were hundreds of different tribes living completely cut off from the rest of the world. Some originally came from the islands in the northeast (now the Philippines) and others all the way from northern Asia (present-day China and Mongolia). Deep in the jungles, but also sometimes as sea nomads on the offshore islands, they were able to maintain their way of life for a long time, until most of the tribes disappeared over the years. Officially, there are still 33 ethnic minorities in Sabah, each with their own cultural customs and traditions.
Most of them now lead a modern life and live in the large cities and villages of Sabah. If you want to learn more, there are several open-air museums where you can learn everything about Borneo as it used to be hundreds of years ago. Borneo Cultural Village is one such open-air museum that focuses on the unique characteristics and customs of these tribes. It is a fun (half) day activity and can be combined with a few other great highlights in the area, making it one of the stops on a full day of activities with Kota Kinabalu as a starting point.
Beautiful open-air museum
At less than an hour’s drive from Kota Kinabalu, just outside the village of Papar, lies Borneo Cultural Village. Here you step back in time and experience how the biggest and most well-known tribes of Borneo used to live. The largest tribes of Sabah are the focus and you will learn everything about them during your guided tour.
The largest tribe are the Dusun (Kadazan Dusun) and they once lived in the lowlands of Sabah. The Bajau are nomadic people who originally lived at sea. They now mainly live on land around Kota Belud and Semporna. There is also a large floating community near Semporna, as well as on Gaya Island across from Kota Kinabalu. Other tribes that you will encounter are the Penampang, the Murut, the Tidung, the Brunei and the Chinese.
When you arrive, you first go to the reception to arrange a guide. You will then receive a brief explanation at the entrance and get to strike the gong once. Next to the gong you will find a large map of the entire site with the locations of all the houses marked on it.
Highlights of the tour
A visit to Borneo Cultural Village is a real ‘see and do’ attraction, because in addition to visiting the traditional houses, you can do several fun things. Think of blowdarts, fire making, making music and various other fun activities. You can also enjoy several tastings, such as local coffee and wine and various other delicacies. All these activities are also very suitable for children.
Halfway through the tour there is a short cooking workshop where you will make chicken curry and roti canai, two typical regional dishes. It’s a great experience to make a delicious local dish by yourself and after the show it is the main course of your buffet lunch. The buffet comprised mostly of local dishes, and all were really delicious with a wide selection including several local vegetable dishes.
Don’t forget to attend the 30-minute performance at the end, which features music and dance from each tribe. The dancing between the clapping bamboo sticks is particularly fun, especially when everyone in the audience is invited to join in. Again a great activity for children.
Each house has its own cool activities
We ended up visiting six of the nine houses (Kadazan House, Dusun Papar House, Pogun Namatai House, Langkau Murut House, Lundayeh House and Rungus House). Each house is different in terms of construction and design. Some were purely focused on protection, while others focused on comfort because they had few enemies.
The Bajau house was the most colorful because they were formerly a nomadic trading people. The Murut were warriors as well as headhunters. Everything revolved around war. Tribe members at the scene gave a blowdart demonstration where visitors could shoot a dart yourself. There was also a moving floor where you had to jump up to grab the impaled head. Now it was mainly symbolic, but a long time ago this was a serious matter to prove your worth.
Afterwards there was the opportunity to get a henna tattoo. Most visitors let the tattoo artist surprise them, which resulted in beautiful creations.
A little further on there was a small demonstration of how to make fire from bamboo. First you had to make shavings, followed by a grinding motion on a groove in half a bamboo bark. After a while you saw some smoke appear in the shavings under the half bamboo bark. First a tiny dot of fire would appear, then they would blow hard and keep blowing until the piece of shavings caught fire. After this demonstration we were offered to make fire ourselves and I got a proper fire going at my first try.
The strangest tasting food (ever) was the Butod, the Sago Worm, which is the larva of a type of beetle. It is a protein-rich delicacy among the local population. Many people eat it in addition to their healthy daily diet. Although you can bake or fry them, raw and alive is the best and healthiest. I also tried one and it actually tasted okay. A bit like tofu (so a bit like nothing in particular). Afterwards, the guide said that hardly anyone dares to try it, even when she shows them how.
A tour that was interesting and above all fun
We were given the tour by the lovely Shaz, a licensed guide from the area who knows everything about the original tribes of Borneo. She was very funny at times and it was clear that she enjoyed guiding us that day (she was a really nice person and explained and demonstrated a lot during the tour). The tours start at fixed times, at 10am, 11.45 and another tour at 2pm in the afternoon.
You can book online in advance and you will be picked up from your hotel in Kota Kinabalu and dropped off again afterwards. The costs vary, but are usually around RM130 for adults and RM120 for children for admission and lunch only, and around RM200 per person for the version including transportation, guide and lunch.
A typical half-day tour is as follows: you are picked up at your hotel at 9am and you’ll arrive at the open-air museum by 10am. The cooking workshop starts at 11.15 and the dance performance at 11.45. Lunch will follow at 12.45 and after a quick visit to the souvenir shop you will board the minibus for the ride back to your hotel (or onwards to the next activity).
How to get there
This fun and educational attraction is open daily from 8am to 6pm. You can easily get to Kampung Manggis where the museum is located with a Grab from Kota Kinabalu. The museum is located in the vicinity of the village of Papar, which means you could combine both destinations in a single trip. Alternatively, you can take a train from the Aru Train Station in Kota Kinabalu to Papar, followed by a Grab from the Papar Train Station to the museum. You can also drive there yourself if you have a rental car, there’s plenty of parking space at the main entrance.
There are several providers of day or half-day tours. The full-day tour often includes a visit to the Klias Wetlands. The half-day tour departs in the morning from Kota Kinabalu, where you will be taken to the museum by coach. These types of tours usually include a meal or several meals and contain a few short stops at other nice sights along the route.
Tips
- You can buy a jar of Stingless Bee honey at the souvenir shop for RM40. This honey comes from a unique species of bee. The honey has a sweet-sour taste, which is really delicious. By coincidence, the week before we visited Bar Trigona in Kuala Lumpur (considered by many to be the best cocktail bar in KL) and had a special cocktail made with this type of honey. The honey is tapped directly from the beehive (sometimes just from a tree that has a nest in it).
- Ice cream and drinks are available at the restaurant at reasonable prices. As entrance fees are low and they have many people the pay roll, consider supporting them by buying something at the souvenir shop or at the restaurant.
- Book a guide. Although you can easily walk around on your own, you won’t get the full picture. The guide is fun, knows a lot and helps you get the most out of your visit.
- There are two simple canopy walks. Nice to walk across if you haven’t done this in the jungle before, but more for show than it’s really useful (the longest goes from the reception to the souvenir shop).
- You can easily combine a visit to the park with a visit to the village of Papar or a visit to the Klias Wetland river cruise. We did the latter, which made it a very cool day out.
- To be on the safe side, bring sunscreen and possibly a hat or something similar, because the sun can be very strong during the day.
- Be sure to bring enough cash with you.
- Do you prefer no to book in advance and decide on a visit once there? You can always travel there independently (by Grab) and just buy tickets at the entrance. Make sure you get there in time to join one of the tours.
- Borneo Excursions is a popular local travel organization that offers trips throughout Sabah. In addition to fully organized tours, they are also accustomed to offering customized trips, for example if you want to do a self-drive through Sabah.
Suggestions?
Got any good tips to share with us? Do you know of any great things to do in Sabah, or tips on the best places to eat? Let us know by leaving a reply below!
