Travel to Ba' Kelalan in Borneo and discover the mystical highlands and warmth of its people.
Ba' Kelalan is situated in Bario highlands of Sarawak, Malaysia.
The legendary salt
The young monkey jumped excitedly from branch to branch. From a distance, it could hear the sounds of dogs yelping and barking.
It knew they were sniffing for him. The jungle was beginning to thin out, and deciding to try his luck, it ran down the huge trunk of a tree.
The farmer was armed, and his dogs were closing in on the prey. There were so many holes, though in the ground. He seemed puzzled, but moved on, searching for the monkey.
Suddenly, a soft rustle in the bushes nearby prompted the farmer to aim his gun.
‘Bang…’
A monkey fell from the sky, and into one of the holes nearby.
The farmer rushed to the medium-sized hole, with his dogs barking excitedly at his feet. Lowering himself in the ground, he retrieved the body of the monkey.
Water started oozing from the ground, on the spot that he stood, and the farmer quickly jumped out from the hole.
Feeling thirsty, he dipped his hands into the watering hole, sipped a little of the water.
‘Blecch…it’s salty!’
Since that fateful day, the story of how salt was discovered near the village of Buduk Bui, villagers have been making salt from the evaporated waters flowing from the holes.
The first proper well was dug and built in 1976. An outhouse was also built nearby to cook the water, and when evaporated, it would turn into fine, mountain salt. This salt has been known to cure several ailments, and is good for the health. A second and third well was later built nearby to harvest the curative waters.
The story of salt making as well as other interesting legends, is some of the treasures of the Ba’ Kelalan highlands, home to the Lun Bawang people.
Travel to Ba' Kelalan highlands
The Ba’ Kelalan highlands, located in the Lawas division is just an hour’s flight travel on MAS Wings, from Miri Airport.
Nestled at an elevation of 3000 feet above sea level, the highlands is a beautiful countryside with small villages dotting around its valley. There are nine villages here, the biggest is at Buduk Nur, the main village a five minutes’ walk from the small airstrip here.
The other villages are a few minutes, to several hours’ walk from Buduk Nur. These are Long Langai, Long Lemutut, Long Ritan, Long Rusu, Pa Tawing, Buduk Bui, Buduk Aru and Long Rangat.
In the Lun Bawang language, Ba’ refers to wetlands, while Kelalan comes from the nearby river, the Kelalan river flowing gently down from the highlands.
This is a beautiful valley, especially at Buduk Nur, the main village with around 500 villagers. The crisp morning air here is refreshing, even under the hot, sun. A stark contrast to the overwhelming and fogged city air, as there is no pollution.
Ba' Kelalan apples
 |
| Juicy, red apples. Stock photo |
The climate is suitable, too, for planting the sweet, crunchy and delicious Ba’ Kelalan apples. With its greenish hue, the fruit, originally harvested in East Java, soon found its way to the Ba’ Kelalan highlands.
It was here, that a Lun Bawang native, Andrew Balan Parang tried his hands at planting the apples. Several failures did not deter him from trying to plant the apples, and finally he managed to grow the crunchy apples. Today, there are several varieties of apples grown in the orchard, including the varieties of Rome Beauty, Tropical Beauty, Lady Williams, Anna Apple and also the Ba’ Kelalan apple.
Other cool climate fruits and vegetables are also grown here, but it is the beautiful landscape, rich flora and fauna that endear visitors to come back for more.
Eternal beauty
Not only are the people blessed with no pollution, the beautiful landscape is worth the trip here. There are rolling hills, and the nearest mountain, Mount Murud is a one-day walk. Mount Murud is the highest mountain summit here, at an elevation of 7950 feet.
It is here that one can find a diversity of fauna, especially exotic fruits, medicinal herbs, plants and a variety of wild orchids. Wild birds also make their home here, including several species of other animals such as deer, Borneo Gibbon and monitor lizards.
There is always a special welcome dance for visitors traveling to the highlands, called the Raong dance by the locals; it is a unique presentation of the Lun Bawang culture. A dance, carried out by the women with fake hornbill feathers, and the men blowing out a tune in their bamboo musical instruments; the welcome dance is a hearty one.
As the Lun Bawang people warmly welcome you in their language, ‘Anun Bala’ (How are you?), remember to answer back with, ‘Bala Dooh’ ( I am fine).
No comments:
Post a Comment