Sarawak Cultural Village

Nestled against the rainforest-clad slopes of Mount Santubong, this living museum opened in 1990 to preserve the vanishing architectural and ritual traditions of Sarawak’s indigenous nations. Authentic dwellings, engineered from rot-resistant *belian* (ironwood), split bamboo, and palm thatch, circle an artificial lagoon. Dominating the landscape is the conical Bidayuh *baruk*—a roundhouse historically reserved for warrior councils and headhunting trophies—alongside a Melanau tall house perched forty feet in the air on massive timber pilings, designed to deter coastal pirate raids. Beneath the sweeping roofs of the Iban and Orang Ulu longhouses, open communal galleries (*ruai*) display geometric *pua kumbu* textiles dyed with wild indigo and ginger roots. Ascending steep, notched-log ladders polished smooth by barefoot footsteps, visitors step into cool, dim interiors infused with the sharp aromas of curing wood and smoldering hearth embers. Inside the Orang Ulu longhouse, elders with traditional hornbill-feather headresses pluck cascading, melancholic notes from a carved *sape* (boat lute), while nearby artisans press sago starch into crisp *tebaloi* biscuits over open flames. The courtyard air periodically splits with the sharp *thwip* of a poisoned-dart demonstration fired from a Penan hardwood blowpipe. Every summer, this tranquil jungle enclave sheds its quiet reverie to host the Rainforest World Music Festival, echoing ancestral gongs and international strings through the Santubong canopy.