Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you don't have your own transport, you can get here from Bangar by unofficial taxi
(about B$30 return).
Ulu Temburong National Park
It's odd that in a country as manicured and regulated as Brunei, there's still a sizable
chunk of true untamed wilderness. Therein lays the appeal of
Ulu Temburong National
Park
(admission B$5)
, located in the heart of a 500-sq-km area of pristine rainforest cov-
ering most of southern Temburong. It's so untouched that only about 1 sq km of the park
is accessible to tourists, who are only admitted as part of guided tour packages. To protect
it for future generations, the rest is off-limits to everyone except scientists, who flock here
from around the world. Permitted activities include a canopy walk, some short jungle
walks, and swimming in the cool mountain waters of Sungai Temburong - so don't forget
your swimsuit.
The forests of Ulu Temburong are teeming with life, including as many as 400 kinds of
butterfly, but don't count on seeing many vertebrates. The best times to spot birds and an-
imals, in the rainforest and along river banks, are around sunrise and sunset, but you're
much more likely to hear hornbills and Bornean gibbons than to see them.
Activities
Longboat Trip
One of the charms of Ulu Temburong National Park is that the only way to get there is by
temuai
(shallow-draft Iban longboat). The exhilarating trip, which takes 25 to 40 minutes
from Batang Duri, is tough on the boats, which last just a few years, and challenging even
for experienced skippers, who need a variety of skills to shoot the rapids - going upstream
- in a manner reminiscent of a salmon: submerged boulders and logs have to be dodged,
hanging vines must be evaded and the outboard must be taken out of the water at exactly
the right moment. When it rains, the water level can quickly rise by up to 2m, but if the
river is low you might have to get out and push.
BOAT TOUR
Aluminium Walkway
The park's main attraction is a delicate aluminium walkway, secured by guy-wires, that
takes you through (or, more accurately, near) the jungle canopy, up to 60m above the
forest floor. In primary rainforests, only limited vegetation can grow on the ground be-
CANOPY WALK
