SMARTguide Sarawak

CULTURE I ADVENTURE I NATURE I FOOD I FESTIVALS I
Penghulu
Robertson,
village chief
of Bario
Bario – the land of a hundred
handshakes
A little-known remote inland region that “ticks-off
all the boxes”
Penghulu Robertson, village
chief of Bario (pronounced
Bariew), holds out his hand to
strangers at the tiny aerodrome
as the passengers prepare to
board a MAS Wings Twin Otter
back to the coast – one of two
flights a day. The airport is the
main entry point for all travellers,
unless they are keen on taking a
12-14 hour slipping-and-sliding
bone-shaking 4-wheel drive
epic from Miri on the coast.
“How have you enjoyed this place?”,
the chief inquires, with a warm,
genuine smile. And of course, the
handshake. If Bario is described by
those who have visited as the “land
of a hundred handshakes”, it is not
without reason. In a day, the visitor will
shake dozens of hands, be greeted
with an equal number of smiles,
and will be treated to a broad range
of local “bush caught and grown”
dishes. This place thus singularly
“ticks off all the boxes” of Sarawak
Tourism Board’s promotional themes
of culture, adventure, nature, food
and festivals.
In past years, a large number of
research projects around the world
have pointed to the fact that savvy
travellers more and more are looking
for what could be termed “immersive”
experiences, where they meld into
a local community, becoming as
one with its people, rather than just
being observers. Bario, through its
remoteness, and the fact there are
no hotels – just longhouses – puts
one fairly and squarely in the picture
as part of the local experience. Added
to this is the fact that the “official”
welcome ceremony for visitors by
the Kelabit people involves the visitor
participating, albeit awkwardly, with
an occasional giggle, in dance and
games with the locals. It means one
is not an observer, but is accepted as
a friend or “part of the family”.
Lying at an altitude of over 1,100m, in
the north-eastern corner of Sarawak,
Bario, once known as the “most
remote village in the British Empire”,
is home to the Kelabit people, one
of the minority Orang Ulu tribes of
Sarawak (formerly fierce headhunters),
and its name means “wind”
in their language.
16 SMART GUIDE www.sarawaktourism.com