Staying at an Iban Longhouse in Borneo

I recently came back from a spectacular two-week trip travelling in Malaysian Borneo with my mum and I can truly say it was one of the best times of my life. Borneo is a fascinating and underrated place and our trip was full of all kinds of spectacular experiences. However, the most memorable thing we did, and something I will never forget was staying at an Iban Longhouse in Borneo.

If you are going to Borneo, you have to take the opportunity to go and stay with the indigenous people and get a true insight into a completely different kind of life. It is unforgettable.

When staying with the Iban people in a longhouse, its unpredictability and its strangeness is its delight, but there are still few things I would have liked to know beforehand and so I am sharing my experience here. What it was like and what I would have done differently.

iban longhouse borneo

What is an Iban Longhouse?

The Iban are the largest indigenous tribes in Sarawak (the southern Malaysian area of Borneo). A longhouse is the traditional home of the Iban people, Borneo. It consists of a long narrow covered veranda with a number of doors leading off it. The whole village lives under one roof with families making their homes in the different rooms. They are traditionally built from timber on stilts with space for livestock underneath.

Longhouses may contain up to 100 individual families. It usually requires a long boat ride to reach these remote houses and although some longhouses now have electricity and other mod cons, you can expect the longhouse to be a “back to basics” experience.

How we booked our night in the Iban Longhouse.

Most of the Iban Longhouse experiences will be travelling out of Kuching and this is where we booked ours from. We arrived in Kuching a couple of days before we wanted to leave and went round a few of the tour operators to find out what the deal was and how we could go and visit the most authentic Longhouses. We had read that the most authentic experiences would be in the Batang Ai area around the rivers there so this is where we wanted to go. Batang Ai is a four hour trip from Kuching on bumpy roads but we decided there was no point in doing this if we didn’t do it properly and this was definitely the best thing to do. The farther from the city the better.

In the end, we booked our tour through operators called Ooo Haa, who were on a small side street just of the Main Bazaar in Kuching. They were super helpful, explained exactly what would be involved in the 1 night or 2-night journey and gave us the cheapest price so we went for it.

This wasn’t cheap though, it was 1100 Ringgits for the 2 night trip per person. This is the equivalent of around $550 NZD. It does include everything though and to do this trip without a guide would be a very difficult thing.

Apparently, the Iban used to make any unexpected stranger welcome but now it’s less common and plus it would be so difficult to find a Longhouse alone. One thing I will say though is that this price is WORTH IT. It is an experience like no other and you can take comfort in the fact that a good chunk of this money (i HOPE) goes to the people themselves.

The tours will take a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8. We were lucky as we were the only 2 so we had the whole experience to ourselves. You can go for one night or two but I would recommend two to really immerse yourselves.

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What the 2 night 3 day Iban Longhouse stay involved:

Transport to and from the Longhouse including the bus and the long boat and stops on the way such as a pepper farm, the orang-utan sanctuary and the market.
All food
Spending the night in the Longhouse with all that’s involved in that!
Watching the cockfighting (questionable but interesting, these people make their own entertainment!) and trying the blowpipe.
A jungle trek, swimming in the waterfall and having a meal cooked in bamboo by the river

So how was the stay?

Put simply – it was unforgettable. The longhouse is so remote and so cut off apart from a lucky few families who have a generator which lasts a few hours each night. I have travelled a lot and always immerse into the culture as much as I can, but this was a new level.

There is, of course, major awkwardness at first, you definitely feel you are an outsider, you are HUGE in size and there is an uncomfortable feeling that you are sort of gawking at people’s lives, but once you get used to this feeling and they get used to you it becomes more comfortable.

The people are known for their hospitality and you can see why. Dancing, drinking and partying is the way of the people and you are encouraged to get involved – they love it when you make a fool of yourself and it is easy to do here!

The language barrier was hard, I was thankful for our guide, Mr Ben, but after the village had plied us with rice wine and rice whisky it became less of a big deal. Bear in mind that you will be expected to drink rice booze galore and also to dance – so get ready for that.

NOISY!

The Longhouse was noisy! Take your earplugs and don’t expect a great nights sleep – there will be voices, floorboards creaking and animals making noise everywhere but it is all part of the fun!

It was a cool place to be. The Longhouse we stayed in was a beautiful structure – it was quite incredible to see a whole village in one house, and all the people lolling about during the day. There is a real sense of community and a feeling that you would never be lonely!

The kids were adorable. They are wary of you at first and its hard to get them to crack a smile let alone for them to sit on your lap and chat to you but they do warm to you, its like they need to trust you a little bit first.

The food was not as authentic as we would have hoped. The meal cooked in bamboo by the river by the villagers was amazing but our guide did most of the other cooking and we had some questionable things like a giant plate of chips for breakfast. I took comfort in the fact that what we didn’t eat would be taken back to the families

Some parts of the experience can be hard. Seeing the starving cats and dogs was really hard and I just wanted to give them all the food. You have to remember though that these people are struggling to feed themselves well, let alone their animals.

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iban longhouse borneo

cockfight iban borneo

Tips for your Iban Longhouse Stay

• You will be asked to buy some crisps and biscuits for the village on your way to the village by the guide. This is not really negotiable but it would also be a good idea to bring some of your own gifts,perhaps some books or pens and paper for the kids, or some kind of toy. Basically something more interesting and long-lasting than sweets!
• I wish I would have taken some dice to teach the people how to play Threes. A really simple game like this would have made it easier to engage with people and make them realise we were not just smiling nodding duds!
• I would also say, don’t be shy, if you’re into Yoga, go in the hallway and do it in the morning, the people would be so interested in something like this.
• Ask if the women can show you how they do their bead threading or any other craft they are doing.
• Take some snacks or gifts from your home county – something they might not have seen before that could be interesting.
•Take selfies with them and show them – they love this, especially the kids!

• My mum played the “three little piggies went to market” game with one little girl and she seemed to really respond well to this. I think anything active and dynamic, like singing or games, is a great way to break the ice.
• Take books with pictures in that you can look at with people, kids and adults.
• Be respectful (of course) these people live here, and trying to join in as a guest rather than a spectator will make you and them feel so much more at ease.
• Wear long pants – I got bitten nearly to death.
• Make sure you carry lots of cash to buy the trinkets that they are selling. They will all want to sell to you, so good to buy a little something from as many people as possible.

But yeah, that’s it really, I hope it helps and don’t be nervous and enjoy the experience. It is a once in a lifetime.

There is a great Anthony Bourdain Netflix episode about his experience of staying with the Iban. His Longhouse stay was a lot more flash than ours but the vibes are still the same. Watch it HERE on Netflix.

And feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below. I would love to share and talk about this experience more and the experience of others who have done the same.

I will do another post soon about Borneo and where we went so watch this space for that!

iban longhouse borneo