When you think of the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo, one of the first things that comes to mind is orangutans. A 30-minute bus ride from the state capital, Kuching, Semenggoh Wildlife Center is one of the easiest places in the world to see these amazing apes. But it’s quite far from a truly wild experience, and from proper jungle.
Those more interested in the thrill of walking through a green wilderness alive with cicadas, squawking hornbills and other sounds should instead look a few hundred kilometers east. Batang Ai National Park, a part of a largely untamed area named the Heart of Borneo, remains under the radar, but is one of the best places in Sarawak to encounter truly wild orangutans and the Iban people who live in this remote, ancestral landscape.
Just arriving is an adventure. Seated in a longboat, you glide across the waters of the artificial Batang Ai Lake, looking out at jigsaw stretches of rainforest sprouting from the shore, passing submerged trees and remote islets. When you realize that your signal-less smartphone is about as useful as a brick, modernity is already behind you. As the lake narrows into the green channels of the Batang Ai River, the unknown begins to swallow you in.
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