Blogs from Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia

On thursday I caught a little 12 seat Twin Otter plane from Miri to a small town in the Kelabit Highlands called Bario. I booked this flight for $30 each way the week before which in my opinion is a bargain. There were only 8 of us on the flight and the cockpit door was open the whole 50 minutes of the flight so you could see what the pilots were up to. We flew over Gunung Mulu National Park on the way and finally landed at a very small airport where there about 15 locals waiting to pickup friends or cargo. After having a coffee and chat with the pilots I got a lift to the centre of town and looked for somewhere to stay. I decided to stay at the Royal Villa homestay where ... read more

Schon die Anreise nach Bario, verschlafener Hauptort im entlegenen Kelabit-Hochland, ist ein kleines Abenteuer. Die einzige Alternative zu einer beschwerlichen und teuren tagelangen Anfahrt im Geländewagen über unbefestigte Logging Roads (Privatstraßen für den Holztransport), besteht im Flugzeug. Ein Flug ist nicht nur wesentlich schneller (lediglich eine Stunde von der Küstenstadt Miri), sondern mit ca. 25€ einfache Strecke auch deutlich günstiger als über Land. Auch die Einheimischen bevorzugen den Flieger. Die vier westlichen Passagiere in diesem Flug waren der Ire Mossie, die Schweizerin Zuleika, die ich bereits aus Miri kannte, die Australierin Stephanie und ich. Der Flughafen in Bario ist kleiner als ein deutscher Dorfbahnhof und die einzigen Maschinen, die auf der kurzen Landebahn landen können, sind zweimotorige Propellerflugzeuge vom Typ "Twin Otter". Sie bieten Platz für le... read more

Back from the paradise that was Mabul and was time for us all to say our good byes, including Joia who I had met in Kota kinabalu, then refound in Mabul! Then I was off to catch a flight to Bario on the West coast of Borneo. The only way to get here was by a little people plane. I had found out about it from Joia, thought it sounded fun, so there I was on my 10person carrier, with a new bod I met in Miri and a little old local lady with massive stretched holes on her lobes (which, I presume as she had been to Miri, the neasrest local town,) she had the decency - or sense im not sure which, to loop them over the top of her ears, so they didn’t ... read more

Day 298: Thursday 23rd April - Learning about the Kelabits My flight to Bario is on a Twin Otter aircraft, a 20 seater, propeller aircraft. This is the smallest plane I’ve ever flown in with the exception of the one I took over the Nazca Lines in Peru. There are no modern security measures between pilots and passengers and I can see straight into the cockpit from my seat. There are baggage limits on the flight so I make sure I travel light only taking hand luggage with me for the flight. As I have no checked luggage, I am approached by two women in Miri airport as I check-in asking if I’m willing to carry a box to Bario for them. I haven’t a clue what is in the box, I certainly haven’t packed my ... read more

Bario is a valley in interior Sarawak, close to the border with Indonesian Kalimantan and accessible only by plane. The first European to go into the valley arrived by parachute during WWII. Missionaries followed in 1946. Today the population is Christian and well-educated. The community participates in the e-Bario project. This project, run by Bario community leaders and researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (with infrastructure contributions from Telekom Malaysia), has provided computers and telephone lines. The villagers now have access to globally available information and are able to communicate with families and friends outside the Bario valley. One local told me, "when our parents went down to the coast for shopping they went on foot and the journey took two months". I wondered what they would have made of the instant communications provided by this initiative ... read more