Sarawak Tour Packages — Malaysian Borneo

Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state by area — bigger than Peninsular Malaysia — and among its least visited. It occupies the southwestern portion of Borneo, stretching from the Malay border near Brunei in the north to the Indonesian state of Kalimantan in the south and east. The capital, Kuching, sits on the Sarawak River 30 kilometres from the South China Sea and manages the remarkable feat of being simultaneously a functioning city with a sophisticated food scene, a well-preserved colonial waterfront, and an immediate gateway to some of the most intact primary rainforest in Southeast Asia. The name Sarawak is most associated in Malaysian history with the White Rajahs — the Brooke dynasty that governed the territory as a personal kingdom from 1841 to 1946. James Brooke, a British adventurer who helped quell a rebellion for the Sultan of Brunei, was rewarded with the title Rajah of Sarawak. His family ruled the territory for three generations, building a colonial administration, suppressing piracy and headhunting, and protecting the indigenous Iban and Dayak peoples from the depredations of the Dutch colonial government across the border in Kalimantan. The Fort Margherita museum in Kuching, built by Charles Brooke in 1879, preserves this history in some detail. Bako National Park, 37 kilometres from Kuching and accessible by a 25-minute boat ride from Bako village, is the oldest national park in Sarawak and one of the most accessible wildlife viewing destinations in Borneo. The park protects 27 square kilometres of coastal primary forest at the mouth of the Sarawak River. Proboscis monkeys — the extraordinary large-nosed primates endemic to Borneo — live in groups along the forest edge and can be seen from the main boardwalk trails in the early morning and evening. Silver langurs, long-tailed macaques, bearded pigs, and monitor lizards are common. The park also protects pitcher plants of several species including Nepenthes gracilis and Nepenthes rafflesiana growing naturally along the sandstone plateau trails. Gunung Mulu National Park, a four-seat Twin Otter flight or a two-day river journey from Miri, contains the most spectacular cave systems in the world. The Sarawak Chamber — discovered in 1980 — is the world's largest known underground chamber by area: 700 metres long, 400 metres wide, and 70 metres high. The entire Kuala Lumpur International Airport main terminal could fit inside it, with room to spare. The Deer Cave system contains the world's largest cave passage: 2.2 kilometres long, 174 metres wide, and 122 metres high. Every evening at dusk, between 2 and 3.5 million wrinkle-lipped bats spiral out of the Deer Cave entrance in a column that takes 40 minutes to empty — one of the great wildlife spectacles of Asia. Mulu National Park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Iban longhouse stays on the Skrang, Lemanak, and Batang Ai river systems bring travellers directly into the living culture of Sarawak's largest indigenous group. The Iban — formerly called Sea Dayak by the colonial administration — are the most numerous of Borneo's indigenous peoples and the ones who maintained the most elaborate warrior culture, including headhunting traditions that persisted in some remote areas until the 1930s. Traditional Iban longhouses on the river systems remain inhabited communities, not reconstructions. A visit includes a welcome ceremony with tuak rice wine, a guided tour of the longhouse interior, traditional weaving and beadwork demonstrations, cooking over open fires, and overnight stays on bamboo sleeping platforms — an experience that is genuinely different from anything available in Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak packages from Dhesu are arranged on request and built around your specific interests, travel dates, and preferred style of accommodation. The destination has a range from comfortable eco-lodges and Kuching boutique hotels to basic longhouse homestays and national park chalets. Contact us to discuss options.