Trip to Semban Village-Day One (part 1)...

 

Up in the Padawan mountain range,55 kilometers from the city lies the Bidayuh Biatah village of SEMBAN.Because of the extreme gradients that surround this area,it has remained isolated and has been known as one of the most remote villages in a deep jungle of primary forest.The villagers here ,Bidayuh Baitah live a simple life mainly growing hill paddy.To reach Semban Village at 1000 feet above sea level,one takes a six-hours trek through jungle trails passing bamboo groves,paddy fields,pepper vines,rubber trees,durian orchards and umpteen bamboo bridge,amidst cool breezes and gushing waters of the streams and waterfall.

  

Sagan Adan our eco-guide from Semban Village.

 

Proper footwear: Wear your most comfortable footwear as the walk is long. Trekking shoes recommended but most Semban villagers prefer kampung adidas (photo above).Thru my experience I suggest you wear this soft rubber a very good grip foot wear and its only cost you below Rm10.00.As we started trekking, Sagan Adan laughed at my jogging shoes, saying they looked more like something one would wear for a city marathon .

One of the villagers (with umbrella) trekked back home in Semban village with her grand children .

 

One will have to trek through jungle and cross six huge bamboo bridges (36m long and 9m high), and no less than 20 smaller ones. It can take four to seven hours to get to Semban Village, depending on the weather.

 

The suspended bamboo bridge of the Bidayuh is a definite first for me and I fully recommend that you go and try it out yourself.

The predominantly Bidayuh Semban village, will eventually make way for Sarawak's water reservoir project known as the Bengoh Dam Project, due to be completed in 2011...(Bengoh Dam no photo allowed).

The walk up to Semban village, while painfully slow and tiring for me personally is nevertheless one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences. The trail is a mixture of good jungle, adventure and man’s ability to co-exist with the world around him.

 

The bridges along the trail were most interesting. Depending on the width of the area to be crossed as well as flood risks, the bridges range from proper sturdy plank bridges to bamboo bridges hung on two suspended steel wire cables.

This one more than 100 meter long hung bamboo bridge ,   the scariest for us visitors. I can literally feel my knees wobble and the fact the steel wire cables were anchored to dead trees didn’t help either .

So who builds and maintains the bridges? According to Sagan Nadan, members of the villages using the bridges would come together and repair/ refurbish the bridge every year or whenever it is necessary. Every villagers will involve everyone and it has been their ‘way’ to work together to ensure that the bridge is useable for everyone. Each village will send some of their representatives to help out each time the bridge need work. The bridge is important because they provide access to the outside world, enabling the villagers to sell and purchase goods and services. It is also the safer way for their children to go to school and return on weekends to visit their parents.

The Semban Village is really quite unique the first day we are confronted here with a remarkable experience because it reaches the temperature at night with merciful degrees Celsius, with a minimum temperature of air-conditioners. Water pipe from the hill is ice cold especially early morning.

Although most of the residents have converted to Christianity, there are still villagers, all over the age of 50 years is still rigid with pagan beliefs, believing signals by animals and natural elements to continue their daily lives.

To be continue..Day one (parts 2).