What is this place used for?
Ulu Temburong National Park is the country’s first national park, established to preserve more than 550 square kilometres (210 square miles) of prime tropical rainforest in the easternmost part of the country. It is a strictly protected conservation reserve, the “Green Jewel of Brunei”, where industrial logging is banned and human activity is limited to research and controlled ecotourism.
Geography.
Located in the south of Temburong District, in the east of Brunei, the park borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The core reserve area is dense jungle and serpentine rivers with no roads leading in.
History & Background
Establishment: Declared a protected National Park in 1991 to preserve virgin lowland dipterocarp rainforest against deforestation and industrial development.
Model of Conservation: 1 per cent of the park’s total acreage is open to the public, and the other 99 per cent is strictly reserved for scientific research and wilderness conservation.
Indigenous Heritage: The Iban people have lived in the Temburong River basin for centuries. Traditional longboats remain the main source of transport in the area.
Why it’s famous
The primary forest is pristine and unspoiled, and that is what makes Ulu Temburong National Park famous internationally. It is one of the best in South East Asia. The biggest draw is the high canopy walkway, an engineering marvel towering 60 metres above the forest floor and providing panoramic views of the jungle canopy.
Highlights include:
Canopy Walkway: A set of narrow aluminium walkways suspended from high metal towers for bird's-eye views above the tree line.
Temburong River Rapids: Travel on traditional wooden temuai (longboats) through shallow river beds and rapids.
Sungai Apan & Waterfall Trails Natural jungle streams with natural fish spas, small fish nibble your dead skin cells from your submerged feet.
Ulu Ulu National Park Resort The park’s main eco-lodge with accommodation and base facilities for visitors.
What a visitor might see
Exotic birds like rhinoceros hornbills, bush-planed kingfishers and broadbills zip past the tree-top walkway.
Primates & Mammals Proboscis monkeys, Bornean gibbons and macaques are active in the high canopy, especially early in the morning.
Rich Biodiversity: Night-walking trails will take you to rare pitcher plants, wild orchids, giant rain forest dipterocarp trees and luminescent fungi.
Surroundings & Landscape
It is a landscape of steep green hills and clear river channels and jungle canopy mist. The forest is mostly unlogged and has developed into a thick multi-storey canopy which provides a special habitat for canopy-dwelling species.
Nature & Culture.
Biodiversity Paradise The park is home to thousands of Borneo’s native plants and animals, many of which are found only in primary dipterocarp ecosystems.
Iban longhouse communities and the skills of traditional rivercraft to navigate shallow waters are shown in river transport. Riverine Culture:
Directions are as follows:
BY LAND From Bandar Seri Begawan (Capital), cross the Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Bridge by vehicle directly to Bangar, the main town of the Temburong District.
BANGAR TOWN Overland to Batang Duri Jetty.
The final stretch of the river: Join a wooden open-topped longboat (temuai) at Batang Duri for the 30- to 45-minute trip down the Sungai Temburong to the park entrance.
Best Time to Go: Dry Season (Feb - Sep) The best time for river boat trips, jungle hiking with less heavy downpours and climbing the canopy tower.
Early morning hours: The time to go is the canopy walk just before sunrise (6:00 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.) when temperatures are mild and wildlife is active before the heat and mist rise.
Information & Tips
Mandatory Guides: You need a guide to get into the national park. The visitor must be accompanied by a registered tour operator or licensed local guide.
Physical Fitness: You will need to climb around 1,000 wooden steps to reach the canopy walkway and then climb vertical steel tower ladders.
What to bring: Good walking shoes, bug spray, sun protection and lots of water to drink. waterproof dry bags for electronics when moving to the boat.
