Park was the first national park in
Brunei, and the Bruneians like to call
it the “Green Jewel” of their country,
home to thick forest land that is part of
one of the oldest rainforest systems in
the world.
To get to Ulu Ulu, everyone needs
to take a 45-minute ride by longboat.
These elegant, beautifully carved
canoes are made from hollowed
tree trunks. Longboats are the only
way to get to Ulu Ulu, other than by
helicopter, which I’m told the royal
family occasionally uses, but only for
official state business; otherwise “they
also have to take the longboat, like
everybody else!” my guide notes with a
tinge of pride.
Other than being outfitted
with motors, the longboats
being used now are no
different from those that
have been transporting
people upriver since
ancient times. “This
is always my favorite
part of the journey,” my
guide whispered, settling
back with a smile into
his seat. Every so often, a
bend in the river would reveal
these vistas: trees that reach a
hundred feet into the air, adorned
with creepers and vines, flocks of birds
overhead, a group of macaques feeding
on an embankment. The air was
thick with humidity, but even thicker
with the sounds of the jungle. A lone
proboscis monkey swam across the
river just in front of the boat, watching
us indignantly as the boat pilot slowed
down to provide a closer look. Not hard
to imagine that all of this, similar to the
boat, had not changed for thousands
of years.
And though it had been less than
an hour, when we caught sight of Ulu
Ulu, I was disoriented: The cottages
lining the bank, the covered walkway,
and then the welcome center and dock
all looked suddenly anachronistic and
strange, as if I were a traveler from the
past suddenly taking this all in.
GIBBONS INTHEMIST
I slept well that night — too tired to join
the group going out for the nighttime trek
to the waterfalls and wildlife spotting
(“
lots of tree frogs,” my neighbors
reported back), having opted instead to
spend the day poking around the resort.
B R U N E I ’ S G R E A T O U T D O O R S
Top to bottom:
longboats can
take an average
of five people; the
national park isn't
called a green
gem for nothing
—
look how lush
the foliage gets;
cruising down
the river
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