Nanga Sumpa Lodge

Reaching Nanga Sumpa Lodge is part of the experience: a four-and-a-half hour drive from Kuching, then 90 minutes further by longboat up the Delok River into Ulu Ai, one of the most remote corners of Sarawak. The lodge stands beside Nanga Sumpa longhouse, an Iban community that has lived at the confluence of the Sumpa and Delok rivers for close to two centuries, in a partnership with Borneo Adventure.

Three simple rooms open onto a shared, Iban-style verandah, kept as a separate compound so guests and residents have their own space. Evenings are spent at the longhouse itself, sharing rice wine and conversation with the Iban community, while days are for jungle treks along the river to waterfalls like Enseluai, or simply drifting past the pristine forest of the neighbouring Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the last strongholds of wild orangutan left in Sarawak.