Kapit has electricity 24 hours a day, shops (selling goods at considerably higher prices than back in Sibu), hotels equipped with luxuries like TV and air conditioning and fast food outlets selling fried chicken, pizza, ice cream and other doubtful big city delights. As a marked contrast, the daily morning market is filled with tribal women coming to town to sell their produce, before heading off to the local provision shops to buy longhouse necessities.

Only two and a half upriver from Sibu, the sprawling centre still retains the atmosphere of a frontier town, bearing marks of its origins when the Brookes established it as a trading post and fort town. Fort Sylvia, built in 1875 by Charles Brooke, was placed strategically to prevent the movement of the Orang Ulu downstream and the Ibans moving further ulu or upstream, to avert more full-scale wars. Constructed solidly of belian or ironwood, the fort has withstood generations of floods, which in some years reached halfway up the walls. Today the fort houses the Kapit Museum with excellent ethnographic displays on the main peoples of the area.

Fort Sylvia ( Open Tues-Sun 10am-12noon, 2pm-5pm; Mon & Public Holidays closed )

Kapit Museum ( Open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, Sat-Sun 9am-12pm)

Kapit lies in the heart of Iban country, Sarawak’s largest indigenous population. Ibans were once the headhunters who gave Borneo its romantic and primitive reputation. Some understanding of their culture will help the visitor to see that they were not merely bloodthirsty in an anarchic way. To bring good fortune to the longhouse, and fame and a bride for themselves, young Iban warriors would (and some still do) set out from home to travel “the world”. Status would be acquired in the form of tattoos telling of their bravery, and the heads of a few enemies brought home to imbue the longhouse with protective spirits. Only warriors of equal strength were killed, and never children, women or the old and sick. Sadly, these traditions were much misunderstood by the 19th-century writers who revelled in writing lurid stories about the headhunters of the Iban tribes.

Longhouse’s Tips :
At the longhouses, visitors usually will be greeted with the traditional ‘miring’ (goodwill) ceremony and served with a few glasses of ‘tuak’ (local rice wine). Visitors may be treated to a meal probably rice with wild fern and other jungle vegetables plus some fishes, chicken or wild meat. Traditional dances like ‘ngajat’ may also be performed to entertain the visitors. Visitors are welcome to join in the dancing.

Below Kapit is Belaga - the last urban centre on the Rejang, after which it is longhouse communities all the way. Reaching Belaga means coursing through the Pelagus Rapids, marking the natural boundary between the Iban territory below and the Orang Ulu beyond. These rapids are the most treacherous navigable waterway in the state, and possibly in the whole of Borneo. The two and a half kilometre (1.5 miles) stretch is a series of whirlpools and waves as the river rapidly loses altitude. Many lives and boats have been lost in this maelstrom; riding the rapids atop an express boat (ready to jump off in case of trouble) provides high excitement. When the water is low - from May to August - only small longboats can struggle through, although some do try to negotiate the perils in a speedboat.

Just below the rapids is the upmarket Pelagus Resort, a designer longhouse-style resort, designed by Kuching luminary and architect, Edric Ong. The resort makes a comfortable base for excursions: to longhouses to see Iban women making high-quality pua kumbu or ceremonial blankets; to explore waterfalls and jungle trails; or to just laze by the pool, amid beautiful natural surroundings.