The Old Village at Tumbang Malahoi

 Recently we spent a long day visiting this Dayak cultural gem, and can highly recommend it! For the slow traveller, who could choose to sleep in the longhouse and tune into the pace and character of the place over 3 days, or for those having time only for a quick day trip from Palangka Raya.

The village of Tumbang (or confluence of rivers) Malahoi is sited where the Malahoi River joins the much larger Rungan River, which is in turn a tributary of the Kahayan River. The Kahayan runs through Palangka Raya on its way south to Bahaur, on the Java Sea. This web of waterways was once the transport route for communication, trade, and culture, but it is now mostly used by barges carrying raw materials for export. People journey along the much faster roads.

There are some remarkable ossuaries or Dayak bonehouses (sandung) alongside the road on the way to Tumbang Malahoi which are worth a closer look. This one is owned by a Dayak family, who have repainted and extended it, still living with the old traditions, and happy to chat with visitors.

A leisurely stroll around the picturesque village rewards the visitor with many brilliantly painted sandung, all raised beside the homes of families of the ancestors in whose memory they are built. The decorations have significance to those whose bones are lying inside. They are surrounded by little effigies and scary masks protecting the area from mischievous spirits.

The original longhouse still stands with its ironwood bark wall coverings, the totem poles or Sapundu, and Sandung. These remain there, inviting guests to climb the notched pole to enter the living area. It is possible to stay here a few days, to enjoy the warm hospitality of the longhouse inhabitants, the slower pace of living in a Dayak village and learn more about the resilient lives of the people.

This photo was taken almost a decade ago by frind John Boyd Macdonald, whose wonderful Blog of his travels with his wife Karen around Kalimantan makes for rewarding reading.  It so captures the sense of vivid and almost chaotic life experienced in these remote places.