indahnesia.com - Mahakam - Upper Mahakam - Past the rapids

The upperstream part of the Mahakam is cut off from the coastal area by big rapids, just a little upstream from Long Bagun. Somewhere else on Borneo, you can see the same kind of closed areas, but the rapids are less strong or they can be crossed with boats - like in Sarawak - which are motorized. Only Apokayan is more isolated than the upperstream part of the Mahakam.
The first European which visited the upper Mahakam was dr. A.W. Nieuwenhuis. In 1897/98, he made a trip through the area which lasted 15 months. By medicating malaria- and syphilis-patients he managed to win hearts among the people. Medication and fear of alien attacks played an important role in the friendly subjection of the Dayak by the Dutch. Kwing Irang, a Kayanleader from the region and translator of Nieuwenhuis, plead for a governmental take-over by the Dutch, which could protect the population of the area against the headhunting Iban and against the islamic coastal inhabitants.
Around the turn of the 19th/20th century, the situation of the Dayak along the upperstream Mahakam was precarious. The region was inhabited by Kayan and Bahau; along the far ends of the river the Aoheng settled. The sultan of Kutai didn't have any political power over the area, but he did rule over trade. Products from the hinterland, were taxed heavily and the same happened with products entering the region. Salt was fifteen times more expensife along the Upper Mahakam then in Samarinda.
Kutainese and Buginese merchands settles just before the rapids (named 'falls' by Nieuwenhuis). They mixed with the trade in forest products and exploited the Dayak with gambling and ordinary robbery. A few beheaded heads restored equality more or less, but the Buginese didn't leave it that way.
When Nieuwenhuis arrived, preparations for a big confrontation were at full speed. J.P.J. Barth, an assistent of Nieuwenhuis, settled in 1900 as inspector in Long Iram. The year after the Dutch founded an outpost, guarded with Jawanese soldiers. Also due to the regulation of the price of salt by the Dutch, tensions between muslems and Dayak receded. Big scale headhunting was abolished and the sultan of Kutai traded his dubious claim for the upper Mahakam for a yearly fee, paid by the Dutch.

Ethnical Conflicts

The complex interethical relations along the Upper-Mahakam date back to the 18th century, when the well-organised Kenyah entered the area from Apokayan. They forced out the Pin (related to the Ot Danum from Kalteng) and became a majority because of this. They traded with the nomadic Punan, which later on adapted a partial-sedentair way of living.
In 1885, a few thousand headhunting Iban Dayak entered the area, probably the biggest army Borneo has ever seen. The Iban burned down all villages of the Kayan and Aoheng, on which the victims called for help at the Dutch colonial authorities. The Upper-Mahakam area came under Dutch rule in 1907. In 1927, Batu Ura was the location of the first missionary school to be opened.

Arts and Tradition

In contrary to the protestant mission in Kalimantan, the ruling catholic religion does not reject the traditional Dayak culture. Priests don't reject believe in spirits, magic and sjamans or belian (the traditional healers and religious specialists); they are convinced this believe will dissappear during over time. The church doesn't make problems about harvest- and other agricultural rytes as well.
Traditional weddings are still taking place besides the maritial service in the church. Beads, Chinese vases, old drums and locally made fabrics and mandau are always a part of the bridal treasury. Beads are seen as very valuable. Rare and very expensife ones can only be seen very rarely.
Most old woodcarvings in the region are taken by merchands or are simply rotten away. But there still are excellent woodcarvers. They make ancestral pawls, bowstatues for canoos and carrying baskets for babies and other decorative objects.
For what blacksmith concerned, the days of the traditional works are almost passed. The blacksmits still make excellent tools, especially mandau-knives, which are sometimes decorated with a curl at the end. The mandau is used for normal activities, like the parang or machete, or it is used as an accessory during traditional ceremonies.

The Upper-Mahakam nowadays

The Upper-Mahakam depends on the coastal area for many products. Necesary basic goods are - if available - far more expensife than in Samarinda. In the months before the harvest it's not uncommon that famine is avoided by the import of rice. Travelling in this area depends on the availability of very expensife fuel for the small motors.
Like most residents in Kalimantan, the population grows rice on the rule of field-changing or ladang-agriculture. Farmers chop their fields in the rainforest, burn any vegetation to enrich the poor and acid soil. The ladang is just planted once or twice and is empty again until fresh vegetation has grown there. Only then the farmer returns ant the cycle starts all over again. A big part of the needed proteins is extracted from fish and wild animals: dogs are used to hunt for deer and wild pigs, and weapons are used for catching monkeys.

Picture: Big rapids

Income comes from trade in forest products like ratten, birds nests, some gold and other rare objects like bezoar stones. Some crops are also planted for sale later on. Some Dayak work in Sarawak, which can be reached in three or four days from Long Apari, the last village before the border with Malaysia, there is no border patrol. A job at the woodlogging companies brings in a fairly big sum of money. About a quarter of all men from the last upstream villages work at the other side of the border. On the way home they bring shirts, photo-camera's, radios and sometimes a television over the mountains, though the inlands of borneo doesn't have electricity and any tv-signal.
Outside these possibilities to build a decent living, the population declined in the last decades of the 20th century with about 2,5 per cent a year. Many young people get their education in the city, far away from the place they were born and they never return.

Travelling along the Upper-Mahakam

It has been said before: traffic on the Mahakam is good until Long Iram, 409 km upstream from Samarinda. Some small passenger- and freight ships will go to Long Bagun, the final destination of organised and reliable transport, 583 km from the coast. There are two ways to travel ahead: waiting until a full and heavy ship takes the rapids, or rent a longbot yourself - if available - for several hundred dollars.
The about 140 km long journey to Long Pahangai, the next stop, will bring you two or three very exciting days with little comfort. The risk of turning upsidedown is always there. There also is a small chance that the longbot has to turn around when halfway, because of a too low waterlevel. Even in the most lucky circumstances, the freight has to be carried over the most dangerous rapids, so the boat can cross the rapids on full power. Between Long Bagyun and Tiong Ohang about 800 liters of very expensife fuel is used.
Passing a rapid is exciting, expensive and takes a lot of time. Waiting for a longbot in Long Bagun can take days, even weeks. A less exciting alternative is a flight from Samarinda to Data Dawai, an airstrip on several minutes from Long Lunuk. From this village, located centrally in the Upper-Mahakam region, you can go to Long Apari - the last village along the Mahakam - and downstream to Long Pahangai. There you can sometimes take a longbot towards the rapids and Long Bagun.
Since the first flight to Data Dawai in 1985, tourism has formed the region. The hospitality of the Dayak has been replaced by picking of tourists. A trip by motorized canoo - already expensife because of the high fuel prices - can even be more expensife.
Dayak which fly back from Samarinda to Data Dawai, are often picked up by boat in Long Lunuk. It's worth while to ask about a possible pick-up. If that doesn't work out, then you can better inform yourself about the first boat as soon as you get there, after you have reconfirmed your return trip.

Villages along the Upper-Mahakam

The from Long Lunuk departing canoo's and longbot are almost all going downstream to Long Pahangai, center of the district with the same name, or upstream to Tiong Ohang, capital of the subdistrict Long Apari. However all villages in the region have their own school, all other services - like shops, churches, high-schools and civil authorities - are concentrated in Long Pahangai and Tiong Ohang. The only other village of any importance is Long Lunuk with it's airstrip. Visitors which report themselves at the police or the camat are told to inform about possible events as well. In Long Pahangai you can also inform about catholic services.
The interrior of the church in Long Pahangai is decorated with nice Dayak motives. The longhouse, with some old woodcarvings and a big drum, is somewhat ramshackle. Close to the Pahangai River lives an woodcarver who will work for you.
In the village you can rent a canoo with people for a trip on the Pahangai River, but it's nothing more than a small stream. It's a nice place after the Mahakam with all it's noisy boats. The landscape and birds are very nice over here. The subdistruct Long Pahangai has several thousand inhabitants, only several per square kilometer.
Tiong Ohang, the other kecamatan-capital along the Upper Mahakam, has a shop ans a few interesting longhouses, among them a very solid one. There is also some nice art to see. The village is a good start for small trips through the forest and over the side-rivers, but the villages on the other banks are more traditional and interesting. The subdistrict Long Apari has a few thousand residents, less than one per sq.km. Tiong Ohang and Long Apari are the places to organise a jungle trip over the Müller Range to the catchment area of the Kapuas River in Western Kalimantan (Kalbar).