Go BackIt is encouraging to see that the Rungus people preserving their traditional longhouses. By promoting them commercially, they give these traditional houses a purpose to exist. The Rungus longhouses are usually built of bamboo with thatch roofing. Within the longhouse, each family has its own apartment, or living quarters, called valai. It is a "studio" unit that is used as dining room, kitchen, living room and bedroom. Oh, and storeroom. If you come with a tour group, you are often entertained with a traditional dance performance such as magunatip bamboo dance or the monguruali nose flute.
Kampung Bavanggazo is perhaps the most popular Rungus village. It is located near Tinongol in the Kudat District, about 40 km from Kudat. It is close to one hundred kilometers from Kota Kinabalu, and would take you two and a half hours to drive from there.At the Rungus Longhouse of Kampung Bavanggazo, you can see how the people lived, experience their daily routine, the rituals, ceremonies and traditional music.
On the way to Kampung Bavanggazo - the name means "big river" in the Rungus language - you will pass by Kampung Matunggong which also has longhouses to view. This village is where the annual gong festival, Pesta Gong Matunggong, takes place. It is staged somewhere around October. Check out https://pestagong.sabahtourism.com for details.
If you want to see how the Rungus people make gongs, you should head to Kampung Sumangkap. It is quite interesting, and you may also see some tribespeople in their traditional costumes. Another neighbouring village, Kampung Gombizau, is well known for the production of honey. At the Gombizau Honey Bee Farm you can learn about royal jelly processing and bee wax at the bee farm here.
Getting there
I would recommend having the arrangements made by a tour operator in Kota Kinabalu nor Kudat. A tour will also include a trip to the Tip of Borneo, the Kampung Sumangkap Gong Factory and the Gombizau Honey Bee Farm.Rungus Longhouse Location Map
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Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.About this website
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
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