Temburong Canopy

"Keep your arms in front of you so you don't 'make contact' with any branches or boulders. Paddle hard with your hands. Don't let your legs straggle or you'll lose a kneecap on the barely submerged rocks. That's it. Have a good trip!" Brent, my kiwi guide, warned me as he backpaddled away from me. Ahead of my was the first set of rapids. Tiny Grade I ripples, to be sure, but from my eye-level (2 inches above water), the chop looked decidedly – perky.
Arms. Branches. Paddle. Kneecaps. Trip. Got it.

I was in the deep, virgin jungles of Brunei - up the river without a paddle, but in a good way. I was about to float down the 'mostly' gentle Sungei Temburong river on a Rapid Rider (basically an air mattress on steroids). Destination: National Park HQ some 2 km downriver.
Brent, from Encounter Borneo (Brunei's best-established adventure operator), was showing me around this tiny kingdom on the north coast of Borneo. It's been his stomping ground for the last 3 years and his love for the place was obvious. "You can cram more adventure into little Brunei than you can anywhere else in Asia. I'm telling you, the diversity of this place rocks!"

He had a point. The little Sultanate of Brunei has a population of just 350,000 mostly Malay and Iban, with a smattering of Chinese and Indians thrown in. A full 70% of this little jade fleck is untouched rainforest; again, more than anywhere else in Asia. And it is compact.
Also, it doesn't hurt that Brunei is wealthy from its huge oil and gas reserves. In fact, they have never cut down a single tree for profit, unlike Sabah and Sarawak, their Malaysian neighbour-states. The upshot for visitors is that Brunei's flora and fauna are unusually intact. And thanks to the rivers irrigating this biosphere, it's also easily accessible. "That's right. Just 2 hours from airport pick up to floating on your Rapid Rider under thick jungle canopy past Iban long houses..."

Brunei is a bit of a funny place. It is the only country outside the UK that has English FM radio stations Capital Radio and Capital Gold piped in live because, apparently, some of the royalty who studied in England missed their favourite DJs! You're driving around in the late afternoon and you get live traffic reports of the morning rush hour on the M5. Weird. Nice...but weird.

The tiny Sultanate is, of course, better know for its oil and opulence rather than it’s rich nature and its intact cultural traditions. Some 5 years ago, Brunei Tourism was getting feedback from savvy travellers, stopping over in Brunei on their way to the well-established tourist attractions in East Malaysia. They were saying that today's Brunei was what Sabah and Sarawak had been a generation before: colourful Malay water villages, desolate beaches, and of course, the untouched rainforest.

The potential for tourism in Brunei is fantastic, but remains fairly untapped. The people are gregarious, engaging and very proud of their vibrant heritage. Add to that a young population (60% of Bruneians are under 23) who are looking for a sustainable economic resource once the oil runs out (which it will in another 20 years or so), and it's easy to see why Brunei has jumped on the tourism bandwagon.

But here’s the important point: Because Brunei has always had wealth, the tiny Sultanate has not stumbled into tourism unprepared, and suffered the ravages that uncontrolled tourism can bring. Brunei has had the opportunity to make choices. The people have been able to embrace modern things like the internet, but where they want to, have chosen to retain their traditional lifestyle.

The best and most beautiful example of this is the absolutely charming Kampung Ayer water village (actually 18 separate villages). Fully 1/3 of the neat little capital of Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB for short) is built on stilts out over the broad Brunei River.