Brunei Jungles opens up opportunities in terms of sustainable eco-tourism

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Managing a flourishing business and at the same time preserving the nature are not always two things that go simultaneously. In the midst of the verdant jungle, eco-tourism is providing financial opportunities for the locals, struggling long to find a path to opulence.

 
Within the ASEAN region, Brunei remains the country, least explored in terms of tourists. However, the numbers have been constantly rising lately as more government aid has found its way to the sector and the key natural attractions of the country have become even more popular.

 
In the middle of unsteady oil prices, Brunei has more and more become interested to expand its economy and, as a result, tourism has been pushed into prime focus. With a rich supply of immaculate biodiversity, small-scale eco-tourism have reached to the front, especially in Temburong, the easternmost portion of Brunei, separated from the capital along with three different provinces by the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

 
Back in 2008, Leslie Chiang was keen for opportunities to open his own tourism business and discovered the space and inspiration in the wilderness of the district around Ulu Temburong National Park.

 
The place where he would be developing Sumbiling Eco Village (SEV) is in the middle of the best preserved tracts of primary rainforest in Borneo. At first from Malaysia, Chiang witnessed the simplicity and possibility of Brunei, and simultaneously felt a sense of nostalgia for a landscape that had got lost in many other parts of the region.

 
“When I first came here, it was an abandoned paddy field,” Chiang said. “First thing, I saw the beautiful river then that’s it, I fell in love with it. That’s the beauty.

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