Malaysia rainforest bungalows
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
The Forest: The Dusun is next door to the Berembun Forest Reserve, a 4,000 acre virgin rainforest (with some encroachment on its margins), which is rich in plant species, birds and other wildlife. We encourage guests to hike into this Reserve and to learn about it from resident Temuan guides. A neighbouring expert on Malaysian birds, who chairs the Malaysian Nature Society Bird Conservation Council, is working with The Dusun to give workshops to guests and to produce a pamphlet on local birds.
Buildings: Our chalets are built following traditional Malay methods to control glare and heat from the tropical sun and maximize the flow of air. Living rooms (and also most of the bathrooms) are open to the South, with shaded verandahs. The roof pitch is steep with open carving in the walls which pull air through the house. This means the houses are cooled by wind and we do not need air conditioning. In the development of The Dusun we have avoided cutting slopes with bulldozers. Instead we use walking paths for access to each house. Three of the four chalets have timber frames and beams of recycled timber taken from demolished houses and all the roof tiles date back to the colonial period.
Waste: No waste is allowed to pollute our 12 acres or the nearby river. Each bathroom has its own septic tank. We ask guests to separate their organic and dry waste. We recycle or sell bottles, cans and metal and compost the organic waste for the vegetable garden. Any other waste which cannot be composted or reused we send 3 km to a public waste bin in Pantai village, because there is no rubbish collection in our area.
Water: We source our water from a jungle stream and pipe it in polypipe to The Dusun. We us a reverse osmosis system for drinking water. Our swimming pool is kept clean with salt, not chlorine.
Energy: We are still dependent on the national grid, but we are moving towards solar energy for heating water and solar lights in public areas. We do not have air conditioning or televisions in our guest houses.
Community
We only hire from the local community, we pay competitive wages and are careful about their hours. They receive bonuses for each occupancy and they all have opened savings accounts. Our nearest community is a Temuan (orang asli or original people) tribal group. Two of our 3 housekeeping staff are Temuan; one is Malay from Pantai village. We engage Temuan to guide guests into the jungle – and guests pay them directly.
We encourage guests to eat at the stalls in Pantai and we serve special Minangkabau meals with many ingredients sourced at a farmers’ market in Pantai. This is a delicious local cuisine, little known outside of Negeri Sembilan, and has become very popular with our guests.
We have a list of local taxi drivers who regularly enjoy business from our guests. Apart from the usual airport and taxi transfers, they take guests to the Seri Menanti Museum, which showcases Negeri Sembilan history in a former royal palace, and the Adat Museum in Jelebu, which highlights Malaysia’s multiethnic cultures.
We use what influence we have with local officials to preserve the environment and protect the land rights of the orang asli. With a group of neighbours, we recently succeeded in stopping the building of a swift house in the area. This is a 30 foot cement block which uses loudspeakers to attract birds to nest and then sells their nests to China for birdsnest soup.
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