Travel deep dive
Brunei's Ulu Temburong: Rainforest by Bridge and Boat
Brunei's great rainforest park lies in a district that the rest of the country could reach only by boat, or by driving through Malaysia, until 2020. Temburong, the eastern exclave, lies on the far side of Brunei Bay, and in its south is Ulu Temburong National Park: 550 square kilometres of rainforest protected for its biodiversity, with no road into it for the last stretch. Getting there is still a small expedition — a bridge, a road and then a longboat up a clear, stony river — and that is a large part of why the forest at the end of it feels untouched.
Updated 2026-09-19
An exclave joined by a bridge
Temburong is Brunei's eastern district, known locally as the Green Jewel, and it is separated from the rest of the country by the waters of Brunei Bay and by Limbang, a district of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. For most of its history that made it a boat journey from the capital, or a drive through Malaysian territory with border formalities in both directions. A road bridge of about thirty kilometres across the bay, opened in 2020, was the first road link to join the district directly to the rest of the country, and the drive from Bandar Seri Begawan to Bangar, Temburong's small main town, takes around an hour. The bridge is what makes the park a realistic day out from the capital at all, although a night inside the forest remains the better way to see it.
The longboat for the last stretch
The bridge ends the sea crossing but not the journey. Beyond Bangar the road continues to Batang Duri, a riverside landing, and from there the only way on is by temuai — a long, narrow Iban-style longboat, motored and steered up a clear, shallow river over gravel beds and small rapids. How long that stretch takes depends on the river: it runs higher after heavy rain and slower and shallower in dry spells. Access to the park is controlled, and in practice every visit is arranged through a licensed tour operator, which supplies the guide, the road transfer and the boat together — this is not a forest to turn up at independently.
The canopy walk, among the treetops
The centrepiece of the park is its canopy walk, a structure of steel towers and cable walkways rising out of the forest on a steep slope. The tallest tower stands about 43 metres high, and reaching it means a climb of more than seven hundred steps up the hillside and the tower itself before the walkway links five towers across the canopy. At the top the view is level with the crowns of the trees rather than looking down on a distant forest: morning mist lifting off the canopy, green running unbroken to the hills, and birds that normally stay hidden perched at eye level. Hornbills and gibbons are more often heard than seen, their calls carrying across the valley early in the day.
A long day, or a night in the forest
Most visits are a long day from the capital: out early across the bridge, upriver by longboat, the canopy climb, a forest walk and a swim in a river pool, then the same route back before dark. It works, but it puts the towers in the middle of the morning, when the forest is hotter and quieter. Staying overnight at a lodge in the park changes the trip, because the climb can then happen at first light, when the forest is at its most active and the mist still hangs in the canopy. The forest itself is lowland and hill dipterocarp rainforest — huge buttressed trunks, a dense canopy and leeches on the trails after rain — so long sleeves, leech socks and repellent all earn their place in the bag.