Visit to Belaga

From Dayak Baru Weblog by Dr. John Brian Anthony

Visit to Belaga

Purpose of visit

I was invited to give talk in Belaga related to the well-being of womenfolk in the area.

Route to Belaga

There are 4 routes to Belaga. The most common route is by “Express River Boat” service from Kapit which will take approximately 5 hours and the fare is about $50.00 one way. The second route is by plane which lands at a tiny airstrip down river that is about 45 minutes boat ride to Belaga town. The third route is through the Bakun dam which is upstream to Belaga and it takes 1 hour by “Express River Boat” usually leaving at 5.30am to 6am.

The fourth routes takes about four and half hours from Bintulu town using the road to Bakun where the junction entrance to Belaga is slightly before reaching Tubau town. The signage is well displayed at the junction.

Gated Entrance to Belaga

The road entrance to Belaga is gated and manned by private security guard with an iron pipe acting as the bar across the road. You are actually entering into a private property belonging to KTS Group for tree replanting project. I was made to learn that the area given to KTS is only 90,000 hectares and the area that has been replanted is at most about 1000 hectares. At this rate of replanting of trees how many decades would KTS take to complete the work? Read more