What is So Special About Bario?

The most special thing about Bario is their stunning view. The town is located high on mountain plateau, which makes the land fertile and cold. Coming here for a total retreat from busy bustling life, fast-paced world would definitely rewarding! Everything is just slow and calming here!

Everybody in Bario would proudly tell every new visitors that come to Bario have to try three things; that is rice, salt and pineapple. Usually, visitors won’t come back home without those as souvenirs. Fresh pineapple may not be favorable to bring back home, but there are side products such as dried pineapple and pineapple jam for you to bring back easily.

2) Salt

Bario salt has been one of their popular homegrown products and a visit to their salt factory is a must-thing-to-do here. The factory is located at Kampung Pa’Umor. Local Kelabit families take turns to produce the well known salt. They spend two weeks each at the salt factory near the natural salt springs. Each families however, have to collect enough fire woods throughout the two weeks period first.

The salt is well known for its natural mineral content of iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium. It has been traditionally used to treat thyroid problems. Despite the fact that the salt is natural and healthy, the salt production has slowly contributing to the environment problems.  The whole process to produce those salt actually has caused more woods to be logged, more wood burning, more bamboo to be cut, more Ilad jungle leaves (the salt wrapping package) and rattan to be used. Therefore, a local took action by initiating a more environmental- friendly salt production. His name is John and he even come out with modern packaging in order to reduce total dependency towards Ilad jungle leaves and rattan.

3) Pineapple

Pineapples in Bario are naturally sweet and juicy. They are nice to be eaten just like that. The locals find ways to make use of the extra fresh pineapples they had so that it didn’t go to waste. Some examples are pineapple jam and dried pineapple. Some even used the pineapple leaves for book covers.

How To Get There?

Now that you may be interested to travel to Bario, you will surely want to know how to get there. For your information, there are only two ways to get to Bario: either by roads or by plane.

Plane would be the easiest and fastest than by roads. Only 4WD can go through old logging roads all the way to Bario from Miri about 10-14 hours. However, it can be very dangerous at times.

Alternatively, you can only fly to Bario from Miri. You can also transit through Marudi but this flight is connecting flight from Miri.

There is only 3 flights in and out of Bario each day. Each flight is using 18 seater Twin Otter planes. Flights can be very limited especially during holiday periods such as Christmas, Easter, and also during annual food festival at the end of July. However, flights can be delayed or cancelled due to weather conditions so plan wisely.

Does It Worth the Travelling?

Travelling to Bario requires early planning especially in booking the flights (driving there is less likely and it can be another experience to remember) so plan in advance. This place may be too interior to be explored, but it is the best example of the livelihood of Kelabit locals for you to experience. Not to mention, their culture is very interesting to be discovered too! Just watch the video and see how soft and gentle their dance is.

Do contact us if you need someone to arrange your Bario trip. That would be, of course, if you are having trouble planning on your own.