Location : Kampung Awat-Awat, Lawas District, Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Our very first trip to Awat Awat on 3rd June 2017 was a disappointment when our visit was cut short by heavy rain. Despite the little time we spent with the family of Mr Aji over Ramadhan we managed to get to know him, his mom and brothers well enough to make us come back for a second try in November.
Mr Aji, a school teacher, kindly welcomed us to his home and we stayed there for the next three nights after driving in from Kota Kinabalu. We came with high hopes of seeing the proboscis and silver leaf monkeys but after searching for an hour with a rented boat, we were only able to see the macaques and nothing more.
We extended our search to Pulau Sapi on another day where we were guaranteed of catching the proboscis but that ended in disappointment too.
We enjoyed our short stay in Awat Awat nonetheless. The tour of the old section was made more interesting with the ongoing prawn season. Prawns unloaded from the fishing boats were immediately boiled, sundried and packed to be sold along with tahai in Brunei.
As we are writing, the concrete bridge connecting the new and old Awat Awat is 90% complete. This should make life a lot easier for villagers.
There was one night when we were at the jetty we saw a villager screaming at the top of his voice for a boatman to bring him across.
*The new Awat Awat bridge (September 2018)
Currently, there are no homestay facilities available here but I belief it can be easily arranged given the friendly people here and the mostly huge houses. There are 2 food operators here serving simple Malay food. Sea food should be available too if given advance notice.
Boat ride around Awat-Awat village
Kampung Awat-Awat
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