Sorry to disappoint but the headhunters are no more. They have replaced their spears with cellphones, computers and four wheel drives. Kapit is a small town of around 13,500 people on the Batang Rejang. It can only be reached by boat along this river, which is Malaysia's longest.
The river also gives access to the valuable forests and the logs are shipped down to the coast. We saw logging staging sites all along the banks and the river was full of logging detritus with the rubbish banging into the steel boat hull as we motored along.
The local tribes have traditionaly lived in longhouses and many continue to do so today. Some are very modern and built on the ground from modern materials and others are up on stilts made from timber and corrugated iron. These older ones are a lot more prone to fire and the papers feature regular stories of their destruction.
There are smaller villages upriver from Kapit but a Government permit is required to visit them. For us Kapit is the end of the line.
