TOP PHOTO: Native Discovery.
By Yusoff A. Shariff
LOCATED in the Serendah Forest in Hulu Selangor, Selangor, Umah Temuan is a community-driven tourism initiative by Epic, Native Discovery, and 3M Malaysia that aims to empower the Orang Asli people of Kampung Serendah with sustainable economic opportunities.
The fully furnished homestay will help the Temuan tribe, which is the largest Orang Asli group in Selangor, to earn income for their community through tourism.
At the homestay, guests will be taught basic jungle survival skills by their Orang Asli hosts, like building a fire and foraging for food, making roof from bertam leaves, and learn to prepare Orang Asli food in a traditional kitchen.
There is also jungle-trekking, bird-watching and opportunity to splash at the waterfalls. The Temuan village is located about 40km from Kuala Lumpur, near the Serendah Waterfalls.
In a statement, Epic’s CEO John-Son Oei said, the plan is to showcase the Temuans’ heritage and way of living through a community-based homestay initiative that aims to boost the economy of the locality, as well as promoting local culture skewed towards a self-sustaining ecosystem.
According to Oei, Epic believes that creating a better world is a shared responsibility, and using a grant of RM199,000 from 3Mgives, in synergy with the skills of the Temuan, they will make Umah Temuan Malaysia’s one of Malaysia’s go-to domestic travel destination.
Native, a social enterprise that partners with the Orang Asli to create community-based projects around the country, handles bookings for the Umah Temuan through their website (here). Native also offers homestay experiences with several indigenous communities in Malaysia.
-BTS Media
