
Ba’ Abang is another small Penan settlement situated some three hours drive from Long San, the nearest Kenyah settlement. Instead of having one long house to accommodate the total population, this settlement is made up of a cluster of slightly shorter “longhouses”. It was observed that six to seven bilik reside in one house. There were four separate “longhouses” that make up the settlement, with stand alone kampong style single houses some distance away. These single houses were built by families who had settled at a later time. These houses normally consist of fifteen people of an extended family. Similar to Long Keluan, Ba’ Abang is situated next to a primary forest.
The people in Ba’ Abang’s lifestyle are similar to any other rural community scattered throughout Sarawak. They rear poultry and have vegetable gardens, plant hill paddy and hunt for meat to supplement their daily diet. Unlike the people in Long Keluan whose source of income relies on blacksmithing, the people in Ba’ Abang rely on their skills at making fine rattan mats, intricately decorated baskets, traditional backpack, rattan bangles (selungan in Penan) and other craft work to supplement their income.