Ba’ Puak is a nomadic Penan settlement, located in the Long Selulung area, about 3 hours drive from the Kayan settlement of Long Bedian. The settlement is isolated and can only be accessed using a disused logging road. The Penan settlement in Ba’ Puak is very different from the settlement in Long Latei’.
At Ba Puak, the settlement consists of huts called sulap. These huts are made using cut down tree trunks, lashed together using vines, with the roofs made using palm leaves and tarpaulins. Tarpaulins are used because the giant palm leaves are now difficult to obtain The huts are cramped, with no privacy for the occupants. A small hearth or purok is all that constitutes as a kitchen in these huts.
The majority of these huts are built on the spines of steep ridges, with a small stream dividing the settlement into three clusters of huts. The majority of these huts lie abandoned temporarily with most of the occupants away in the dense jungle hunting and foraging for food and jungle produce. Only a few inhabitants stay behind and the foraging parties might be away for a day, a week or even a month2.
Three huts are different from all the others in that they are built using sawn timber planks and have corrugated zinc roofing. However, the design of these huts remains faithful to the traditional layout, as mentioned above.