The Tropical Village

Typically, Borneo longhouses are up to 100 meters long and house many different families under a single roof. The houses can be extended as the families expand.

Longhouses are typically located close to fast-flowing rivers and thus built on stilts. An open veranda runs along the whole length of the longhouse, behind which the private living quarters of the individual families are located.

The Borneo Longhouse at Tropical Islands is built in the typical Orang Ulu style. The Orang Ulu are a tribe of Indian artists and one of the native peoples of Borneo. Their longhouses are traditionally decorated with carvings and paintings and their household objects adorned with pearls.

The Borneo Longhouse was built in partnership with the Sarawak Central Tourist Office and is based on a house in the historical village museum in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak in Malaysia.

Typical Polynesian straw huts are called fale. The ground plan is usually oval in shape, and large tree trunks support a leaf-covered roof. The islands sometimes experience strong winds, so, to prevent damage, the roof is shaped like a tortoise’s shell, giving the wind nothing to get hold of. The houses are usually open at the sides, even at night. The "walls" consist of plaited mats that are rolled up and only let down in case of rain or strong wind.

The Samoan fale at Tropical Islands is a sort of community centre for a number of villages. It is unusually large, each of the 28 beautifully carved wooden pillars standing for one of the family groups.

The Tropical Islands fale was constructed with the assistance of the Samoan Tourist Authority.