Mari Mari Cultural Village, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Mari Mari Cultural Village, Kota Kinabalu Overview

The Mari Mari Cultural Village located in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah is a cluster of traditional houses. The cultural village is popular for tours and traditional art and crafts display.

Murut, Dusun, Bajau and more are the communities scattered around Jin Kiansom, in Kota Kinabalu. One can witness here tattoo-making, blow-pipe making and other indigenous crafts that these tribes engage in, as well as sample their cuisine and learn about their lifestyles and beliefs. While here, make sure to visit the Kiansom Waterfall which is close to the village.

Mari Mari Tour - Explore the Land of the Tribes

The tour of the Mari Mari Cultural Village takes one through the vast area inhabited by the members of 5 different tribal communities. Witness the various traditional activities and habits followed by each of these distinct tribes and their daily routines and rituals.

Some of the fun activities included in the Mari Mari Tour include rice-wine tasting, a unique method of cutting trees and blowpipe dart shooting which was once used as a means of defensive weapon but has now been turned into a harmless entertaining game. One can also volunteer for their special folk music and tribal ethnic dances like the ‘Magunatip’ bamboo dance performed by the Murut tribes.

Fun Facts About the Mari Mari Tribes

The Mari Mari Cultural Village houses 5 different tribal communities-

Murut Tribe

The Murut Tribe is one of the oldest tribal communities residing in the Mari Mari Village.
They used to have quite a dominant grasp over the other tribes residing in and around the area due to their notorious ‘headhunting’ practices.
They were also well-known for their fatal weapons like poisoned blowpipes, swords and ribbed spears coated with venom.
One of their ancient traditions involved strategically placing the skeleton heads of those sacrificial humans to display their might to the neighbouring tribes and preventing any attempts of attacks or threats to the members of their own tribe. However, once the British colonization rule came about in Malaysia, their population started decreasing rapidly and they became more domesticated leading them to turn into one of the friendlier tribes of the current times.

Lundayeh Tribe

The Lundayeh Tribe, also called as the Lun Bawang tribe, are a hard working community of fishermen, livestock farmers, hunters and fishermen.
They were infamous for their hardcore burak (rice wine) drinking habits.
In the early 20th century, there was a major smallpox epidemic which wiped out most of the Lundayeh tribe member. This was mainly due to their low immunity caused due to excessive drinking which made them more vulnerable to any kinds of outbreaks.
In the present day, the Lundayeh tribes are considered almost extinct.

Bajau Tribe

The Bajau tribal community has two subdivisions- about half of them residing in Kota Belud and the other half in Sempora.
The Bajau tribes of Kota Belud are popularly known as the ‘Cowboys of the East’ due to their skilled horse breeding and horse riding abilities
The Bajau Laut tribes of Semporna are fondly known as ‘Sea Cusps’ due to their proficient sailing skills.

Kadazan Tribe

The Kadazan tribe is truly the ‘people of the land’.
They cherish their produce and celebrate Kaamatan annually which they consider to be one of the most auspicious harvest festivals in order to honor and thank the agricultural deities.
Most of the Kadazans are Christians, mainly Roman Catholics and a minority community of Protestants and Islamic followers.

Rungus Tribe

The Rungus tribe was earlier considered to be a sub-community of the bigger Kadazan ethnic group until recently when they were declared to be a separate, independent tribal community who happen to be heavily influenced by the Malaysian society.
The entire community is quite heavily dependant upon rice harvest and processing making it their main source of income.