This community-based ecotourism, forest restoration and capacity building project is once again breathing life into a small riverside village. Located 40 km from the mouth of the biologically diverse Kinabatangan River in eastern Sabah, Kampung Abai is home to some 350 people, predominantly from the Orang Sungai and Suluk ethnic groups.
Community Abai Project (CAP) is the first knowledge transfer programme initiated by the Abai community. This process which commenced in 2011 has been facilitated alongside KOPEL Berhad (Mukim Batu Putih Community Tourism Cooperative) and supported by various partners including the Sabah Forestry Department and other local and international organizations.
CAP is led mostly by women and comprises 87 part time members. Over the last 5 years, the Abai community has been able to revive its homestay programme, create part time employment in tourism related activities such as guiding and river cruising and implemented its own forest restoration programme. Currently CAP is attempting to restore a severely degraded forest area in Tanah Padang, totaling 42 hectares, the largest ever undertaken by the community. To date, CAP has planted over 50,000 trees in more than 10 hectares of heavily degraded forest in Lots 1 and 2 of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.
More info at Moido Walai Homestay.