Bajau Floating Village in KK
Sep 10th, 2008 by Steven
This photo was taken as the plane I was on made its landing approach to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. It shows the remnant of a Bajau Floating Village in Sembulan, a 5-minute drive from the city. What the photo doesn’t show is that the village is practically land-locked except for a channel that allows sea water to flow in. It is surrounded by buildings sited on reclaimed land. A cab driver told me that many of the Sea Bajau (sea gypsies) had left the village and that many of the inhabitants are Filipinos.
I recall that there are Sea Bajau communities in Tuaran, about 35km from Kota Kinabalu, which are tourist spots.
BTW I came across an interesting website about the Joshua Project, and there are write-ups about the Bajau residing in various countries including those in Sabah.