According to Iban Borneo legend, Nabau is a giant snake comparable to the circumference of a drum and is more than 100 feet in length. The recent sighting of Nabau cruising along the Baleh River in Kapit has some resemblance to the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
A Ke'te Kesu coffin with a motif of Nabau
Description
According to Chuat Radin, the monster was Nabau, a python-type of snake, and was much bigger in size and much longer in length. Among the Iban folk tales, super Nabau is like a “petara” (god) which has supernatural powers. Seeing it alone will bring luck to the man. Its scales used by Iban as “pangkor” which give super strength, someone like the incredible Hulk.
Nabau has also been seen at Stambak Ulu and Ili in Betong and elsewhere in Sarawak. In Africa and Sri Lanka, this type of snake is known as ‘anaconda’.
Modern Sightings
Main article: Borneo's Giant Snakes There were tales among the Ibans in Kapit that when Temenggong Koh, Datuk Kenneth Kanyan’s father passed away in the 1950s, he became a Nabau and used to appear in dreams. Koh was one of the pioneering Ibans who migrated to Entawau during the Brooke regime. As he was knowledgeable in Iban Adat and had the respect of the Brooke regime, he was made a Temenggong, the paramount chief of the Ibans.
Sibu, a member of the disaster relief committee, on 31 January 2009 was monitoring the flood situation in Ulu Rajang in a helicopter when he saw a monster that looked like a big snake cruising along the river. He took photographs of the monster at 5.30 pm at one of the Sungai Baleh tributaries from the helicopter.
