The annual Sabah Fest is an event which presents the essence of Sabah’s multifarious people. The much-anticipated event includes a multitude of cultural dances and traditional music performances, local food and beverage stalls for all to enjoy and handicraft-making demonstrations by the respective ethnic groups. This is a great opportunity to see skilled craftspeople at work during the handicraft exhibition and a chance to purchase hard-to-find items, from hand-woven baskets to intricately-carved Sea Bajau lepas (wooden boat replicas).

‘A Cultural Experience at the Sabah Museum Heritage Village’. The Village is a replica of the traditional houses of various tribes found in Sabah, all built as one ‘village’. Here, you can interact with the various tribes, watch them perform traditional dances and taste their local delicacies. There’s plenty to enjoy for the young and old, including bamboo-stilt walking (a traditional past time of the Kadazandusun people), slingshot contests and a fishing competition, to name a few. There will also be rarely-seen rituals and rites performed by healers and priestesses.

Regatta Lepa is a dramatic cultural event held annually in Semporna town, the east coast of Sabah. Regatta Lepa is a festival to celebrates the Bajau tradition for their craftsmanship skilled in hand-made boat making. ‘Lepa’ itself means a ‘boat that hand-made crafted’ in Bajau Semporna language, usually measured about 5-7 meters long. During the Regatta Lepa festivals, there will be a competition of decorative Lepa boats, a battle to show off which Lepa boats are the best.