Simanggang

Simanggang is a town in Sarawak, East Malaysia, and the capital of Sri Aman District and Sri Aman Division. It stands on the Lupar River, 193 kilometres from Kuching by a drive of about three hours, and serves as a trade centre for the timber, oil palm, rubber and pepper of its mostly agricultural district. The town is known for the benak, the tidal bore of the Batang Lupar River, which fills the river in about ten minutes with a crest of two to three metres and occurs every day. The writer Somerset Maugham nearly died in one of these bores, an event recalled in his short story The Yellow Streak. The town was renamed Sri Aman in 1973 after an agreement ending armed conflict in southern Sarawak and went back to the name Simanggang in 2019. It is a gateway to Batang Ai National Park.