By Tony 
The annual Regatta Lepa Semporna Festival is held in the pristine town of Semporna, Sabah. This is an annual cultural activity that is organized in order to promote the Sea Gypsies also known as Bajau Laut in other areas. Angeneral population appreciates this festival as it is a means of celebrating their customs, art and to the extent calling the oceans their motherland; therefore many people from other states within Malaysia and even different countries attend this festival yearly.
Boats known as ‘Lepa’ are usually boats made of wood and are usually richly varnished with designs that reflect the cultural symbols, flags or cloth. The competition is divided into different categories such as the most beautiful lepa, best performance on board lepa among others. It is very beautiful to see almost all of the loyas with different decoration hairstyles floating within the semporna bay; every Bajau muslim is proud of it.
Apart from the boats, Regatta Lepa offers a variety of artistic activities as well. There are performances of native folk songs, dances contests, and displays of Bajau arts and food, in particular seafood, and crafts. It’s an experience more than an event, one which involves appreciating the culture, listening to people, and understanding their customs by seeing them. In fact, most of the visitors who do make it to Sabah, tend to look forward to this festival.
People who have decided to take part in the festivities can plan the trip with the help of Regatta Lepa Semporna Festival handbook, where essential travel information, program, traveling advice and hotel room bookings are available. Such information will be very handy in visiting places easily, especially if one is someone visiting such a place for the very first time.
April marks its annual culmination often with a lunar parade, which most likely will always be the leading events in the festival held till the last day. Approximately when the number of tourists increase due to this festival, it is advisable to reserve accommodations in advance since cerca di Semporna is known to be crowded. It is advisable to take more time before heading back home to visit some of the nearby attractions which are mostly in the water such as Sipadan and Mabul.
The Regatta Lepa Semporna Festival will surely captivate the diverse audiences of culture lovers photographers or why not travelers who wish to satisfy their curiosity. In the commemoration of Sabah’s tradition of boat building and using which do not exist anymore in any other region of Malaysia, it can emphasize vakas bearing these constructive parts which include this very well.