As the Sabah long march from Tambunan to Penampang for native rights and clean elections makes it into Day 2, the marchers have been warmly received by villagers along the route, a participant said today.

Local activist Andrew Ambrose told Malaysiakini when reached this afternoon that the marchers were enthusiastically greeted and given food and drinks at several stops on their route.

Sabah march day 2 At the time Ambrose was contacted, the group was winding up their break in Guramboi and preparing to move on to Morog.

The participants, he said, were in good health and high spirits, despite having braved heavy rain and cold weather as they hiked past Gunung Alab yesterday evening.

"The villagers in Guramboi received us enthusiastically," he said. "Just like in Kampung Tagudon, where we spent last night, we were greeted with cheer and given food.

"While in Guramboi, we had a ceramah with the residents to share with them some of the current issues of concern," he said.

Anbrose was annoyed that while a police vehicle passed, back and forth as they walked, the police did not stop or offer any assistance.

Sabah march day 2 "They just passed by. There was completely no assistance from them, even though we had informed the Penampang and Keningau police stations (about the walk).

"The road here is dangerous. Every morning, huge lorries will make their ascent. Right now we only have our own ranger to control traffic," Ambrose said.

As the walkers forged ahead on their three-day "Idle No More" walk covering 60km to the Dewan Pegansakan in Penampang tomorrow, another 10 people joined the procession, making it a total of 57 marchers.

Their uphill journey will taking them past the scenic Crocker Range.