Traditionally nomadic, most of the Penan now live in settled communities, but continue to rely on the forest for their existence. Some still live largely nomadically.

Until the 1960s, most Penan lived nomadically, some still do, while many others have been settled in villages. 
They have a fight on their hands. For decades, they have been trying to halt the destruction of the Sarawak rainforest by blockading the entrance that developed by the logging company. Since the 1970s, the government has backed commercial logging on tribal land.

- A few examples of the handicrafts include the baskets called keva, rattan bracelet, and so on. 
- Pride of Penan women, their creative expression and a representation of the Penan’s cultural bond with the forest

Later still the sun dropped a female tree trunk and the moon deposited a male plant which gave birth to a pair of legless humans with roots instead of legs. Their offspring also didn't have legs but they made a deal with the animals who supplied the human hybrids with legs in return for a promise that they wouldn't hunt the animals. The first people honored the pledge but their descendent didn't and the animals demanded their legs and when the humans refused a bitter fight ensued. With the help of the forest a new deal was struck: the people would only hunt what they need for food and the animals would sacrifice a certain number of victims if the hunters blessed their souls. In memory of their original ancestors the Penan bury their dead in the trunk of a tree.

The first man and women stood in the forest while two large trees blew around in a windstorm. They didn't know about sex. As the watched the trees in the storm a branch from a tree entered a hole in another tree, giving the first man and woman an idea. Their first child was the result

Few Penan now go barefoot, most wear cheap, plastic football boots with rounded studs, which are perceived to be the best thing in the jungle, but don't keep the leeches out.