Central Kalimantan

Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah, Kalteng) covers about 153,000 square kilometres of southern central Borneo, with about 2.7 million people. The province is best known internationally for Tanjung Puting National Park — Indonesia's most famous and accessible orangutan viewing destination — and for the Dayak Ngaju culture along its great rivers. The capital, Palangka Raya, was once mooted as a possible relocation site for Indonesia's national capital before Nusantara in East Kalimantan was chosen.

Geography

The province is largely flat lowland with extensive peat swamps and a network of large rivers (Kapuas — different from the one in West Kalimantan — Kahayan, Barito, Mentaya, Seruyan, Sampit) draining to the Java Sea. The interior has lower hills and forest. Much of the historical rainforest has been cleared for palm oil and timber.

Tanjung Puting National Park

Tanjung Puting in the southwest of the province is the most famous orangutan viewing destination in Indonesia. The park covers about 4,000 square kilometres of peat swamp forest, home to about 6,000 wild orangutans, plus proboscis monkeys, gibbons, sun bears, clouded leopards, and a substantial bird population.

The park's reputation rests on Camp Leakey, the orangutan research station founded by Birutė Galdikas in 1971 (one of the "Trimates" alongside Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey). Camp Leakey is a working research site with semi-habituated orangutans that visitors can observe at scheduled feeding times.

The standard visit:

1. Fly to Pangkalan Bun (1.5 hours from Jakarta)
2. Drive 30 minutes to Kumai harbour
3. Board a klotok (traditional river boat with sleeping accommodation) for a 2-4 day cruise up the Sekonyer River
4. Stop at Tanjung Harapan, Pondok Tanggui, and Camp Leakey feeding platforms
5. Sleep aboard the klotok or at the Rimba Lodge

A 3-day, 2-night klotok trip is the canonical experience. Orangutan sightings are essentially guaranteed at the feeding stations and are common during river travel.

Palangka Raya

The provincial capital (population about 300,000) sits on the Kahayan River. It was built largely in the 1950s-60s as a planned regional capital. Notable:

• Sandung Tambun cemetery (Dayak Ngaju)
• Kahayan River boat trips
• Pulau Kaja (Orangutan Island)
• Various Dayak cultural museums

The discussion of relocating the national capital here was a feature of the Sukarno era; the topic was revived periodically under successive presidents before the Nusantara (East Kalimantan) site was chosen in 2019.

Dayak Ngaju culture

The Dayak Ngaju are the majority indigenous population. The traditional religion, Kaharingan, is still practised — formally recognised in the Hindu category for administrative purposes, but distinct in doctrine and ritual. Tiwah secondary funeral ceremonies (where the bones of the deceased are exhumed and reburied in elaborate ironwood family ossuaries) are one of the most distinctive Dayak Ngaju traditions.

The river-based villages along the Kahayan and other rivers retain substantial traditional culture.

Practical

• Airports: Iskandar Airport (Pangkalan Bun, for Tanjung Puting), Tjilik Riwut Airport (Palangka Raya)
• Best time: dry season May-September (river levels and weather both better)
• Climate: hot, humid, equatorial
• River travel: extensive on the major rivers
• Tourist infrastructure: focused on Tanjung Puting; limited elsewhere

Central Kalimantan is overwhelmingly visited for one reason — Tanjung Puting and the orangutans. For that, it is one of Indonesia's outstanding wildlife destinations.