Central Kalimantan Tourism Travel Guide

User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

Central Kalimantan Tourism Travel Guide and Tourist Information.

Central Kalimantan (Borneo) is a province of Indonesia, and it one of four province in Kalimantan Island - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. It consist of 13 Regency is : South Barito (Buntok), East Barito (Tamiang Layang), North Barito (Muara Teweh), Gunung Mas (Kuala Kurun), Kapuas (Kuala Kapuas), Katingan (Kasongan), West Kotawaringin (Pangkalan Bun), East Kotawaringin (Sampit), Lamandau (Nanga Bulik), Murung Raya (Puruk Cahu), Pulang Pisau (Pulang Pisau), Sukamara (Sukamara), Seruyan (Kuala Pembuang) and the main tribe/etnic in Central Kalimantan is the Dayak Tribe, the indigenous inhabitants of Borneo.

Since the eighteenth century, the central region of Kalimantan and its Dayak inhabitants were ruled by the Muslim Sultanate of Banjar. Following Indonesian independence after World War II, Dayak tribes demanded a province separate from South Kalimantan province. The three major Dayak tribes in Central Kalimantan are the Ngaju, Ot Danum and Ma'anyan Ot Siang Village. Ngaju Tribe, like some other tribes, moves from one region to another. They adhere to the old Kaharingan religion, which is the form of ancestor worship, mixed with animism elements. They have seen progress. Many of them live in the towns, have enjoyed an education and they are intelligent.

The Ot Danum live in longhouses, which sometimes have as many as 50 rooms. The unique longhouse is called Betang. With approximately 6,000 people, the Ot Danum is the largest among the three tribes. They are known for their skill in plaiting rattan, palm leaves, and bamboo. Made by the women, such products are sold in many cities such as Banjarmasin, Kualakapuas, and Sampit. Like other Dayaks, the men are good hunters, using simple tools. The art of Central Kalimantan clearly bears the marks of the Kaharingan religion, which is the traditional belief of the Dayaks in the hinterland of Central Kalimantan. The building styles are the elements of the Hindus, Chinese, and Hindu-Javanese. Aside from their aesthetic properties, such products are appreciated for their magic value.

Central Kalimantan Area: approximately 59,285 square miles / 153,550 square kilometres, the capital city of Central Kalimantan Province is Palangkaraya. Covering an area of 153,800 square kms and consisting mostly of dense jungles, this is the largest province of the island and 3rd largest Indonesian province at this time. The terrain includes mountainous area in the northern part, dense tropical forest in the central, and swampy area with many rivers crisscrossing the southern part. Rivers in Central Kalimantan are an important mode of transportation and a primary location for settlement. With relatively undeveloped infrastructure, the province's economy relies heavily on the rivers.

Like other parts of the island, it has tropical wet climate with temperature ranging from 26ºC to 30ºC in day time and 15 - 20ºC on nights, and average humidity of 70 - 90%.

Cental Kalimantan bordered by West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan Provinces to the north, by the Java Sea to the south, by South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan provinces to the east, and by West Kalimantan province to west. There are endless highlights and tourism object spread around Central Kalimatan such as : Lake Kereng Bangkirai, Sembuluh Lake, Cemara lambat beach, Kapuas Hulu River, Sadar Lake, Kapua River, Tanjung Puting Nationa Park, and many more.

Central Kalimantan tourism travel guide and tourist information popular destination :

Lake Sembuluh.
Lake Sembuluh is located on lower Seruyan River, Sembuluh village, sub-district of Seruyan, in about 77 km from Sampit the main city regency of this place and from Palangkaraya is about 240 km. On this place visitor can enjoy the view of beautiful Lake Sembuluh with a stretch of beautiful white sand. Besides this lake is very suitable to be developed as a place of recreation and sport of water. Local tourist visit this lake for a various purposes such as fishing, watersport, and sunbathing.
Beside the lake it self, the Sembuluh village also provide a lot of kinds of orchids which are very enjoyable to see. This village is not only interesting for the orchids but also for the industries of sail which are used for interisland sailing in Indonesia.

Tanjung Puting National Park.
Tanjung Puting National Park is the largest and most diverse protected example of extensive coastal tropical heath and peat swamp forest which used to cover much of southern Borneo. The area was originally declared as a game reserve in 1935 and a National Park in 1982. While the Park has checkered history of weak protection, nonetheless, it remains substantially wild and natural.
Tanjung Puting National Park covered by a complex mosaic of diverse lowland habitats. It contains 3,040 sq km2 of low lying swampy terrain punctuated by blackwater rivers which flow into the Java Sea. At the mouth of these rivers and along the sea coast are found Nipa/mangrove swamps. Mangroves teem with animal life. Tanjung Puting also includes tall dry ground tropical rain forest, primarily tropical heath forest, with a canopy of 40 meters (120 feet) with "emergent" exceeding 50 meters (150 ft) in height, seasonally inundated peat swamp forest with peat in layers two meters deep, open depression lakes formed by fire, and open areas of abandoned dry rice fields now covered with elephant grass and ferns. The tropical heath forest which is called "kerangas" in parts of Borneo, is only found on very poor, typically white-sandy soils and is characterized by medium-sized trees.
There is so has many ecosystem types at Tanjung Puting National Park which is tropika forest ecosystem lowland, dry land forest ecosystem (kerangas forest), freshwater swamped forest ecosystem, swamped forest ecosystem bog, mangrove forest ecosystem or mangrove, beach forest ecosystem, and secondary forest ecosystem. With various that ecosystem type, visitor can witness natural resources that admirably, well that flora and also fauna wealth it.
Most of animal that was this park is orangutans, bekantan, owa owa, sailor, and more, made famous through the efforts of Orangutan Research and Conservation Program, which is based at the landmark Camp Leakey research station. There are also boasts the bizarre looking proboscis monkey with seven other primate species. Clouded leopards, civets, and Malaysian sun bears cavort in the park as do mouse deer, barking deer, sambar deer, and the wild cattle known as banteng.
Tanjung Puting National Park hosts more than 220 species of birds, including hornbills, deep forest birds and many wetland species. Tanjung Puting National Park is well known for its "bird lakes" seasonal rookeries for a half a dozen species of endangered water birds, including the only known Bornean nesting grounds for white egrets.

Keluang Beach Cape.
Keluang Beach Cape is located against with Nature Garden Tourism of Tanjung Puting National Park at Kumai Bay, West Kotawaringin Regency. The beach has white sandy is a place for swim, sunbathing and more.

Kubu Beach.
Sloping and curved beach area in territory water of Kubu Bay that alternated by forests/bog in settlement south area of resident with coconut panorama that wavy, hardly suited for water sport. This tourism object is located in south side of Kumai about 17 km from Pangkalan Bun Town, West Kotawaringin Regency.

Kahayan River.
There are many long houses which are found at the Kahayan River mouth and it become an interesting scenery. The long wooden boats become the backbone of the inter-village transportation. The upstream journey by Klotok boat (long boat) along the Kahayan River has its own challenge. This river is indeed not so widely known, if compared with Kapuas River (600 kilometers) ar Kapua Regency and Barito River (500 kilometers). Like the big rivers in Kalimantan, this river has been the source of subsistence of the population for thousands years, from which they would hunt, fish and collect foods and other forest products (such as bee wax, hornbills ivory, rattan cane, resin and camphor).

Ujung Pandaran Beach.
Ujung Pandaran is located at Ujung Pandaran area seashore about 80 km south side Sampit, East Kotawaringin Regency. This beach has beautiful view and draw. Besides for recreation, this tourism object also applicable as sport arena such as; Volley, and athletic beach. Besides that, it also available with a traditional boat, which readily utilized along the beach as great as enjoying the scenery of the Java seashore. Unfortunately this beach is not in care well.

Tangkiling Hill.
Tangkiling Hill is a group of eight Batu hills that have beautiful scenery and very attractive to be visited. It is about 43 km from Palangkaraya and located in Banturung village admission in Batu hill region. One of way to reach there, is use land transportation about 30 minutes from Palangkaraya.