Kayan
Mentarang National Park Wildlife
Gateway
to Kayan Mentarang
Kayan Mentarang
National Park covers an area of 1,400,000 ha and is located in the far
interior of North Kalimantan province. The park has the
largest block of jungle and untouched rainforest in Borneo,
with an wealth of flora and fauna of numerous species which only can be
found at Kalimantan, including many species that are endemic to the
Bornean mountain bioregion. Half of the Kayan Mentarang Reserve
consists species of dipterocarp lowland and hill forest while
cloud mountain forest at Kayan Mentarang covers 40 percent
with mountain up to more then 2,000 m. above sea level.
Kayan
Mentarang Park is located along the border between
Indonesian and Malaysian Borneo, and also called the heart of Borneo,
with it's diverse flora and fauna, among the fauna are the mammals as
the Long tailed macaque, proboscis monkey, clouded leopard, Flat headed
cat, Marbled cat, Sun bear, tarsier, several hornbill species, and
pheasants. The Flora is astonishing, with trees species as the
Pulai (Alstonia scholaris), Jelutung (Dyera
costulata), Damar (Agathis borneensis), the hard wooden Steel
Tree (Eusideroxylon zwageri), the rengas trees (Gluta wallichii),and
aroma Gaharu (Aquilaria malacensis), the plants, many has not
been detected yet, as the WWF still doing research but various rare
wild orchid species, and pitcher plants are among them.
The Kayan Mentarang
park is inhabitated by just a several thousand Dayak and Punan people
who live from shifting cultivation and rice farming. Wildlife is hard
to see due to hunting by native Dayaks. WWF has been working on
developing eco-tourist projects in cooperation with the local people.
It has 5 field-offices in settlements around the park, which are
helpful for information. It also has a research station at Long Alango,
north of Long Pujungan, which can be visited, and is probably the best
place to see wildlife.
Access
Kayan
Mentarang is located remote, and access is limited, For adventurers and
tourists, there is the challenge of discovering the natural
beauty of the forest, with its rivers and steep cliffs, and learning
more about the fascinating Dayak culture.
Kayan Mentarang National Park can be reached from the coastal line by
sailing the rivers, as the Kayan and Bahau River, an adventures journey
through fight the rapids, while seeing the forest along the River
banks. A more easy route is by public flights on the
Samarinda-Long Ampung and or the Tarakan-Long Bawan routes, while
reservation has to be arranged well in advance, to be able to obtain
one of the limted seats for the ride, near flying is easy, it is
also cheap, as fuel is expensive in the
interior of Kalimantan and Kayan Mentarang, even MAF (Mission
Aviation Fellowship) has chartered flights, which can be cheaper then
the overland route, However, due of the limited seats, it require
advanced booking (minimum 1 month before departing date), and all
airlines reserve the authority to prioritize seats for local citizens
from around the Park, and tourist visitors often find themselves
stranded even after numerous seat reconfirmations.
Accommodation
There's no official
accommodation, but it's possible to stay in the many Dayak settlements
inside the park.
Tour Destination : Indonesia,
North Kalimantan, Kayan River
Main
Interest & Things to do :
Jungle
trek, and exploring the Flora and Fauna which can't be found anywhere
else in the world, as only in this largest National Park of
Indonesia.The Dayak Culture along the Kayan River, as in Long Alango,
or Long Pujungan is Traditional Dayak Culture.Recommended visit time
for Kayan Mentarang Reserve and Kayan River is 5 to 8 days