Indonesia - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 318

Banjarmasin (several daily; 14hr). Take blue taksi #3
(Rp5000) to get into town.

Aida Jl Jend A Yani 12 T 0542 421006. At the north
end of the street, this sprawling yet friendly place
has clean, decent-sized rooms, though some are dark.
All rooms have cable TV and inside mandi, and some
have a/c (R p205,000). Breakfast and wi-fi included.
Rp150,000
Aiqo Jl APT Pranoto 9 T 0542 750288, W aiqohotel.com.
Snazzy, bright place with compact spick-and-span rooms,
with a/c, cable TV, reliable hot water, and wi-fi in the
lobby. A void the ro oms without windows. Breakfast
included. Rp268,000
Ayu Jl P Antasari 18. T 0542 425290. Offers some of the
best value in town, with small but clean fan and a/c rooms
(Rp190,000) upstairs, all with attached bathrooms, set

INFORMATION AND TOURS
Balikpapan's tourist o ce ( T 0542 876033) is on Jl MR
Iswahyudi 121, near the airport, offering little more
than maps and brochures. It's easier to organize tours
in Samarinda.

ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation is mainly clustered into two groups: at
the central intersection of Jl Jend A Yani and Jl Sudirman,
and a few kilometres north up Jl A Yani. Decent budget
accommodation is scarce.

AT HOME WITH THE ORANG UTANS
Over the past few decades, Indonesia has lost about eighty percent of its original forest
habitat. Illegal logging is still the number one culprit but expanding palm-oil plantations are
a huge problem as well. This means the loss of the natural habitat of the stunning redhead of
the simian world, the orang-utan . Kalimantan is one of the few areas where orang-utans still
roam free; Tanjung Puting National Park in southern Kalimantan, Gunung Palung
National Park in West Kalimantan, and Kutai National Park in East Kalimantan offer the
best opportunities for seeing them in the wild. Although time, money, knowledge of Bahasa
and determination are definite requirements for independent visitors, it's worth the effort.
GUNUNG PALUNG NATIONAL PARK
This national park is thought to be home to over 2000 wild orang-utans, and is also the site
of an established research centre, the Gunung Palung Orang-utan Project ( T people.bu.edu).
At the time of writing, the only tour company allowed in the park was Nasalis Tour & Travel
(Jl Gajah Mada 24, Kalinilam, Ketapang T 0534 772 2701, W gunungpalung.net). They organize
multi-day stays in the park, with starting points in either Ketapang or Sukadana, each
accessible from Pontianak. Packages start from Rp1,350,000 for two days and one night; bring
your own sleeping bag, waterproof gear, mosquito net and torch.
KUTAI NATIONAL PARK
East Kalimantan suffered from prolific logging back in the 1970s, and the 3000-square-kilometre
Kutai National Park was established in 1982 to try and prevent further decline, but fires then
destroyed sixty percent of the protected area. Nowadays the forest is recovering and reasonably
accessible. From Samarinda , signing up for a tour is currently the only way of visiting the park.
A recommended operator is DeGiant Tours (Jl Martadinata 21 T 0541 709 1536, W borneotour
giant.com), run by Dutchman Lucas who has more than two decades of tour-leading
experience in the region.
TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK
The 4000-square-kilometre Tanjung Puting National Park, comprising swamp forest, lowland
rainforest and heath forest, is home to proboscis monkeys, clouded leopards, gharials and
6000 wild orang-utans. It was founded in the early 1970s by the legendary Dr Biruté Mary
Galdikas. Part of the park, Camp Leakey ( W orangutan.org/our-projects/research/camp-leakey),
is less touristy than similar establishments in Sarawak and Sabah but shares their goal of
rehabilitating orphaned or rescued orang-utans before reintroducing them to the wild.
All-inclusive three-days and two-nights klotok (riverboat) tours can be arranged for around
Rp1,750,000 per person from Kumai, easily accessible from Pangkalan Bun, which has daily
flights to and from Pontianak, Jakarta and Surabaya with Kal Star and Trigana Air. Although
more expensive, an easier route is through Borneo Eco Adventure ( T 0517 551 6064,
W borneoecoadventure.com), which leads tours for five days and four nights (Rp6,000,000 per
person), taking care of everything once you've arrived in Pangkalan Bun.

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