Day 1: PANGKALAN BUN – KUMAI PORT – TANJUNG HARAPAN
Arrive at Pangkalan Bun Airport, on the island of Borneo, better known by the Indonesians as Kalimantan. Upon arrival at the airport, your guide will be waiting for you. You will transfer to the port of Kumai in about 15-20 minutes by car, where you will embark on a great adventure! You arrive at our traditional wooden boat, called a klotok. Our guide will reconfirm with the crew that everything is ready and start the cruise up the river in the famous Sekonyer River aboard a klotok. If your flight arrives early (before 11.30 AM), you can arrive in time to the rehabilitation center of Tanjung Harapan, where at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the rangers of the national park feed the orangutans, and you can have your first close encounters with them. The translation of Tanjung Harapan is Cape of Hope. This first camp is one of the ones with more wetlands, and being in the afternoon has more mosquitoes, so make sure you put on enough mosquito repellent. Here you also can do the reforestation, where you can be volunteers to plant a tree, and so take pride that you have contributed a grain of sand to conservation with your step over there. After visiting this Rangers Camp, you will continue upstream, resting on the boat, while you search for animals in the vicinity of the Sekonyer River. This afternoon, it is very frequent to see groups of proboscis monkeys and monkeys in the treetops, jumping from one branch to another, or even crocodiles, and lizards in the shallow waters of the sides of the river. Prepare for sunset. The boat moored on one side of the river to spend the night. Tonight, you can do a walk into the jungle to look for night animals like snakes, tarantulas or if you are lucky luminescent mushrooms or tarsiers.
Meals : Lunch – Dinner
Accommodation : Klotok Boat
Day 2: PONDOK TANGGUY – CAMP LEAKEY
After an extraordinary breakfast, you will go in time to see the Pondok Tanggui Camp at the time of feeding (9 AM). Sooner or later, you will see how the branches of the treetops begin to move, and then you will see the silhouettes of the Orangutans arriving at the feeding platform. Pondok Tanggui was a release camp for young Orangutans that were rehabilitated, and they continue to add food every day to prevent the Orangutans from leaving because of a lack of food. They end up outside the National Park, with the following risk of falling into traps of settlers or fields of palm oil plantations. After the Orangutans begin to leave, you will return to the klotok again to go further up the river. You will see how the coloration of the river changes, and you will have the opportunity to see crocodiles and large lizards, together with Gibbon’s and proboscis monkeys.
Arrival at Camp Leakey, the old orangutan research and rehabilitation center since 1971, when a student at UCLA Los Angeles University, Birutte Galdikas began studying the Orangutans there. The name Camp Leaky comes from Birutte’s own teacher, the Paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. At least 200 orangutans had already been cured and returned to the jungles, thanks to this center. However, since 1995, the Government of Indonesia has banned the introduction of more Orangutans into this camp, so Orangutans are increasingly adapting more to freedom. To this day, this camp is used as an investigation into the behavior and feeding of Orangutans. You will take advantage of your guide to explore the interiors of the jungle a bit to look for orangutans in freedom and other animals. At 14.00, you can see the feeding time of the Orangutans. You can also visit the small museum made by the scientist Dr. Birute Galdikas. When you are finished observing the orangutans in this camp, and if the weather and conditions permit, you will make a short trek through the jungle on our way back to the boat to look for wild orangutans and other animals. You will have the opportunity to learn from our local guides, some of whom were born in the jungle, how to look for animals or plants, or simply listen to their experience of life in the jungle. The jungles of Borneo have given life and have been home to the settlers for many years. The jungles, under the eyes of the grandparents, are able to give you everything you need. Food, water, medicines, etc. Yes... Never put anything in your mouth without the recommendation of your guide. In the afternoon, if it does not rain, the boat will be docked near a firefly congregation, and you can enjoy the show of its luminescence.
Note: The Birate Galdikas Museum at Camp Leaky is currently closed for maintenance purposes. Regrettably, visits to this site will not be possible until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will keep you updated on the reopening of the museum.
Meals : Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner
Accommodation : Klotok Boat
Day 3: KUMAI PORT – PANGKALAN BUN – DAYAK VILLAGE
After breakfast, you make a final sail towards Kumai, where you will approach the car and go to Dayak village. On the way, you will go through indigenous villages, river workers, and people making their living near the river. You will pass some rapids with caution. You will stop on the way to be able to have lunch. Upon reaching the Dayak village, our guide will take you to the Long House (they are the typical houses of the Dayak tribes in Borneo – very long houses where almost a village lives inside). Upon arrival, you will realize the kindness of the town. Normally, they celebrate that people from outside come to visit them, because for them, it is a source of pride that people from so far away travel so much to be able to keep them company. Due to that, on arrival, it is normal to celebrate this visit with dances and some other local liquor! After walking around, the communal dinner with the whole tribe arrives, and then they will ring the bell, with which the whole town will gather to do dances and enjoy the night with what they call Pesta Menarik Horn Bill (Horn Festival Bill).
Meals : Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner
Accommodation : Basic Guest House in the Village
Day 4: DAYAK VILLAGE – PANGKALAN BUN
In the morning, you can visit the surroundings of the village, share stories with them, and help them in their daily tasks. You can also take the opportunity to see the manual work they do and usually take to the city to sell, such as masks, carpets, statues, etc. After packing everything, start the way back to Pangkalan Bun. On the way, you can stop at the Kotawaringin Palace and take pictures around. Lunch will be on the way, with an arrival in the afternoon at Pangkalan Bun. Transfer to the hotel, and the rest of the afternoon is free.
Meals : Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner
Accommodation : Arsela Hotel or similar
Day 5: HOTEL – PANGKALAN BUN AIRPORT
After breakfast, transfer to the airport. End of our services.
Meals : Breakfast
Accommodation : -