Tanjung Puting National Park is one of the national parks on the island of Borneo. The exact location of this area is Pulai Bay, Kumai, West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantann (Borneo). The forerunner of the Tanjung Puting National Park began with the establishment of a nature reserve and wildlife reserve by the Dutch East Indies government, in 1937 to be precise. The area that was touted as the largest orangutan conservation in the world was designated as a national park on October 25, 1996.
The area of Tanjung Puting National Park reaches 3,550 square kilometers or the equivalent of 415,040 hectares. The area consists of 300,040 hectares of Wildlife Reserve, 90,000 hectares of production forest, and 25,000 hectares of water area. Management of this national park is carried out based on zoning, covering the core zone, jungle zone, utilization, rehabilitation, to the traditional zone and marine protection. In general, Tanjung Puting National Park has the main task of managing the conservation of natural resources and their ecosystem. In addition, the functions of Tanjung Puting National Park include inventorying the potential and structuring the area, protecting it, controlling the impact of damage, controlling forest fires. Then the development of wild flora and fauna, development of environmental services, restoration of ecosystems, provision of data and information on natural resources and their ecosystems.
In particular, Tanjung Puting National Park also conducts observation or conservation of orangutans. In this regard, Tanjung Puting National Park Borneo is listed as the largest orangutan conservation site in the world. It is estimated that the orangutan population that is conserved in this area reaches 30,000-40,000 individuals. Apart from orangutans, this area is also inhabited by around 38 species of mammals, including Proboscis Monkeys, Bornean Gibbons, Sun Bears, Sambar Deer and Muncak Deer. Several rare plants also grow in this area, such as pitcher plant, keruing, meranti, ramin, jelutung, agarwood, and so on. In this area there are also several types of ecosystems, such as lowland tropical forest, dry land forest, freshwater swamp forest, and so on.
Apart from offering natural beauty, this area is the best place to see orangutans, at Camp Leakey to be precise. Camp Leakey is an orangutan rehabilitation center that was founded in 1984, which aims to save this native primate of Borneo. When visiting Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting National Park, visitors can see orangutans directly. Not only that, visitors can also feed orangutans, which is an attraction for tourists. Apart from Camp Leakey, tourists in Tanjung Puting National Park can also enjoy the beauty of the forest at Tanjung Harapan. At Tanjung Harapan, visitors will get complete information regarding orangutan rehabilitation.
To visit Tanjung Putting National Park in Central Kalimantan, you can use several domestic flights from Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun, Semarang to Pangkalan Bun and also from Bali to Pangkalan Bun but transit in Surabaya. From Pangkalan Bun to reach Tanjung Puting National Park, you will take a Klotok (small boat) from Kumai Port up the Sekonyer River to Camp Leakey. Camp Leakey is one of the three Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Tanjung Puting National Park. From Kumai Port, the klotok (houseboat) will take about 2-hour journey up the Sekonyer River to the Rimba Eco Lodge. The best experience adventure while in Tanjung Putting National Park is sleep and cook meals on the klotok. In order to travel in and out of the park it will be necessary to keep the Klotok for the duration of your trip.
This orangutan conservation site as well as a tourist destination is known as ‘The Last Orangutan Sanctuary’. Visitors can capture endemic fauna and at the same time see orangutan activities in the forest firsthand. Tanjung Puting National Park is a natural home for the largest population of Bornean orangutans (pongo pygmaeus) which are protected and preserved. Orangutans are a group of great apes that can only be found living wild on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Scientifically, this animal, which shares almost 97 percent DNA similarity with humans, is also the oldest product of evolution in the great ape group, with an estimated age of 8 to 12 million years. The red ape, one of its nicknames, is also the largest arboreal creature in the world.
Great teacher of orangutans in the world, Prof. Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas, nicknamed Tanjung Puting National Park as ‘The Orangutan Capital of the World’. This place was the location where he first started his research on orangutans, namely in 1971. Galdikas, together with Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey, were known globally as ‘The Trimates’. They are three women who are both mentored by Dr. Louis Leakey, someone who dedicated his life to the study and conservation of the world’s great apes. It can be said that Tanjung Puting is a shadow of the Garden of Paradise on earth. This is because all creatures can live freely together in harmony and everything has been provided for by nature, as Galdikas said in his book ‘The Reflection of Eden’.
Furthermore, in 1991, to be precise after the world’s great apes conference which was held in Indonesia, Galdikas initiated the birth of ecotourism activities for local communities around this National Park area. The aim is to make it one of the alternative livelihoods, compared to illegal logging or illegal mining. Over time, ecotourism activities in Tanjung Puting National Park are increasingly popular and continue to grow. The shifting trend in visiting patterns of world tourists who are increasingly interested in visiting the themes of nature, the environment, social activities and special interests, has also contributed to the increasing popularity of Tanjung Puting National Park. It is recorded that several world figures visited Tanjung Puting National Park, such as actress Julia Roberts (1997), famous writer Sir Terry Pratchet (2012), foreign government officials, to the 41st President of the United States Bill Clinton (2014). Tanjung Puting has also won a Silver Medal award at the 2018 Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Awards (ISTA).
Read more: Best things to do in Borneo.
