Birding and Primate Tours in Tanjung Puting NP, Central Borneo

The Kalimantan or Borneo is the third largest island in the world.

On this island there are various kinds of diverse habitats, such as lowland rain forests and the famous is the peat swamp forest.

Here is located the longest river in Indonesia the Kapuas river, which reaches 1,143 Km.

For biodiversity, Kalimantan is important for the life of one of the great apes in the world, the Bornean Orangutan, which is increasingly threatened by survival because one of them is the destruction of its natural habitat.

Adult female Bornean Orangutan and its baby swinging around in the forest of Tanjung Puting NP

As long as I live, only once have I set foot on the island. Precisely in 2010 with friends on university visiting the province of South Kalimantan in the Karst Meratus area.

The main purpose at that time was not for bird watching, but for research on the diversity of bats that live around the Meratus karst.

Indeed, on the sidelines of the research schedule, I took the time to observe birds. But not so many species of birds that I managed to see.

In late March and early April, I had the opportunity to visit the island of the native Dayak tribe, precisely in the province of Central Kalimantan in the area of Sampit and Tanjung Putting National Park.

The main objective this time was for training bird monitoring in Sampit and then followed a boat trip in Tanjung Puting National Park for birding and primate tours.

Proboscis Monkey foraging at edge of the Sekonyer River

In Sampit, the event is held for 3 days, the location is around the High Conservation Value (HCV) area of one of the oil palm plantation companies.

I share with plantation employees about the techniques of identifying, surveying and monitoring birds, so that they are aware of the diversity and importance of bird species in the wild.

Besides birds, there were also training on monitoring primate and herpetofauna by two other presenters. Before leaving Sampit, we were given the opportunity to share with one of the junior high schools near the HCV area. This is a good activity to introduce awareness to the preservation of birds in the wild to young people.