Borneo Rainforest Adventure Walk - Borneo Kalimantan

Balikpapan is the second largest city in East Kalimantan, a province in Indonesia bordering Sarawak in Malaysia. The coastal city is situated on the east coast of Borneo and is mostly known for its palm oil, coal mining and oil refineries.

Balikpapan is a little off the beaten and track for most tourists. Whilst it’s not your everyday tourist destination, there are quite a few things to do and see around Balikpapan, including a Borneo rainforest walk.

Volunteering with orangutans

I was there as a volunteer at the Samboja Lestari Orangutan and Sun Bear Sanctuary, just outside the village of Samboja. Volunteering is a unique way to holiday as aside from working with these beautiful but sadly endangered animals, we also had the opportunity to see what else the surrounds had to offer. 

One of our extra-orangutan curricular activities was a walk in the tropical Bangkirai Hill Borneo Rainforest. The forest is not far from Samboja, and 58km from Balikpapan.

For the other volunteers who were not from Queensland (or similar sub-tropical and tropical regions) a walk in this Borneo rainforest was an opportunity to experience the tropics in all its splendour (and leeches).

 

Borneo rainforest walk

Close to the renowned Canopy Bridge Walk was the start of many forest treks.

We paid our entrance fee and took a local guide to accompany our group of 12 volunteers.

Off we set.

Light rain rapidly turned into a heavy tropical and steamy downpour, typical of a Borneo rainforest.

Thank God for the $3 poncho I had stuffed into my non-waterproof daypack. It turned out to be a life saver. 

Our Borneo rainforest walk wasn’t so much of a walk but a jungle scramble, up and over large wide fallen tree trunks.

We constantly fell over trip hazard vines that grabbed your shoe or ankles.

Wait-a-while tendrils held onto our soaked clothing, many times ripping my protective poncho armour.

Fear of leeches

Once the rain stopped everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but the humidity heightened.

I have a morbid fear of leeches. I refuse to have anything share my blood. No one hops on me for a free ride, if I can help it. 

Our guide simply could not understand why I refused to take my poncho off after the rain.

The fear of something grabbing or attaching itself to me in the dense undulating thicket was enough to make me sweat litres under that poncho. And I wasn’t about to take it off for anyone! 

I knew about opportunistic acrobatic leeches leaping off leaves onto unsuspecting trampers. I wasn’t about to become a victim. 

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Borneo Rainforest Adventure Walk - Borneo Kalimantan

.
.

Borneo Adventure - Black River Cruise

On the water in Kalimantan

Samboja is a small township in East Kalimantan and the gateway to our Borneo adventure.

It is an hour’s drive from the capital, Balikpapan, on the east coast of Indonesian Borneo.

Samboja’s economy is largely based on open-cut coal mines, oil and palm oil plantations. Look out to sea and you’ll see oil rigs on the horizon.

However, some Indonesian Borneans still make a living from the sea and rivers leading out to sea. 

Borneo Adventure on Sungai Hitam

One such river is Sungai (translated means river) Hitam, about an hour’s drive from the Samboja Lestari Orangutan and Sun Bear Sanctuary. The river is 35km from Balikpapan.

As part of our two week Orangutan volunteer program we were able to enjoy a late afternoon river cruise.

Fishing Villages

Sungai Hitam is in a lowland and mangrove forest. 

As we left the small jetty, we passed through palm strewn and mangrove banks.

We cruised along to come to a local fishing village seemingly built on dodgy sticks, stuck in the high muddy river bank.

Colourful wooden boats were parked along the river’s edge, sometimes two or three deep, covered by drying nets.

Shanty dwellings were thrown together, but with an odd one having a large satellite dish out the front! 

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Borneo Adventure - Black River Cruise

.
.

Weekend in Borneo

We spent last weekend in a city called Balikpapan on the island of Borneo.  It was my first trip to an Indonesian island other than Java, where we live!

We left from Semarang airport which has only one tiny baggage carousel and no sky bridges- you just walk out onto the tarmac to board your flight.

Upon arriving at the Balikpapan airport we were shocked to be greeted by a giant, modern airport that looks a lot like the new Raleigh-Durham terminal. 

Balikpapan’s largest industry is oil so I guess oil money builds nice airports.

We found a restaurant called Ocean’s and ate there twice because it was delicious and right on the water. 

There were people sitting on the very end of this drooping pier during both of our meals but it didn’t look quite sturdy enough for me to venture out.

Joel and I were celebrating our anniversary so our goal for the weekend was some beach relaxation. 

Indonesian beaches are typically pretty dirty so our hopes for a trash free beach are a tall order.

Our hotel, Le Grandeur, has someone comb the beach daily so there was a stretch that is moderately clean. 

However, they pick up only directly in front of their building so you can still see giant piles of plastic bottles on one side and washed up debris on the other. 

It’s sort of like if someone were to take great care in manicuring their lawn but then throw all their garbage in the neighbor’s yard- it doesn’t really help the overall ambiance of the block.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Weekend in Borneo

.
.

Sarawak Tourism Federation lauds move to get new airline to fill gap left by Batavia Air

KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF) has lauded the move to get other Indonesian carriers to fill gap left by the closure of Batavia Air but expressed fear how long it would take since time is of the essence to keep the state’s tourism industry moving.

The federation’s president Audry Wan Ulok said realistically it was not easy to get new airlines to operate in the state and it could take a long time before it materialised.

“We are so dependent on air connectivity and the federation is always excited for more flights to come our way but we hope things could work out quickly and soon.

“Malindo Air was supposed to come in at the beginning of this year but I heard the airline was not quite ready as there were some issues to resolve internally,” she told The Star yesterday.

With Batavia Air’s closure, Audry felt that it was imperative to secure other airlines from Indonesia as the country offered a strong market particularly in the medical and education sectors.

She said Batavia Air, the sole Indonesian budget carrier to operate in the state, was an important link for the development of Sarawak’s medical tourism because it could better accommodate sick people, including those on stretchers.

Furthermore, the bulk of foreign patients patronising private specialists hospitals here were from Indonesia, she added.

“The medical and education sectors are money churners for the state. The two sectors are pumping in more money than those tourists who are here on a leisure travel. This is because, those in the two sectors are staying on for a longer period so the state government should seriously look into securing these markets,” she explained.

She said the recent launch of the MASwings’ Kuching-Balikpapan route was a positive one for Sarawak given Balikpapan had many expatriates.

She said expats could fly into Kuching enroute to other destinations like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Audry acknowledged that the state Tourism Ministry and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) were constantly working hard on securing the air connectivity to the state.

Continue reading at: Sarawak Tourism Federation lauds move to get new airline to fill gap left by Batavia Air

.
.

Response growing to BIMP-EAGA Borneo flights

BALIKPAPAN: MASwings began its service to Balikpapan in East Kalimantan on Feb. 1 - its fourth BIMP-EAGA destination after Bandar Seri Begawan, Pontianak and Tarakan.

"Today we created history on Borneo. Exactly on Feb 1, 2012 MASwings expanded into a bigger regional area of BIMP-EAGA with the first flight from KK and Kuching to BSB.

"With this fourth route, MASwings is ready to welcome Visit Malaysia Year 2014 which was announced by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen last month," said MASwings Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Capt. Mohd Nawawi Ahmad.

"Being the only national carrier that fully supports the BIMP-EAGA goals to increase transportation within the region, MASwings is proud to collaborate with local tourism bodies and agencies to further promote tourism in Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak in particular" added Nawawi at a press conference in Balikpapan.

He said MASwings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, embarked on this expansion solely to meet the objectives of BIMP-EAGA.

"There are 16 million people in this sub region and eight million people in the nine main cities. Our flight to Balikpapan is the fourth destination of that nine cities that we are targetting."

Nawawi said for the past year that they have been operating in BIMP-EAGA, the passenger load has been very encouraging.

"Initially some destinations were slow to pick up but later especially Pontianak and Tarakan has been very overwhelming. When we started operations into Tarakan, initially we operated three times a week but after two months we increased to daily flights.

From Tawau to Tarakan and from Kuching to Pontianak the load factor has been good.

"For the past one year, MASwings had an average of 50pc load factor serving Bandar Seri Begawan, Pontianak and Tarakan. "With the additional flights flying into Balikpapan, we are looking at increasing the load factor to an average of 70pc with 3,968 seats being offered on a weekly basis.

"We thank the people of Kalimantan for responding to our flights into Tarakan and Pontianak." With Indonesia and Malaysia being neighbours, Nawawi hoped this "air bridge" connectivity they can create even closer relations between the people of both countries.

"Today is a new chapter for MASwings. But we are not stopping here.

We are also looking at expanding into the other parts of Kalimantan i.e. Banjarmasin and into towns and cities in the Makassar area such as Ujung Pandang and Manado as part of phase two of MASwings expansion into BIMP-EAGA.

Continue reading at: Response growing to BIMP-EAGA Borneo flights

.
.

Kuching-Balikpapan route will increase tourist arrival

KUCHING: MASwings’ initiative to offer attractive packages from Balikpapan will greatly to Kuching boost the state’s tourism industry, particularly in the Santubong constituency.

Santubong MP Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said this would increase the number of tourists coming to the state, which ultimately would increase the income of the residents in Tanjung Datu and Santubong which had become a tourism hub.

According to him, 50 per cent of residents in Santubong, which is known for its beautiful beaches, were fishermen.

With the arrival of more tourists, he believed that the fishermen would venture into tourism-related business activities to generate additional income.

“At the same time, I would like to recommend that MASwings’ routes are not confined to Sarawak, Sabah and Indonesia but also expanded to the Philippines, West Malaysia and Singapore.

“We certainly welcome MASwing’s initiative to offer packages from Kuching to Balikpapan and Kota Kinabalu to Balikpapan but at the same time, we also want MASwings to become an alternative airline to boost the tourism industry in the state,” Wan Junaidi said at a press conference prior to handing over cost of living allowance to members of Sri Muara Fishermen Association here yesterday.

He said MASwings should expand its operations to become an alternative domestic airline to Sarawak and Sabah instead of confining itself to serving regional routes as this would encourage more tourists to visit the two states.

Continue reading at: Kuching-Balikpapan route will increase tourist arrival

.
.