The Exotic Kayan Mentarang National Park

Kayan Mentarang National Park is one of the largest natural attractions owned by Indonesia. This place is home to a variety of animals, as well as some of ancient tribes in North Kalimantan. Kayan Mentarang is located in Malinau Regency, North Borneo. It is a large area of nature conservation with a variety of attractions. Inaugurated as a National Park by the Minister of Forestry in 1996, Kayan Mentarang is now home to around 27,000 Dayak people.

 

The forest area in this national park lies in the northern part of East Kalimantan Province, namely in the Malinau Regency, Nunukan Regency and Bulungan Regency. As well as directly adjacent to Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia.

 

one of natural tourist attractions in kayan mentarang

Credit: RimbaKita

 

To visit the Kayan Mentarang National Park, visitors can use an airplane from Samarinda to Tarakan for one hour flight. After arriving in Tarakan, visitors continue their journey using a speedboat or “klotok boat” through the Mentarang River. For your information there are Bahau River, Kayan River and Mentarang River which become the main means of transportation to various points in the national park area. The tours passing the river take around six hours to one day. To reach the southern part of this North Borneo nature tour, visitors can also fly from Malinau Regency to Long Ampung Village.

 

Various natural vegetation can be found in Kayan Mentarang, ranging from lowland forests, highland forests, even grasslands. There are at least 150 mammals, 300 species of birds, not to mention reptiles, amphibians and insects as well. Some rare mammals that still exist include clouded leopards, sun bears and white-headed langurs. Lucky visitors can find rare wildlife such as the Borneo elephants, which are endangered and nearing extinction. The population now is only 25 to 45 elephants left. Borneo elephants are different from Sumatran elephants and Asian elephants. This elephant is a sub-species of Asian elephant.

 

endangered borneo elephants in kayan mentarang

Credit: RudiDelvaux

 

Various species of plants also inhabit the valleys area inside. Some have not even been identified. The visitors can also find archaeological findings and prehistoric objects such as ancient graves and stone age relics. Those sites are more than 350 years old and are important relic in Borneo.

 

Uniquely, the Dayak tribe people who live in this National Park area, also have cultural knowledge of nature conservation which is useful to support their lives. The independent ability of the Dayak Tribe in preserving the biological wealth in their environment can be seen from the way they farm.

 

kayan mentarang is home to around 27 thousand dayak people

Credit: KansRadio88.4FmPontianak

 

While in the Kayan Mentarang National Park area, visitors can climb mountains, do research, walk along the rivers, waterfalls tour and even enjoy a variety of Dayak Tribe’s arts. This national park is also used for research by students and science teachers, as well as various field studies about environmental and natural preservation. Some of natural attractions around this national park area are Batu Ului stone mountain, U’ung Melu’ung Waterfall and Long Tua Meadow.

 

Kayan Mentarang also provides lodging facilities that can be occupied by visitors who want to overnight. Moreover, to have a tour along the territorial waters, visitors can rent a speedboat or klotok boat with prices around IDR200,000 per hour. Interested in exploring the Kayan Mentarang? Plan your journey to Borneo with us, the Authentic-Indonesia.