Kalimantan Orangutan Houseboat Adventure

4 Days / 3 Nights

Pangkalan Bun - Tanjung Puting National Park

Experience Highlights

Experience the wonders of Tanjung Puting the most magical way possible: by houseboat. Spend four days cruising the languid Kumai and Sekonyer Rivers, surrounded by lush jungle teeming with wildlife. When not exploring the waterways, go ashore to watch orangutans gathering to feed and to learn about rainforest preservation.

If you are looking for a longer duration itinerary, please go to this page.

If you are looking for land base Orangutan itinerary, please go to this page.

Itinerary

Arrival - Kumai - Proboscis Tour - Houseboat

Welcome to Pangkalan Bun, the entry point to central Kalimantan.

Upon your arrival in Pangkalan Bun Airport, meet our guide at the arrival gate then direct transfer to Kumai. It will take about 20 minutes. At the port, board a local klotok boat for a scenic journey along the Kumai and Sekonyer Rivers.

Begin the cruise heading along the Kumai River. After 20 minutes, enter the much smaller Sekonyer River, which marks the border of Tanjung Puting National Park.

While cruising through Tanjung Puting National Park, take note of its variety of tropical animals. The area is renowned for its spectacular ecological and biological diversity, and contains mangrove swamps, rainforest and dense jungles filled with rare primates such as orangutans, proboscis monkeys and macaques.

Lunch is served on board.

If the time is still permitted, visit also Orangutan feeding in Tanjung Harapan at 3pm. Around 4pm return to the boat and continue boating up to observe Proboscis monkeys along the river banks which are endemic animals that can be seen only in Borneo.

Enjoy dinner this evening on board the boat surrounded by the beauty of nature.

Overnight on local houseboat

Meals: lunch, dinner

Houseboat – Camp Leakey – Houseboat

After breakfast on board the klotok boat, start cruising up the Sekonyer River to see more wildlife around the river in the morning while most animals are doing their activities. Visiting FNPF Camp for planting trees is a program that you can't miss, because planting trees is one of the ways to contribute to the Carbon Offset program. Plant a tree and the ranger will name it using your name.

Heading back to the houseboat and cruising up to Camp Leakey. Housing the largest population of orangutans in the world, it is the most famous place for orangutan research. Lunch is served on board just before arriving at Camp Leakey.

Around 1pm, disembark at Camp Leakey for a 30-minute walk along a wooden platform. Visit the IC (Information Center) to see all the work of DR. Birute Galdikas while she studies the orangutan here starts from 1971 until today then enjoying time till 2pm before trekking up into the forest to witness the rangers offering bananas and other fruits to the orangutans. Sitting with the park rangers and enjoying the opportunity to get up close with these amazing animals.

Return to the boat and around 4pm then boating down the river to find a place to anchor the houseboat. At this time of the day, many proboscis monkeys, found only in Borneo, can be seen gathering in large groups around the banks of the river (excellent photo opportunity.) There is also a chance to spot a few orangutans in this area as they come to pick up fruit from the pandan trees in the late afternoon.

Dinner and spending your night on a houseboat.

Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner

Houseboat – Pondok Tanggui – Tanjung Harapan Village – Tanjung Harapan Camp – Houseboat

Wake to the sounds of the jungle and enjoy breakfast on the boat.

Embark on another full-day trip around the jungles and explore two other feeding platforms inside Tanjung Puting National Park.

Cruise upstream to reach Pondok Tanggui, the second rehabilitation center for the orangutans. To reach the first platform, walk along a 700-meter-long wooden pontoon followed by a sandy path surrounded by ferns and lush vegetation. Feeding Time at Pondok Tanggui is at 09:00 am.

After spotting orangutans, return back to the houseboat and boat down directly to Tanjung Harapan village, one of the only settlements along the river. to see the Malayan settlement activities in the afternoon. Lunch will be provided on board then crossing to Tanjung Harapan Camp to see the last orangutan feeding. Boating down directly to the Nipa Palm area to see thousands of fireflies and spending your last night on a houseboat after dinner onboard.

Overnight on local houseboat

Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner