By Landolfo Mancini 
If you want to see orangutans in Borneo, Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan, Indonesia, is one of the best places for this.
The Tanjung Puting Jungle is home to hundreds of Borneo animal species, some of which are rare and endemic, and you can see all this while staying on a “Klotok” houseboat that meanders along the Sekonyer River.
We spent 3 days and 2 nights putting on a cruise ship in Tanjung and it was awesome. It is not one of the lowest places in Indonesia, but the whole experience is really unique and special.
How to Get To Tanjung Puting National Park
Tanjung Puting is located on the island of Borneo in the central province of Kalimantan in Indonesia, and if you look at it on a map, it is actually located at the southern tip of the island.
The nearest city and airport are Pangkalan Bun (PKN), and there are direct flights from Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang daily. If you are coming from Bali to Tanjung Puting, you need to pass one of these airports in the direction of Pangkalan Bun. You can buy flights on Skyscanner.
Once in Pangkalan Bun, the port of Kumai is a 15-minute drive away and depending on the time of arrival, you can usually go directly to the port and start your tour of Tanjung Puting National Park.
Most tour operators will pick you up for free in the city or at the airport, and then take you to the port, where your boat will be waiting for you. From here you can reach the entrance to the Sekonyer River and the national Park in less than an hour by boat!
River Navigation: What to Expect
Tanjung Puting is usually accessible by boat via the Sekonyer River, and this is done by an all-inclusive cruise ship called “Klotok”, which usually has a crew of at least 4 people: a boat captain, a deckhand, a tour guide and a cook.
The river moves very slowly, so you don’t have to worry about seasickness, rapids, waves or anything like that on your trip to the park.
In addition to enjoying the magnificent views from the boat, you will also make several stops to get off the boat and see animals in the jungle, which requires a little short, flat trekking.
Klotok boats usually accommodate up to 8 people in total, with guests staying on the upper level, while the crew lives on the lower level.
Our boat had a reasonably comfortable bed and bathroom with flush toilet and shower, although the facilities were quite simple overall.
Consider it a bit like glamping. It’s not a luxury, but it’s quite comfortable.
Meals are offered daily on the boat, and the food in our experience has been excellent, including tempeh, omelets, toast, pancakes, fish, chicken, rice, pasta, soup and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Everything we ate was fresh and good.
Some Klotok boats have air conditioning, but most do not, and this is not really necessary. During the day, you may be hot and sweating, but at night the temperatures drop, and it’s easy to cool off with a cold shower before going to bed.
The electricity comes from the generator in the evening, so from time to time we were able to use the sockets to charge our phones and other electronics. However, it is always a good idea to bring a large power bank with you.
The boats have good rain covers, so you don’t have to worry about getting wet either. We had a huge storm and downpour on our first night in the park, but everything in the boat remained safe and dry.
Tours to Tanjung Puting usually take 2 or 3 days, but you can stay longer if you have the time and budget, or you can take a day trip on a speedboat if you are in a hurry.
Day 1: Tanjung Harapan Tour
After about 2 hours of traveling by Klotok boat along the river, the first place where you will stop and visit the national park is a camp called Tanjung Harapan.
It used to be a rehabilitation center for orphaned and rescued orangutans, but now it’s just a feeding station where they help animals get extra food (mainly fruit) so that they can thrive and stay healthy.
When we landed in Tanjung Harapan, it was still early, as the meal time starts at 15 o’clock. We took advantage of the extra time to walk around a little near the camp and discovered our first orangutan, an mature female, climbing trees.
For dinner, the park staff puts a bunch of fruit on a wooden platform, and then calls the orangutans from the jungle. Sometimes you have to wait for a while for them to appear, but then they swing through the trees and you can watch them eating while standing about 30 meters back behind a fence.
We saw almost a dozen orangutans in Tanjung Harapan, including several teenagers, a baby and a tall mature male. After returning to the boat, we also had the opportunity to spot a group of wild proboscis monkeys (aka long-nosed monkeys) on the other side of the river looking at us from the treetops!
Day 1: Trekking at night
At the end of your first day in Tanjung Puting, you usually have the opportunity to hike at night so that you can see animals, plants and insects in the jungle near Tanjung Harapan.
In just an hour of flat and easy trekking, we saw a tarantula, a viper, tree frogs, kingfishers, tokays, phosphorescent mushrooms and many other interesting things.
The night hike is optional on most excursions, but I highly recommend you to do it if you still have energy at the end of the day!
Day 2: Pondok Tanggui
On our second day in Tanjung Putting, we woke up at 7 a.m. and took the boat for another 1.5 hours down the river to the next camp, which is called Pondok Tanggui.