Blogs from Kalimantan, Indonesia, Asia

Indonesia is a huge country...and getting anywhere a little remote is asking for some serious efforts. If...if only there was direct flight from Bali to Berau, the closest airport from Derawan/Sangalaki...we would speak of just above a 2 hours flight. But here it is...there is no direct flight! first to clarify. Sangalaki may be the best known island. I will come back to the diving later on. But it is actually the little archipelago called the Derawan islands...and I'm staying on the main island of Derawan for 5 nights. Getting from home in Bali to Derawan took me 48 hours door-to-door on the way up, and a good 15 hours on the way down. Derawan is in the Kalimantan province, on the East of Borneo. For those in the know, we speak of around 200kms South ... read more

From Labuan Bajo on Flores, I started a bit of a complicated journey to Nunukan Island off of Borneo. It involved a flight/nights in Bali, a flight to a city called Balikpapan on Borneo, followed by a flight to an island called Maratua and then boat ride to Nunukan. The best part of this journey was in Balikpapan...and I didn't take any pictures, except one of the band at the end. It was a Friday night, during Ramadan. My hotel hosted a huge celebration buffet for breaking the fast, and Friday night was definitely party night. There were hundreds of people celebrating, in huge groups of families, all dressed up for a night out. There was a band, and people would go up and join them singing. They mostly played traditional songs (I assumed...none were familiar), ... read more

We are woken at 530am by the sound of the macaques leaping from tin roof to tin roof and screeching. No need for an alarm clock. By morning, Sara finds that as well as the damage to her shin, she has also bruised the inside of one knee, pulled the muscles in the other foot, and bruised her left hand, necessitating the painful removal of her rings in case the fingers swell any more. It will be painful for the rest of the holiday, but we are both hugely relieved she didn’t suffer a broken leg or knock herself out. There's not much in the way of medical attention around here. We’re up early so we can be on the boat in time to – hopefully – see some more apes from the boat. After a ... read more

I didn't know what got into me but as soon as I returned from my Orang Utan trip to Tanjung Puting, I had the urge of going back. This time, it was such a short trip, and I decided to check out on Tanjung Keluang National Park where there was a turtle conservation, funded by the government. My guide, Yomie, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport from which we had a quick stop at a nearby restaurant and had delicious grilled fresh-water fish. From there, we headed towards Kumai, a sleepy port town near Pangkalan Bun. Most people in Kumai made a living as fishermen, tourism or from river transport. It is the main port used for the entry to Tanjung Puting and for transport of goods in and out of Pangkalan ... read more

When I was a little boy growing up in India, I remember the monsoon days when I used to cuddle with my father in the evenings and pestered him to tell me the stories of the jungles around the world, the tigers, the lions and other animals. My father was awesome storyteller. He used to tell me the stories of Jim Corbett and the man-eating tigers, lions in Africa, dense forests in Borneo and his own experiences in the jungles in India. Lying close to him and curled up, I used to listen to those amazing stories while it rained outside. With the symphony of torrential rains on the tin roof, my childhood dream used to roam around in a make-believe world of animal kingdom, in the vast savannas of Africa, in the dense forests of ... read more