Kutai National Park

General

The almost 200,000 ha Kutai National Park is located in East Kalimantan province and has a stirring history. In the early seventees an area of 300,000 ha was protected and named the Kutai Game Reserve. This protection did not prevent that one third of the forest was cut in subsequent years. Trying to prevent a further decline the Kutai National Park was established in 1982. However, great wood fires destroyed 60% of the protected forests in 1982/1983 and it was damaged again in 1997/1998.

The main habitats in the park are primary and secondary tropical rainforest, although all ecosystems of East Kalimantan can be found. At the coast the vegetation consists of mangrove forest and freshwater swamp forest. Kerangas also occurs. There are a few lakes in the reserve: Danau Maau, Santan, Besar and Sirapan.

Several species of primates and probably more than 80% of the bird species of Borneo can be seen.

Access

Kutai National Park is one of the easy accessible parks on Kalimantan. You can reach it from Bontang, a industry city north of Samarinda. To get to Bontang take a bus from Lempake station or take a boat from Seberang station, both in Samarinda. From Bontang you have two possibilities to enter the park:

Permits, guides and accommodation can be arranged at the PHPA office in Bontang.

Accommodation

Addresses

PHPA, Jl. Mulawarman 236, Bontang
PHPA - KSDA, Jl.Rawa Indah - Jl.M.T.Haryono, Samarinda
WWF, Jl. Katamso 12, Samarinda.

Trekking

Accompanied by a obligatory PHPA guide you can make several treks through the park. Kutai has an extensive web of trails.

Flora

Mammals CITES in blue, Red List species in red, on both lists: purple

Birds CITES in blue, Red List species in red, on both lists: purple

Reptiles CITES in blue, Red List species in red, on both lists: purple

References

Other sites