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KALIMANTAN ISLAND

Borneo is the third largest
island in the world and is located at the centre of
Maritime Southeast Asia.
Administratively,
this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and
Brunei. Indonesia's region of Borneo is called
Kalimantan, while Malaysia's region of Borneo is called
East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo.
The North and North-western part of the island are the
East Malaysian state of Serawak and Sabah, with the
newly independent state of Brunei Darusalam between
them. The rest of the island is part of Indonesia,
divided into four provinces - East Kalimantan, West
Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.
Borneo/Kalimantan is the huge adventure travel
destination. It is one the world’s third largest island
covering
the area of 747,000 square kilometer and
covered by one of the world’s largest stretches of
tropical rain forest through which flows tremendous
mighty rivers which are the island’s highway.
Dayak is a collective name for over 200 different tribes
living throughout Borneo's interior . They are the true
'people of the jungle'. The Dayak people lives in the
hinterland along the banks of major river and in a long
house. It is customary for them to live with a whole
extended family or with one clan. Each family has their
own compartment and the chief of the clan will occupy
the central chamber Mahakam River - This giant muddy
river is the highway to the interior.
The M ahakam divides itself into three geographical
sections. The lower Mahakam, stretches from Samarinda to
Muara Prahu just beyond Lake Jempang, an easy tour for
visitors short on time. The middle Mahakam includes a
series of villages and the upper Mahakam, is an isolated
region generally reached by plane at the Datah Dawai
airfield at Long Lunuk.
Orang Utan is derived from the Indonesian/Malay language
means man of the forest. Borneo and Sumatera island are
well known with its large rain forest on the equator,
Orang Utan of a significant numbers exist on both
islands. Travel to Borneo nowadays access available from
few points of Indonesia such as Balikpapan, Surabaya and
Semarang of Indonesia.
Borneo, of which Indonesian Kalimantan covers
two-thirds, is a single, vast-ecosystem in which the
thick, exuberant forest that covers the world's third
largest island acts as an enormous sponge.
Formed over millions of years, the rainforest of
Kalimantan is almost completely self-sustaining,
requiring little more than water from the skies to
survive. The soil on which the forest grows is thin and
poor,
and rather than drawing nutrients from the ground,
it feeds on its own debris, recycling the nutrients
contained in the rotting compost on the floor. Trees
soar upwards, reaching a height of seventy meters or
more, providing support for vines, creepers and orchids,
and creating a dense canopy of leaves that protects the
layer of humus from being washed away by the fierce
tropical storms. While the thick cover of the forest
blocks direct sunlight, rotting leaves and root mass
store water from the rains, releasing it gradually
during the dry season. Thus, the forest also creates and
maintains the dark, warm, dank environment essential for
its own continuous growth and that of the life within
it.
In sheer terms of number and range of types of plants
and animal, this forest is richer than any place on
earth. More than five million species live here, more
than half of the world's total, all on a single island.
These include virulently poisonous mushrooms that glow
in the dark, proboscis monkeys, named for their droopy,
fleshy noses, orchid s in colors bright and subtle,
carnivorous pitcher plants that lure insects by
mimicking the pungent odor of rotting meat, the mighty
orangutan, which build nests of leaves and branches
where they sleep, often more than thirty meters above
the ground, and more than six hundred different types of
bird, including the hornbill and the pheasant.
Kalimantan i s a single, vast ecosystem in which the
thick, exuberant forest that covers the world's third
largest island acts as an enormous sponge.
The Punan, the original people of Kalimantan, and the
Dayak, a later wave of migrants who arrived several
thousand years ago, have lived in harmony with their
natural environment for thousands of years, harvesting
the produce of the forest without causing significant
damage.
Some Dayak still live in communal longhouses on river
banks and survive through the practice of a form of
slash-and-burn farming ideally suited to the lightly
populated hinterland. There are many different tribes,
each with its own culture and language: some, like the
Keyah and the Kayan, stretch their ear lobes with heavy
brass rings and cover their bodies with tattoos of
vines, snakes and abstract, swirling patterns. Amongst
others, old women, shamans and healers, conduct
exorcisms in deep trance.
Geography
Bo rneo is
surrounded by the South China Sea to the north and
northwest, the Sulu Sea to the northeast, the Celebes
Sea and the Makassar Strait to the east, and the Java
Sea and Karimata Strait to the south. It has an area of
743,330 kmē (287,000 square miles).
To the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and
Sumatra. To the south is Java. To the east is the island
of Sulawesi (Celebes). To the northeast is the
Philippines.
Borneo's highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah,
Malaysia, with an elevation of 4,095 m (13,435 ft) above
sea level. This makes it the world's third highest
island.
The l argest river systems are the Kapuas River, with
approximately 1,143 km the longest river in Indonesia,
the Rajang River in Sarawak with some 563 km the longest
river in Malaysia, the Barito River about 880 km long
and the Mahakam River about 980 km long.
Borneo is also known for its extensive cave systems.
Clearwater cave has one of the world's longest
underwater rivers. Deer cave, thought to be the largest
cave passage in the world, is home to over three million
bats and guano accumulated to over 100 metres high.
The Island of Borneo is divided administratively into:
* The Indonesian provinces of East, South, West and
Central Kalimantan
* The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak (the Federal
Territory of Labuan is located on nearshore islands of
Borneo, but not on the island of Borneo itsel f)
* The independent country of Brunei (main part and
eastern exclave of Temburong)
Ethnic and
biological diversity
There are over 30
ethnic groups living in Borneo, making the population of
this island one of the most varied of human social
groups. The native ethnic groups are Austronesians and
their languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language
family. Some ethnicities are now represented by only
30-100 individuals and are threatened with extinction.
Much culture, language, ethnomusic and traditional
knowledge has yet to be documented by anthropologists.
Ancestral knowledge of ethnobotany and ethnozoology is
useful in drug discovery (for example, bintangor plant
for AIDS) or as future alternative food sources (s uch as
sago starch for lactic acid production and sago maggots
as a protein source).
Certain indigenous people (such as the Kayan, Kenyah,
Punan Bah and Penan) living on the island have been
struggling for decades for their right to preserve their
environment from loggers and transmigrant settlers and
colonists. Land reform is needed for future development
in the face of rapid economic changes.
The type of rainforests found in Borneo include the high
diversity mixed dipterocarp forest, the rare peat swamp
forests and heath forest.

Researchers scouring swamps in the heart of Borneo
island have discovered a venomous species of snake that
can change its skin color. Scientists named their find
the Kapuas mud snake, and speculated it might only occur
in the Kapuas River drainage system.
World Wildlife Fund has stated that 361 animal and plant
species have been discovered in Borneo since 1996,
underscoring its unparalleled biodiversity.In the 18
month period from July 2005 until December 2006, another
52 new species were found.
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