Tanjung Puting National Park

A 420,000-hectare region of wild Pandanus forests, palm clusters and virgin mangrove, all criss-crossed by endless channels of swamp and wetland, the Tanjung Puting National Park is a veritable jewel in the crown of Borneo. However, for all its natural beauty, this sprawling rainforest set to the howls of proboscis monkeys, the occasional grunt of Kalimantan’s bearded pigs and other wildlife aplenty, is famed for just one thing: Orangutans. Yes sir, it’s these rarest of the rare primates that really draw in the crowds, and beckon visitors to hop aboard bobbing tin boats and delve into the wilds, cameras at the ready. Tanjung Puting National Park tour guides cater for every traveller type, with packages that range from boardwalk hikes into the forests to river day trips. The wild ones apart, visitors keen to interact with the endangered species can look forward to feeding sessions at the research centre, Camp Leakey or the orang-utan rehabilitation preserve at Pondok Tanguii. There is also a fine visitors’ centre at hand to tell the story of this conservation area from its very beginnings.