Mahakam River
Borneo'S Great Eastern River, Home To A Freshwater Dolphin Down To Perhaps A Few Dozen Animals, And The Valley Where Indonesia'S Oldest Known Hindu Kingdom Left Its Inscriptions · Samarinda, East Kalimantan
The Mahakam runs nearly a thousand kilometres out of the interior of Borneo, and TWO THINGS ON IT MATTER ENORMOUSLY AND ARE BARELY KNOWN. THE FIRST IS THE PESUT - AN IRRAWADDY DOLPHIN LIVING IN FRESH WATER, CRITICALLY ENDANGERED, AND DOWN TO PERHAPS A FEW DOZEN ANIMALS IN THIS ENTIRE RIVER. Gill nets, boat traffic and a changed river have done it, and it is one of the most precarious mammal populations in Asia. THE SECOND IS KUTAI MARTADIPURA. STONE PILLARS FOUND IN THIS VALLEY, INSCRIBED IN SANSKRIT, RECORD A HINDU KING AND HIS SACRIFICES AROUND THE FOURTH CENTURY - MAKING THIS THE OLDEST KNOWN HINDU KINGDOM IN INDONESIA, centuries before Borobudur, on an island nobody associates with any of that. Upriver are DAYAK LONGHOUSE COMMUNITIES and days of boat travel. Do not book a trip that promises a dolphin, do not let a boat close on one, and allow far more time than the map suggests - this is a river measured in days, with serious mosquitoes and no banking upstream.
Sungai Mahakam, East Kalimantan, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
SAMARINDA IS THE RIVER CITY and the usual starting point, reached by road from BALIKPAPAN in a few hours or by air. RIVER TRAVEL IS THE POINT: PUBLIC LONGBOATS AND CHARTERED VESSELS run upstream toward TENGGARONG, KOTA BANGUN, MUARA MUNTAI and beyond, taking DAYS RATHER THAN HOURS to reach the interior. THE MUSEUM AT TENGGARONG holds the sultanate collection and material relating to Kutai. PESUT SIGHTINGS ARE NOT GUARANTEED AND SHOULD NOT BE SOLD AS SUCH - the population is critically small and boats should keep their distance. UPRIVER DAYAK COMMUNITIES receive visitors through local arrangement rather than a booking system. This is HOT, HUMID and heavily mosquito-ridden. Bring cash.