Palangkaraya and the Kahayan

The City Sukarno Laid Out To Be Indonesia'S New Capital And Never Was, On A Black Water River, Beside One Of The Largest Orangutan Rehabilitation Operations In The World · Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan

IN 1957 SUKARNO STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF BORNEO AND DECLARED THAT INDONESIA'S CAPITAL WOULD MOVE HERE. Palangkaraya was laid out for it - improbably wide boulevards driven through peat forest, a monument, a plan - AND THEN IT DID NOT HAPPEN, and the city has been living inside a gesture ever since, with roads built for traffic that never came. SIXTY-ODD YEARS LATER THE CAPITAL IS INDEED MOVING TO BORNEO, to a different site entirely, which locals will mention. THE KAHAYAN runs through it, black-water and tea-coloured from the peat, with a bridge, floating houses and boats that take you upriver. AND JUST OUTSIDE IS NYARU MENTENG, one of the LARGEST ORANGUTAN REHABILITATION OPERATIONS ANYWHERE - hundreds of animals, most of them orphaned by fire and plantation clearance. THE PEAT FIRES THAT FILL THIS CITY WITH SMOKE some years are the same story. In bad years that smoke closes the airport and makes the place genuinely unhealthy, so check air quality before booking; and Nyaru Menteng is a working rehabilitation centre where close contact is not offered and should not be sought.

Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

PALANGKARAYA HAS AN AIRPORT with connections via Jakarta, Surabaya and Banjarmasin, and is a few hours by road from BANJARMASIN. NYARU MENTENG IS A WORKING REHABILITATION CENTRE, NOT A ZOO: the animals are being prepared for release and CLOSE CONTACT IS NOT OFFERED AND SHOULD NOT BE SOUGHT - access arrangements are limited and change, so check before travelling rather than turning up. BOATS ON THE KAHAYAN are hired at the waterfront by the hour or the day, informally. THE PEAT FIRE SEASON, ROUGHLY AUGUST TO OCTOBER IN BAD YEARS, CAN FILL THE CITY WITH HAZARDOUS SMOKE and close the airport - check air quality before booking. THIS IS THE STARTING POINT FOR TANJUNG PUTING via Pangkalan Bun, which is where most wildlife visitors actually go.

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