Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia. It is located in the southeast part of West Kotawaringin Regency, which is in the province of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (also known as Central Borneo). The closest major town is Pangkalan Bun, the capital of the regency. The park is famous for its work in conserving orangutans.

Geography

The park has 416,040 hectares of different forest types, including dryland dipterocarp forest, peat swamp forest, heath forest, mangrove and coastal beach forest, and secondary forest. Visitors can reach the park by speedboat from Kumai, traveling along the Kumai River and then the Sekonyer River to Camp Leakey. This trip usually takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Kumai River forms the northern edge of the park. Outside the park, the peat forest has been cleared to create oil palm plantations.

Although the park is protected, about 65% of its primary forest is damaged. The loss of natural habitat is the biggest danger to the animals living there. Friends of National Parks Foundation, an Indonesian organization, has worked to restore habitats in the Pasalat and Beguruh areas since 1997. The group also runs a conservation education center in Pasalat.

Four research centers have been built in the park to study and help rehabilitate orangutans and other primates. Camp Leakey, started in 1971 with help from the Leakey Foundation, was the first of these centers. Dr. Birute Galdikas began her work there in the 1970s, studying rescued and orphaned orangutans that were later returned to the wild. Her research was featured in National Geographic in October 1975. Today, Dr. Galdikas is one of the world’s top experts on orangutan behavior and leads the Orangutan Foundation International.

The Orangutan Foundation operates Pondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station, which supports Indonesian and international students studying the park’s plants and animals. This facility was created and maintained by the Orangutan Foundation. For many years, the foundation has given small research grants to students, especially Indonesian students.

Ecology

The park was created in the 1930s by the Dutch government to protect orangutans and proboscis monkeys. It was named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1977 and became a national park in 1982. The park was also recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

In addition to orangutans and proboscis monkeys, the park is home to gibbons, macaques, clouded leopards, sun bears, wild boars, porcupines, and sambar deer. The park also has many reptiles, such as crocodiles, monitor lizards, and pythons; birds, including hornbills and kingfishers; and insects, such as the giant Bornean butterfly. The Pondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station was established in 2005 to study all the wild species living in the park.

Today, Tanjung Puting National Park is a popular ecotourism destination, with local tour companies offering multi-day boat trips to see wildlife and visit research centers. In 1997, the park was home to 105,000 people. The park was seriously damaged by fires in 1997 and 1998 and remains threatened by illegal logging, illegal mining, and forest clearing for farming.

Conservation efforts by the Indonesian NGO Friends of the National Parks Foundation are helping to slowly restore damaged areas. Their work has included planting thousands of saplings to rebuild habitats for the park’s unique wildlife.

• Male orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) at Camp Leakey rehabilitation center
• Bornean bearded pig (Sus barbatus), found in the Philippines, Sumatra, and Borneo
• Female proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus)
• Bornean white-bearded gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis), found only in southern Borneo
• Pitcher plant (Nepenthes ampullaria)
• Oriental dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca)
• Proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus)