Kutai National Park is a lowland
national park located on the east coast of
Borneo Island
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east ...
, in the
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, ranging approximately 10 to 50 km north of the
equator.
Geography
The park is located north of the
Mahakam River
The Mahakam River ( Indonesian: ''Sungai Mahakam'') is third longest and volume discharge river in Borneo after Kapuas River and Barito River, it is located in Kalimantan, Indonesia. It flows from the district of Long Apari in the highlands o ...
and includes several lakes: Danau Maau, Santan, Besar and Sirapan. It is adjacent to the towns of
Bontang
Bontang is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo in Indonesia, in the province of East Kalimantan. It occupies an area of , and the population was 140,787 at the 2010 census, and 178,917 at the 2020 census. It is also the third m ...
and Sangatta and 120 km north of the provincial capital
Samarinda
Samarinda is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda ranks first on East Kalimantan Human Development Index and it ...
. There are several traditional
Bugis settlements within the national park.
![Kutai Orangutan 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Kutai_Orangutan_2008.jpg)
The Kutai National Park extends over an area of 2,000 km
2, part of the former ''Kutai Game Reserve'' which has been protected since the 1970s. However this status did not prevent the logging of a third of the forest in subsequent years and the following introduction of mining companies. In an attempt to prevent further deforestation the Kutai National Park was established in 1982. Nevertheless, the great Borneo fires of 1982/83 destroyed large sections of the forest, and the constant encroachment of people along the eastern boundary continues to reduce the true park area. Approximately only 30% of the primary growth forest remains.
Samarinda International Airport
Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Pranoto International Airport , also known as APT Pranoto Airport or Samarinda Airport, is the main airport in Samarinda, the capital city of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is in the district of Sungai Siring. The airpo ...
is the only major gateway to the national park. There are two main point for tourist access to the park. Sangkima is on the road between Sangatta and Bontang and thus is accessible by car or bus. The area has a number of old formal national park buildings. There is a large loop walking track, with sections of elevated boardwalk to what was one of the largest trees known in the park. Given the ease of accessibility and being adjacent to the road, this area of park is continually under pressure from the encroachment of people.
Prevab is the second tourist area, approximately 25 minutes boat ride up the Sangatta River from Kabo Pier (a boat ramp on the northern bank, on the western side of the town of Sangatta). Access to the park is gained by road travel to Kabo Pier and the short river trip in a ketinting (a traditional small boat for navigating rivers). The more remote nature of this section sees the jungle in fairly good condition with little disturbance of the area.
Ecology
Kutai National Park is dominated by a
Dipterocarpaceae lowland tropical rainforest and has 958 species of flora, including 8 of the world's 9 genera of family Dipterocarpaceae, 41 species of orchids and 220 species of medical plants. The other vegetation types include coastal
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
forest,
freshwater swamp forest
Freshwater swamp forests, or flooded forests, are forests which are inundated with freshwater, either permanently or seasonally. They normally occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found ...
and
kerangas forest
The Sundaland heath forest, also known as ''Kerangas'' forest, is a type of tropical moist forest found on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as on the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bang ...
.
The park provides habitat to 10 species of primates, 90 species of mammals and 300 species of birds. They include
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...
, Malayan
sun bear
The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a species in the family Ursidae (the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'') occurring in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the smallest bear, standing nearly at the shoulder and weighing ...
,
sambar deer,
banteng,
maroon leaf monkey
The maroon langur, maroon leaf monkey, or red leaf monkey (''Presbytis rubicunda'') is a member of the family Cercopithecidae. It is found on the southeast Asian island of Borneo and the nearby smaller Karimata. ''P. rubicunda'' mostly live in fo ...
,
white-fronted leaf monkey,
Miller's langur,
proboscis monkey,
Bornean gibbon,
clouded leopard,
black flying squirrel
The black flying squirrel or large black flying squirrel (''Aeromys tephromelas'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia; its habitat is primary and secondary forests and gardens where it u ...
,
marbled cat
The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatened on the ...
,
flat-headed cat
The flat-headed cat (''Prionailurus planiceps'') is a small wild cat native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra. It is an Endangered species, because the wild population probably comprises fewer than 2,500 mature individuals, with s ...
,
yellow-throated marten
The yellow-throated marten (''Martes flavigula'') is a marten species native to Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution, evidently relatively stable population, occurrence in a number of protected are ...
,
otter civet
The otter civet (''Cynogale bennettii'') is a semiaquatic viverrid native to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It is listed as Endangered because of a serious ongoing population decline, estimated to be more than 50% over the past three ...
, and
smooth-coated otter
The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is an otter species occurring in most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and is threa ...
.
The number of orangutans was found to have decreased dramatically, from 600 recorded in 2004 to about 60 in 2009. However a survey conducted in 2010 identified over 2,000 orangutans to be inhabiting the park.
Nurni Sulaiman:''More than 2,000 orangutans inhabit Kutai National Park''
in The Jakarta Post
''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Niskala Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta.
''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four Indonesian med ...
6 August 2010, retrieved 28 October 2010
See also
* List of national parks of Indonesia
This is the list of the national parks of Indonesia. Of the 54 national parks, 6 are World Heritage Sites, 9 are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and 5 are wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar convention. A total o ...
References
External links
Official site
{{authority control
Bontang
National parks of Indonesia
Geography of East Kalimantan
Tourist attractions in East Kalimantan
Protected areas of Kalimantan