Pangkalan Bun is the capital of

West Kotawaringin Regency West Kotawaringin Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kotawaringin Barat) is one of the thirteen regencies which comprise the Central Kalimantan Province on the island of Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. The population of West Kotawaringin Regency was 235,803 ...

Borneo 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 e ...

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 Gui ...

. It has a population of around 200,000 It is also the administrative headquarters of South Arut (''Arut Selatan'') district (''kecamatan''). Pangkalan Bun is served by

Iskandar Airport Iskandar Airport is a military type-C airport in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia and is the only airport in Central Kalimantan which has an Avtur fuel station. It is the largest military airport in Indonesia, with around a 3,570 he ...

. Several airlines fly to this airport. Shipping services provide connections to

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the M ...

, and

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today ...

Birutė Galdikas Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas or Birutė Mary Galdikas, OC (born 10 May 1946), is a Lithuanian-Canadian anthropologist, primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author. She is a professor at Simon Fraser University. In the field of ...

established her base,

Camp Leakey Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descr ...

, for the study and conservation of

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 ...

s about from Pangkalan Bun up the

Sekonyer River Sekonyer is a river in southern Borneo, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, about 700 km northeast of the capital Jakarta. Hydrology It is a tributary of the Kumai River, and is fed by the Camp Leakey River. Ecology Part of the river t ...

. The site has expanded from the original hut in 1971. Its facilities, supported by the

Orangutan Foundation International Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) has its headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Dr. Birutė Galdikas, one of three anthropologists ( The Trimates) to study great apes under the guidance of Dr. Louis Leakey, OFI continues to re ...

, are a part of the

Tanjung Puting Tanjung Puting National Park is a national park in Indonesia located in the southeast part of West Kotawaringin Regency in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan (Central Borneo). The nearest main town is the capital of the Regency, Pa ...

National Park.

Crash of AirAsia QZ 8501

Iskandar International Airport was one of the operation centres being used to support search operations following the crash of AirAsia QZ 8501 on 28 December 2014 in nearby Karimata Strait. Shortly after the crash, the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS, or
Badan SAR Nasional
') established a post in Iskandar airport to coordinate the search. The head of the agency, Air Marshal Bambang Sulistyo, took close personal command of operations. Following confirmation of the crash, Indonesian agencies prepared over 160 coffins in Pangkalan Bun so as to be ready, in accordance with Indonesian practice, to take care of those who died as quickly as possible. After reception in Pangkalan Bun, the plan was to return the bodies of the people who died to their families, mostly in

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern and ...

where Flight QZ 8501 originated from.Two bodies of AirAsia victims arrive in Surabaya'
''The Jakarta Post'', 31 December 2014.

Geography

Pangkalan Bun is above sea-level.

Climate

Pangkalan Bun has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southe ...

(Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

References

Regency seats of Central Kalimantan West Kotawaringin Regency {{CKalimantan-geo-stub