Tour along the Mahakam River

We couldn’t find a lot of information about Kalimantan, so we decided to go with a guide for multiple days. With these guides we went to Kutai National Park, and later on a Mahakam River Boat tour. I don’t know if it’s possible to go here on your own, but my advice will be to look around for guided tours online, and find one that you like, and that you can afford.

I know that this isn’t the most useful information, but hopefully this guide can steer you in the right direction, and inform you about what you can see and do during a tour in this area.

We decided to ask our guide if we could do another tour with him. The guide decided to take us on a tour of the Mahakam River, with the public boat. We went to the harbor, and the boat departed, but after 15 minutes it turned out the boat was broken, and we had to leave again. Our guide then called in a driver, who took us to another area of the Mahakam river, where we would do a smaller boat tour, and view the wildlife around the river.

During the wildlife tour we saw the Irrawaddy dolphin, which is an endangered freshwater dolphin who lives in this area. We also saw many birds, snakes and other wildlife. During this tour we also went through a lot of smaller fishing villages by boat, and the guide told us a lot about the life in these villages, since he grew up in one. We spent the night at the house of the family of the guide, in one of those villages.

The next day we went with the boat to another village, known for the Dayak people, and we stayed in one of the traditional Dayak longhouses.

It will be very hot, and you will be on the water, so sunscreen is a must have. We were here in December, which is the rainy season, so if you are here during this period, be prepared for that.