West Kalimantan - General Information

A Huge Island | The People of Kalimantan | Life of the Rain Forest | Visiting Kalimantan

GENERAL INFORMATION

Borneo has always had a special place in the imagination of the west. Brooding and fecund, teeming with strange creatures and unimaginably huge forests, it was the exotic and unruly antithesis of ordered and seemly Europe. The people of Borneo, the Dayaks were blood-thirty and naked, and well into the 19th century

reports straightforwardly noted that the forest nomads of the interior were "possessed of a caudal appendage". Such things belong to literature, of course, of a particular and thankfully dated kind, but the island still has the power to fire the imagination. (One even occasionally hears about the Punan's tails.)

A Huge Island
Kalimantan, which means "River of Diamonds" in Indonesian, is the name Indonesia gave to her two-thirds of the huge island of Borneo. It is a rugged land of thick rain forests, through which flow tremendous rivers: the Kayan, the Mahakam, the Barito, the Kahayan, the huge Kapuas and many others. The region is abundant in natural resources, many of which are still untapped and is covered by one of the world's largest stretches of tropical rainforest. Borneo is the world's third largest island (after Greenland and New Guinea) covering 746,309 square kilometers (288.50 sq.km)- Bigger than Texas and Oklahoma combined and five times the area of Borneo holds the East Malaysian states of Sarawak (the former kingdom of James Brooke, the famous "White Raja") and Saban as well as the tiny, oil-rich, independent sultanate of Brunei, which has the world's highest per capita income. Although the region is home to just 5 percent of Indonesia's population, Kalimantan's 549,032 square kilometers (211,981-sq. mi.) represents 28 percent of the nation's landmass. Kalimantan is further divided into four provinces-Kalimantan Timur (east), Kalimantan Selatan (South), Kalimantan Tengah (Central), and Kalimantan Barat (West). These provinces are usually called Kaltim, Kalsel, Kalteng, and Kalbar.

The People of Kalimantan
The Dayaks of Kalimantan never did have tails and although they were some of the world's fiercest headhunters, today their traditional swords-mandau- is no longer used to collect grisly trophies. Still the Dayaks have a varied and rich culture and some groups continue to maintain their traditional ways of life. It is still possible to visit long houses, huge structures on stills that house an entire village. The stills were originally a measure of protection against marauding headhunters. Most Dayaks still hack their rice fields out of the jungle, burning the brush to provide nutrients to the generally poor soil. The men hunt with blowguns and fish Kalimantan's many rivers with cast nets. The women weave baskets of rattan using age-old patterns and techniques.

With proper timing and some luck, you can witness traditional agricultural and funerary rituals in which water buffaloes are sacrificed (formerly slaves) and bones placed in special carved coffins. On a less spectacular scale, you can observe a spirit-medium use sacred chants and animal sacrifice to cure the sick or dedicate a new house. But a word of caution before your expectations surpass reality. The days of loincloth-wearing headhunters are gone. Just about all Dayaks, even those of the remote interior, wear cheap, serviceable, Western clothing. Christianity both Catholic and Protestant varieties has made great inroads into Kalimantan and the majority of the Dayaks have adopted this new faith-with the usual result for their traditional culture. Most travelers, in a hurry to head upriver to see the Dayaks, skip the predominantly Muslim cultures of the coastal areas. But there are fine old mosques to visit as well as a splendid new one in Banjarmasin. You just follow propre etiquette-remove your shoes and dress decently, arms and legs covered and for women, a scarf. You can visit a mosque on your own or if it is locked, find a local guide who can locate the keeper. History buffs will want to visit the Sultan's palaces and tombs, which in several areas are well preserved. Ask around about any circumcisions or weddings coming up. Bring a present if you attend and if you area well dressed, you might become one of the guests of honor. There will be plenty of food but no alcoholic beverages. These events can include splendid costumes, stately dances and gamelan music.