Camel Trophy



Kalimantan

GENERAL INFORMATION
Borneo is the world's third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea, covering 746,309 square kilometers. As a comparison, it is bigger than the American states of Texas and Oklahoma combined and five times the area of England and Wales. The northern section of Borneo holds the Eastern Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, as well as the tiny, oil-rich, independent sultanate of Brunei.

Kalimantan, which means 'River of Diamonds' in Indonesian, is the name Indonesia has given to her two-thirds of the island. It is rugged land, abundant in natural resources, covered by one of the world's largest stretches of tropical rainforest, with an enormous network of large rivers.



HISTORY
Kalimantan has always been a cultural crossroads due to its position on the trade routes between China, the Philippines and Java. Hinduism arrived in about 400 AD and Chinese settlements were established on the island long before the Europeans ever came to the Indonesian archipelago.

The coastal ports came under the influence of -Islam during the 15th and 16th centuries and by the 17th century Kalimantan had become a scene of conflict between the British and the Dutch. Colonial rule continued until after the second world war, when Indonesia declared its independence in 1945.

POPULATION
The region is home to only five per cent of Indonesia's population and yet Kalimantan's 549,032 square kilometers accounts for 28 per cent of the nation's land mass. Kalimantan is further divided into four provinces; Kalimantan Timur in the east; Kalimantan Selatan in the south; Kalimantan Tengah in the center; and Kalimantan Barat in the west.

The indigenous population - the Dayaks - used to be some of the world's fiercest headhunters and although many of them continue to maintain their traditional ways of life, their swords are no longer used to collect such grisly trophies. Historically, the Dayaks lived in longhouses, which are vast, single storey structures on stilts, often home to an entire village. Longhouses are now comparatively rare, but can still be found in the forested interior of Kalimantan. Food traditionally comes from a variety of sources; animals hunted with blowguns, fish caught with cast nets and rice grown in jungle clearings.



GEOGRAPHY
The north of Kalimantan is dominated by mountain ranges, named after European explorers from the turn of the century, such as Muller and Schwaner. The vast network of rivers flows to the coasts and are the island's highways, along which most of the population and commerce are concentrated. Many are easily navigable, although stretches of rapids sometimes necessitate part of the journey to be conducted overland. The island's coast is comparatively flat with the result that tidal fluctuations affect river levels far inland.

Borneo's rainforest is the second largest in the world after the Amazon and it is possible to identify 780 species of trees in a single 10 hectare area. The coastal fringe of the island is characterised by swamps of mangrove, nipa, palms and low-grade forest. Further inland is a belt of gentle hills and alluvial flood plains that become covered with thick rainforest on the higher elevations of the interior.

The weather in Kalimantan has recently become unpredictable. but in general it has a monsoon climate. The wet season is from October to May and during an average year approximately 3,000 millimeters of rain pours down on the coast, with even higher figures inland. Temperatures range from 79F to 97F, although the interior highlands at over 1,500 meters can become quite cool.

WILDLIFE
The rainforest contains a profusion of animals and vegetation. Perhaps the most famous and most rare is the orangutan; the "man of the forest" as they are referred to by the Indonesians. Unusual species of monkeys abound in the mangrove swamps, including the proboscis monkey, so called due to its nose, which can grow up to 15 centimeters long, and is used to great effect when the monkey is swimming; an activity that is unusual for a primate.

It is, however, the variety of birds that makes Kalimantan special from an ecological point of view. Birds were very important in the beliefs of the peoples of Kalimantan - flight patterns were of crucial importance as omens of success or failure for upcoming headhunting expeditions. Species of hornbill feature prominently in Dayak culture due to their appearance and noisy flight, which is reminiscent of a steam locomotive.

Other rare species include the Argus pheasant that is similar in appearance to a peacock and the edible nest swiftlet. The swiftlet's glutinous saliva that is used during nest construction by the bird is also a vital ingredient for the famous Chinese delicacy 'Bird's Nest Soup'.

The interior of Kalimantan is largely inaccessible, certainly by vehicle. It is the unspoiled, natural habitat that will make Camel Trophy Kalimantan '96 both tough and varied, in the true traditions of the Event.