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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.
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