The hook
A Borneo national park where you chug up a jungle river on a wooden liveaboard boat to watch wild and rehabilitated orangutans, our red-haired cousins, swing down to forest feeding platforms.
01Why it's worth it
Tanjung Puting protects a stretch of Bornean rainforest and peat swamp that is one of the best places in the world to see orangutans, the great apes found only on Borneo and Sumatra and now endangered as their forests fall to logging and palm oil. The classic way to visit is aboard a klotok, a simple wooden houseboat, sleeping on deck under the stars as it motors slowly up the tea-coloured Sekonyer river deep into the park. You stop at rehabilitation feeding stations where orangutans, some wild, some released from captivity, come to eat, and you drift past proboscis monkeys, gibbons, hornbills, and crocodiles along the banks. Seeing an orangutan mother and baby up close is unforgettable, and the trip doubles as a window on the conservation fight for Borneo's forests.
02How to experience it
Book a multi-day klotok trip from Kumai and sleep aboard for the full slow-river experience; day trips barely scratch it. Visit the feeding stations with a guide, keep your distance from the apes, and treat the encounter as a privilege. Choose operators that support the park's conservation work.