The best way to explore Kalimantan's Tanjung Puting National Park is to travel along the Sekonyer River. While a fleet of small klotok boats operates daily sightseeing services into the park from the jetty at Kumai, the small port town connected to Pangkalan Bun airport by road, they can be uncomfortable as guests are expected to be on deck atop simple mattresses.

We prefer river safaris on the comparatively more luxurious Rahai’i Pangun, a beautiful, 20-meter wooden riverboat fitted with six cabins and a spacious observation deck. As the journey unfolds, the river narrows, and banks fill with spiky pandanus bushes, with vivid yellow gardenia and ranks of stately dipterocarp trees lining up behind you.

You are able to observe wildlife all around you, such as orangutans nesting in the trees, gibbons swinging through the branches, crocs drifting through the still, green water, or hornbills flitting through the tropical canopy. These creatures could appear at any moment as you glide deeper into the jungle, arriving eventually at the Camp Leakey feeding stations, where you’ll be able to watch the apes at close quarters. Nights on board the Rahai’i Pangun, with the nocturnal sounds of the forest filling the air, are equally memorable.

Extend your explorations of the park with a stay at the Rimba Lodge deep in the jungle.