The third biggest island in the world, shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, boasts magnificent rain forests and it is home to a greater variety of trees and flowering plants than any comparable area on Earth. Yet, it took the Europeans a while to place this secret island accurately on the map. Only in the 19th century did a realistic picture of Borneo emerge, when the lure of the island extended to the community of naturalists lead by Charles Darwin, and just in the early 20th century Borneo`s remotest regions and the world`s oldest rainforests were discovered. Today`s explorers, armed with cameras and radiotelephones, have things much easier their intrepid predecessors, but they also face a new obstacle – the might of the chainsaw…
Dense tropical jungle of southern Borneo, murky rivers teeming with traffic, lined with towns where Islam is the main religion, and while wildlife so abundant it becomes part of the norm, Kalimantan is a jungle-cloaked landmass which appeals to those who look to venture into the Great Undiscovered.
At the heart of Borneo`s riverine territory, resembling the Amazon, the deep rainforest remains largely untouched by tourism and it is the most authentic part of the island. With few roads, its mysterious milky rivers are its highways, and their banks’ sanctuaries not only to the armies of orangutans but also tribal headhunters, living by the law of jungle.
