Pangkalan Bun

The town grew out of the Kotawaringin sultanate, a Muslim principality on the south coast of Borneo whose first seat lay north-west of the present town at Kota Waringin Lama, on the east bank of the Lamandau River. The court later moved to Pangkalan Bun on the Arut River, a better anchorage for trade, and the timber palace known as Istana Kuning, the Yellow Palace, became its centre. The sultanate lived on river commerce — rattan, resin, forest products, later rubber — passing goods between the Dayak of the interior and traders from Java, Sulawesi and China.

The Dutch brought the sultanate under their control in the colonial period, leaving the ruling house in place. In the Second World War the area was occupied by Japanese forces, and on 14 January 1946 Kumai was a base for Indonesian fighters attacking the Dutch and the Japanese. Kotawaringin then existed briefly as an autonomous state within the United States of Indonesia between 1949 and 1950 before becoming a regency of the republic; the regency was divided in 1959, and Pangkalan Bun became the seat of West Kotawaringin.

The later 20th century was shaped by what could be taken out of the forest. Logging expanded through the 1970s and 1980s, followed by oil palm plantations and mining, which transformed the landscape around the town and still supply most of the regency's income. At the same time Tanjung Puting, set aside as a reserve by the Dutch colonial government in the 1930s, made a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1977 and declared a national park in 1982, drew scientists and then visitors, and Camp Leakey, founded in 1971, made the area known internationally for orangutan research. Iskandar Airport also became one of the centres for the search and recovery operation after an airliner crashed in the nearby Karimata Strait on 28 December 2014.

This is a Muslim river town with a mixed population: Banjar and Malay families long settled on the coast, Javanese who arrived with transmigration and plantation work, Dayak communities from the interior, and Chinese traders whose shophouses and temples are part of both Pangkalan Bun and Kumai. Mosques set the rhythm of the day, Friday prayers empty the offices at midday, and Ramadan changes when and how the town eats.

The Kotawaringin court left a visible legacy. Istana Kuning and the older wooden royal houses are maintained as heritage, royal descendants still take part in ceremonies, and the sultanate's history is a source of local pride distinct from Banjarmasin or Palangka Raya. River culture runs through everything else: houses facing the water, boats as transport, and the seasonal rise and fall of the Arut and Kumai rivers ordering work and travel.

Dayak traditions are present but mostly rooted upriver and inland — carving, beadwork, the sape lute, and in some communities the Kaharingan faith with its funerary ceremonies. In Kumai, the tall concrete towers built to attract swiftlets for their nests, harvested for the Chinese market, are an unmistakable local industry and a constant background of recorded bird calls. Visitors are still relatively few and are usually here for the park, so courtesy, modest dress and a greeting go a long way in the town itself.

About 109,000 people live in the Pangkalan Bun urban area, all of it inside South Arut District, which makes it one of the larger towns in Central Kalimantan and the commercial centre of West Kotawaringin Regency, whose population was about 286,000 in 2025, spread across plantations, coastal villages and forest settlements. The town is low-rise and spread out, growing along the roads towards the airport and Kumai.

The economy rests on oil palm, timber and mining, with government administration, trade and transport alongside them, and tourism a small but visible addition: guides, boat crews, cooks and hotels that live off the Tanjung Puting season. Plantation companies dominate employment in the surrounding district, and the arguments that come with them — land rights, river pollution, peat fires, haze and the pressure on the park's boundaries — are constant local issues.

Days begin before dawn with prayer and the market, and much of the work is done by mid-morning before the heat. Motorcycles carry nearly everything and everyone; the river carries the rest. By evening families gather at coffee stalls and food carts along the main streets, and in the wet season the talk is of flooding in the low-lying kampungs. The town is the last place with banks, pharmacies and phone signal before the forest, which gives it a practical importance out of proportion to its size.

Everyday eating follows Banjar and Malay patterns. Nasi kuning, turmeric rice with a piece of fish or chicken, serundeng — grated coconut fried with spices — and sambal, is the standard breakfast, often wrapped in banana leaf and eaten standing. Soto Banjar, a clear chicken soup spiced with star anise, clove, cassia and lemongrass and served with potato cakes and a sour, hot sambal, is the region's best-known dish and is sold in the town from morning onwards.

River fish are the heart of the cooking: haruan, the snakehead, patin catfish, and udang galah, the giant freshwater prawn, grilled, fried or simmered in a sour yellow broth. Coastal Kumai adds sea fish, crab and squid. Fermented and dried fish products flavour sambals, and cooked vegetables such as young fern tips and jackfruit appear beside the rice. Amplang, crisp crackers made from fish and tapioca, is the usual snack and a local gift.

Borneo fruit is worth timing a visit around: durian and its milder relative lai, cempedak, rambutan, langsat and mangosteen fill the markets in the fruiting season. Drinks are strong sweet coffee from open-sided stalls, sweet iced tea and fresh juices; alcohol is little seen in a largely Muslim town, and, as everywhere in Indonesia, home-distilled spirits should be avoided. On a klotok trip the cooking is done on board — rice, fish, chicken, vegetables and endless tea and coffee, eaten on deck as the forest goes by.