MOUNT BUKIT RAYA – 2,278 M

OVERVIEW

Bukit Raya is a 2,278 m high mountain located on West and Central Kalimantan. It was part of Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park on Borneo Island. And part of the Schwarner mountain range at the border of Central and West Kalimantan. The mountain is not so popular to climb in Indonesia due to remote access and the elevation is not so high. The national park was a part of The Heart of Borneo conservation project. It protects a lot of endangered species of Kalimantan such as Sun Bear, Orang Utan, and many other species.

There are two ways to enter the National Park. First is from West Kalimantan and second is from Central Kalimantan. To enter from West Kalimantan, the first gate is Pontianak, the capital. To get there is a very long way from Pontianak. First, go to Sintang for nine hours. And then we have to use a boat for another nine hours to get to the national park gate. Still, we have to continue the journey with motorcycle. It was very adventurous just to get there. Trekking is another thing. Penetrating the jungle of Kalimantan will be very challenging.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Palangkaraya-Tumbang Habangoi
Meeting point at Palangkaraya in the morning. Our guide will pick you up at the Tjilik Riwut airport or any other place agreed upon. We will have a long ride today by vehicle from Palangkaraya to tumbang Habangoi village. We will stay overnight in the resident house.

DAY 2

Tumbang Habangoi-Camp Nusa Mengat
We start our day by having a Local ceremony in the morning. It will take 5-6 hours today to reach Camp Nusa Mengat. We will be using a motor boat following the Kahayan river upstream until arrive at camp Nusa Mengat. There’s a farmer shelter often used as camp. We camp here for tonight.

DAY 3

Camp Nusa Mengat-Camp Selahung-Camp Sei Dahie
We start early in the morning to continue our boat trip until we reach the camp selahung for approximately 3-4 hours. After that we will start our trekking. A Gentle hike for 2 hours through dense jungle until we reach camp Sei Dahie.

DAY 4

Camp Sei Dahie-Camp Tosah-Camp Soa Tohutung
Today we will start with a gentle hike to Camp Tosah. Before we reach camp Tosah we have to cross a 15m river with a rope. It’s quite deep river up to 1,5m deep, so make sure that everything inside your bag are waterproof. After that it’s a steep hike all the way to Camp Soa Tohutung.

DAY 5

Camp Soa Tohutung-Camp Bitah Samba
Another steep hike for 5 hours to reach camp Bitah Samba. This is our last camp before we do our summit bid tomorrow morning

DAY 6

Camp Bitah Samba – Summit Bukit Raya – Camp Bitah Samba
We start trekking to the summit early in the morning. Some sections on this route is quite steep so you need to grab roots or trench to lift your body. Because of that will go very slow. It will took approximately 7-8 hours back and forth. We will spent our night in Camp Bitah Samba.

DAY 7

Camp Bitah Samba – Camp Tosah
Descent Back to Camp Tosah. Stay overnight there

DAY 8

Camp Tosah – Camp Selahung – Tumbang Habangoi
Descend to Camp Selahung and continue our trip with motor boat to Tumbang Habangoi Village. Stay overnight at resident house

DAY 9

Tumbang Habangoi-Palangkaraya
Going back to Palangkaraya with vehicle. We will take you to the hotel or airport according to your choice. End of trip.

PREPARATION

Because it’s a long trek on Bukit Raya, you need to improve your endurance by focusing the training on cardiovascular capability and carrying pack. You need to be able to walk for a long time with at least 10kg of pack. Go weekend hiking regularly will be the best training. It can be started with 8 km round trip hike with roughly 6kg pack, ascending and descending 600m, in less than 2.5 hours. The aim is to ascend 900m carrying an average pack of 10 kg in 3 hours. To reach it, try to increase the difficulty of your training in some way, either by adding weight to your pack (no more than 10 percent per week) or by completing the hike in a shorter amount of time.

In addition, you can do running two to three times a week for 45 minutes to an hour per session. Running on a route that have elevation gain will be a lot better, or use treadmill if there’s no such terrain in your hometown. You can change one of your running sessions in a week with cycling or swimming and especially you need to do also stair climbing with at least 10kg pack. It will be a good cross training. Besides that, muscle training is advisable. Strengthen your upper and lower body muscle, as well core muscle. You can do it at the gym or do your own set of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, plank, etc. You need to train 3 months prior to the expedition. It will increase the rate of success.

GEAR LIST